Golden Gate Park (09/29/2021)

today i spent my Naturing time with Renate Elster! on the way out, i spotted a dragonfly cruising over the grass between the ballfield and Monarch Bear Grove. they never stay still for me, but this one did! landed in a nearby Coast Live Oak and obliged me admiring it. Common Green Darner! never saw one on that side of the park before. as i moved through the Monarch Bear Grove, i caught sight of a very shy Clay-colored Sparrow. it was deep in the Protective Pacific Poison Oak. i tried to get better looks at it, but nope. too shy, shy… since i was meeting up with Ren, we naturally visited the owl nursery. and, NOBODY WAS HOME. boo. but, we visited the Rhododendron Dell and saw a variety of spiders! including the Trash Spider, ahem, the Tropical Tent-web Spider (?) in its trashy house! it was safely inside a web vortex tucked into a Bidens aequisquama shrub. also saw a newtome mushroom there, the Common Earthball. we continued on to the Lily Pond, where many an orbweaver was found. not enough to Ren’s liking, but it was a ton to me! plus, a Bowl-and-doily Spider i’d been talking to Ren about just moments before. we gawked at a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk, sitting like a big chicken on a tree fern stump. and, we ended at the mushroom beehive at the East end of the Oak Woodlands Trail. it was a little quiet, bee-wise. but, a new and gorgeous Western Hardwood Sulphur Shelf mushroom was sitting right behind it. GLORIOUS! and, i must say, it’s nice to go Naturing with someone who can show you and teach you about critters you’re not so knowledgeable about. much appreciated, Ren!