Magnolia

 

Magnolia Blossom, Middle Lake

Chilly, 45-degree mornings here in San Francisco. My wife said the wind chill the other day was 35 degrees. Nevertheless, signs of spring abound even though the equinox is 52 days away.

The waves at Ocean Beach have held up nicely the last couple of weeks due to a consistent swell and offshore winds. 

Street Signs & Cargo Traffic

I can't remember the last time I saw a red-shouldered hawk perched on a light post on the Great Highway. It soon flew off this perch to land on another one across the street which happened to be occupied by a raven. The raven gave a start when the hawk landed but quickly returned to its leisurely preening.

I'd struck out finding birds at Sutro Park, then heard this common yellowthroat chittering in the foliage across the street above the Land's End parking lot.

First time I've seen a blewit growing in Golden Gate Park.

Mallard Lake

Relief Map
(Chilean Rhubarb Leaf)

Eurasian Collared Dove at Elk Glen Lake
(Thanks to iNaturalist folks for correcting my mourning dove assumption. I'd never even heard of Eurasian collared doves!)

Soon after I spotted the mourning dove, I noticed this red-breasted sapsucker in the big oak tree at Elk Glen Lake (leafless for the winter). I wondered if it was the same one I've been seeing in the Mediterranean buckthorn at South Lake since I didn't see it there yesterday. The two lakes are about 5,000 feet apart.

Cloudscape this morning, looking from Grandview Park toward Mt. Tamalpais.

This red-shouldered hawk at North Lake was sounding off like crazy as I parked my bike, pulled out my camera, took off my glasses, and attached the external microphone, at which time it stopped making noise.

Honeybee Exploring Magnolia Blossom

Even a giant magnolia flower needs a little love from a honeybee.

After I left the Middle Lake magnolias I pedaled past South Lake and, sure enough, the red-breasted sapsucker was back on the buckthorn tree. The sighting at Elk Glen Lake must have been a different individual.

Mt. Shasta This Morning

I just bought an inexpensive external microphone for my cameras and tried it out today on the FZ80D. Finally, no distracting wind noise.

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Hunting Balboa

 

Red-tailed Hawk, Balboa Natural Area

One of these days I'll have to plan a trip to the Balboa Natural Area to spend a lot more time there than I do when I stop by on my bike rides. I only stopped for a minute yesterday because I saw that Balboa Blue, the great blue heron, was on the scene. The minute stretched out to just over 25 minutes as I watched to compare hunting success between the heron and the hawk.

After the hawk's first pounce turned up nothing much (I couldn't tell if it ate a bug), it flew to a new perch, flapping its wings right over the heron, which reflexively ducked its head.

In the time I was there, the hawk made four pounces, none of which turned up anything I could see. The heron? Zero, zilch, nada. 

P.S. Interesting tidbit I read this morning in Wired: "In 2024, the total installed electricity capacity of the planet -- every coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear plant and all of the renewables -- was about 10 terawatts. The Chinese solar supply chain can now pump out 1 terawatt of panels every year."

While out for a walk, I watched this crow drop a piece of bread in a bowl of dog water. It walked away for maybe half a minute before returning to get the now-soggy and easier-to-consume treat.

Coming up empty on the first pounce.

Listening for Prey

Another pounce, another miss.

It wasn't sunny enough for the sourgrass flowers to open up, and I guess the gophers and other such critters were laying low too.

I wondered what would happen if the hawk saw the heron catch a gopher.

The heron gave up hunting in its previous spot, then flew to another hunting grounds not too far away.

After the hawk's fourth pounce I realized I was getting cold and my leg muscles were getting stiff, so I got back on the bike to head home. Note the lack of leg band on this hawk; I haven't seen Bando here in quite a while.

On the way home, I stopped by the Mediterranean buckthorn at South Lake to check the progress of the red-breasted sapsucker. There are many more holes since I first saw him there! (And that upside-down berry is not an optical illusion; it really is growing up from the branch.)

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Pupping Season

 

Northern Elephant Seal Cow & Pup at Pt. Reyes National Seashore

The adult seal above was getting a little touchy about another seal getting too close to its pup. Viewing the seals from Chimney Rock this morning was an interesting, noisy, funny, and awe-inspiring spectacle. The pups looked to have been born fairly recently and were definitely younger than the ones spread out all over Drake's Beach.

