R: Western Mockingbird?
Today I grabbed about twentyish minutes of Naturing before I started my internship day.
Got to Fort Mason a little early, so I headed over to the Fort Mason Community Garden, where many fun bird sightings are mentioned on the SF Birds list. Recently, there’s been mentions of an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a pair of Mockingbirds that are nesting, and even Peregrine Falcons! So, it was definitely worth the twenty minutes to go see any of that before starting my day.
There wasn’t a whole lot going on as I entered the FMCG. And, while I’ve seen numerous posts about unique birds there, I’ve never spent much dedicated time birding there. So, I wasn’t even sure where exactly to look. I stood still listening for a minute. Then, a couple House Finches flew into view. And, what was that near them? Flycatchery-looking thing!
Whipped out my camera, snapped two photos, then it took off. Turned out to be the Ash-throated Flycatcher! And, while I never even got to look at it through my binocs, my photos came out! Well, one with it facing me. And, it’s even posing for me! I’ve only ever seen one once before, with Bob + Juli + Brian. But, my photo is the best view I’ve had of it! Gah, they’re so cute!
Soon after it flew away, I spotted a bird dive-bombing a perched Common Raven way up high in a euc. It was a Western Mockingbird? Seek thought it was a Northern, but posting that on iNat had someone quickly ID it as a Western. Which perhaps is why I thought the eyes looked different from a Northern? It fiercely flew at the Raven over and over again. Soon, the Raven left. With the Mockingbird chasing it! It landed in a tree and perched looking toward the Raven. Snapped some photos. And, it looks so proud!
And, THEN! I saw two raptors chasing each other above and around and through the eucs. Peregrine Falcons! They were chasing and screeching and crying and wailing and doing all kinds of acrobatic moves. AND, THEN!! ANOTHER Peregrine Falcon flew in, and it seemed like the two fighting raptors followed it Eastward. SO FLIPPIN’ EXCITING!!! And, all in under twenty minutes!
Also got to observe Rocky Mountain Penstemon (?) along the Fort Mason buildings near my building on my way over to the FMCG. And, I threw in a photo into my blog that I’m ok with of the Presidio Tunnel Tops that I was at today for a Team Building session. It’s tough to get the right shot over there I’m finding. I think there’s just TOO MUCH VIEW FOR ONE CAMERA.
So, yeah. Just twenty minutes. And, SO MUCH happened. Pretty awesome.
The Afternoon Naturalist 