Monday, March 3, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Rare(ish) Moments
Today started with a lovely gathering at the botanical gardens. Everyone who showed up for the bird walk, led by Allan Ridley and company, was greeted by the Red-shouldered Hawks - one slung low in a tree outside the gate, the other bathed in morning sun on a branch in the large beehive-laden tree just inside. Also inside:
The rare Golden-crowned Song Sparrow, suffering a pollen induced identity crisis.
After the Arboretum I checked out Corona Heights Park in hopes of something interesting and tested my reflexes against this White-crowned Sparrow. The rare part of this moment is it stayed in the frame, in good light... that was worth the expedition up the hill. (click the image to see the details - this small version has many compression artifacts)
Then to North Lake for 30 minutes of looking before other engagements called. I found a pair of Pied-billed Grebes and settled in to watch them. They resumed their fishing and about 5 minutes later one came scooting out of the reeds at top speed, running on the water, out into the open to deal with its catch. The last rare moment of the day. Definitely click on these to see the larger versions.
Moments after the catch, the grebe takes a break before attending to the fish.
Now properly oriented after an initial attempt at swallowing it failed.
Down the hatch.
The rare Golden-crowned Song Sparrow, suffering a pollen induced identity crisis.
After the Arboretum I checked out Corona Heights Park in hopes of something interesting and tested my reflexes against this White-crowned Sparrow. The rare part of this moment is it stayed in the frame, in good light... that was worth the expedition up the hill. (click the image to see the details - this small version has many compression artifacts)
Then to North Lake for 30 minutes of looking before other engagements called. I found a pair of Pied-billed Grebes and settled in to watch them. They resumed their fishing and about 5 minutes later one came scooting out of the reeds at top speed, running on the water, out into the open to deal with its catch. The last rare moment of the day. Definitely click on these to see the larger versions.
Moments after the catch, the grebe takes a break before attending to the fish.
Now properly oriented after an initial attempt at swallowing it failed.
Down the hatch.Saturday, March 1, 2008
Corona Heights, Strybing, and the Sutro Duo
Around 11:30 the wind picked up and the male Kestrel showed up at Corona Heights to hunt. The resident Red-tail was only seen briefly and was chased off by two determined Ravens. The Kestrel caught several insects and a spider, all eaten on the wing.
Heading back to base. The Kestrel takes frequent breaks in the pines.
Floating with apartment windows in the distance.
A spider just taken from the right foot.
In the Arboretum the Red-shoulders were audible but only glimpsed in distant trees. The Great Egret allowed a very close approach and fished contentedly, pond to pond.
One of the Sutro Red-tails was kiting when I arrived and as is often the case, as soon as I got out of the car it disappeared like a shot over the pines to the north. Undeterred, I followed and found the male kiting over iceplant covered cliffs near pockets of wind-blown pines. After some attempts at evasive gophers, the hawk switched from the cliff faces to the upper fields and I lost it behind a tangle of pines. I raced up through the dark hollows that hikers and homeless have created in the trees, heading toward a triangle of light that I thought might give me a better vantage point. When I emerged from the trees I was out of breath and there was no hawk in sight... until I looked up.
It was kiting 20 feet above my head and descending rapidly. A few adjustments in flight and the talons emerged and the body pivoted into that familiar committed posture.
It slammed into the grass just 6 feet in front of me. I didn't realize how close it was until I took the camera away from my face and saw it in the grass, wings out, head down, focused on its prey.
Then it turned sharply toward me, grabbed the gopher and everything around it, and took off, ripping away the surrounding vegetation.
A few deft transfers of the prey from foot to foot allowed the grass and plants to fall away and the hawk just floated away.
I found the pair in the trees about 200 feet south, and it was the female that was eating the gopher that the male had just caught.
He coughed up a pellet while she dined. (you can see it falling just below the branch)
Heading back to base. The Kestrel takes frequent breaks in the pines.
Floating with apartment windows in the distance.
A spider just taken from the right foot.
In the Arboretum the Red-shoulders were audible but only glimpsed in distant trees. The Great Egret allowed a very close approach and fished contentedly, pond to pond.
One of the Sutro Red-tails was kiting when I arrived and as is often the case, as soon as I got out of the car it disappeared like a shot over the pines to the north. Undeterred, I followed and found the male kiting over iceplant covered cliffs near pockets of wind-blown pines. After some attempts at evasive gophers, the hawk switched from the cliff faces to the upper fields and I lost it behind a tangle of pines. I raced up through the dark hollows that hikers and homeless have created in the trees, heading toward a triangle of light that I thought might give me a better vantage point. When I emerged from the trees I was out of breath and there was no hawk in sight... until I looked up.
It was kiting 20 feet above my head and descending rapidly. A few adjustments in flight and the talons emerged and the body pivoted into that familiar committed posture.
It slammed into the grass just 6 feet in front of me. I didn't realize how close it was until I took the camera away from my face and saw it in the grass, wings out, head down, focused on its prey.
Then it turned sharply toward me, grabbed the gopher and everything around it, and took off, ripping away the surrounding vegetation.
A few deft transfers of the prey from foot to foot allowed the grass and plants to fall away and the hawk just floated away.
I found the pair in the trees about 200 feet south, and it was the female that was eating the gopher that the male had just caught.
He coughed up a pellet while she dined. (you can see it falling just below the branch)
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