I arrived at the entrance to Drake's Beach in time to catch the sunrise, only to find the beach was closed. It's only open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so you can't be there for sunrise or sunset. And even when it's open, that doesn't include the beach itself, which is completely closed, having been overtaken by many elephant seals. A dozen years ago you could walk out on the beach among a handful of the huge seals, including the bulls, but the beach is nearly covered with animals now, and you have to view the proceedings from the parking lot or visitor center. 

Instead of greeting the sun at Drake's, I kept on driving and hiked out to Chimney Rock in near-darkness, where I had the place to myself for a couple of hours. Afterward I drove around a little before Drake's finally opened, but soon left. The seal photography out at Chimney Rock had been much better.

P.S. For the Chimey Rock shoot I carried the Z8 w/ 180-600mm in the Glass Limo bag on my back, the D800E with 16-35mm connected to my tripod slung over my shoulder, and the 105mm Micro in a lens pouch on my belt. Worked great.

It was getting close to sunrise when I finally hiked out to a nice vantage point on Chimney Rock. I'd hoped the clouds would flare up with color but it was not to be.

This was one of the two main seal colonies out around Chimney Rock.

View back towards the way I hiked in.

Morning at Chimney Rock

Orange Trentepohlia algae on the rocks.

I'd hoped to spot a peregrine falcon out here, but was surprised instead to see a great blue heron hunting at the base of the cliff. It spotted me right off and flew away.

Dancing With Vertigo

Lots of young elephant seal pups and moms.

Seals at Rest

Seal Pow-wow

The newborn seal pup wasn't moving at all, perhaps too tired after the work of being born into this crazy world. Note the pup in the lower part of the frame with pink-colored placenta or umbilicus still hanging on.

There's a lot of wind noise, but the seal cacophony still breaks through.

There were a few early-season wildflowers, like these Pt. Reyes wallflowers (Erysimum concinnum).

Also a pretty yellow paintbrush (Castilleja wightii).

Pt. Reyes Wallflower

This gumweed (Grindelia stricta) was so prostrate I didn't even recognize what it was at first.

There were only a few of these tiny purple violets (maybe Western dog violet, Viola adunca) hidden in the low foliage.

As the sun rose, many of the seals began flipping sand on their backs for a little sunscreen protection.

Pups & Mamas

A male elephant seal cavorted in the shallows just offshore of the harem/colony.

He was the only male close by, and I wondered if he was the beachmaster for this harem.

The last time I saw gulls feeding on pup-birthing remains was down at Piedras Blancas, which is probably the best viewing site in the state. Nevertheless, I felt like Chimney Rock provided outstanding viewing.

The blacktail buck had the meadow to himself. I wonder what these fields of green will look like after a few years with no cows grazing on them.

It was kind of weird to see those long views of green rolling hills with no dairy cows.

Pt. Reyes Beach

There was a large harem of elk cows in the field adjacent to the road to Drake's Beach, but I didn't see any bulls around.

Most of the elk were lying down in the sun like this one.

I spotted a bobcat on my way out toward Tomales Point, but it was quite far away.

I wished he'd been closer when he made a comical pounce on a gopher, his rear legs pumping in the air while seemingly balanced entirely on his head, only to come up empty.

Farther along I spotted another culprit in the weeds off the side of the road, but this one turned out to be a snoozing coyote.

He briefly looked up from his nap, but settled back into snooze mode. A herd of cows very nearby was mooing their brains out, probably because they thought I was there to feed them. I don't think they worried one bit about the coyote.

I saw quite a few kestrels out there, but they were too skittish to let me get a close shot.

I was surprised when this gorgeous roadside red-tailed hawk let me fire off a couple of frames.

The mustard field out by the Kehoe Family ranch was in bloom. They still had a few cows out there.

I was wondering if the Park Service will remove all the barbed-wire fencing throughout the area. I'd like to have tried to get closer to the bobcat I saw but didn't want to climb through or over the fence to get into the field.

White-crowned sparrows.

There were lots of meadowlarks out at Chimney Rock and elsewhere, but they too were very skittish and hard to photograph.

I got almost all the way out to Pierce Ranch before seeing a bull elk at close range. Most seemed to be waaaaay in the distance. This one was probably guarding his harem of numerous elk cows nearby.

A great blue heron hunting in a field.

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