The thing about California Quail, the likes of which can be seen in a recent photo from Strybing Arboretum (aka San Francisco Botanical Garden) in Golden Gate Park, is that they like to hang out with each other during the cold months. Hence the term “winter covey.” But as you get closer to springtime, they like to pair off into mating couples.
This pair kept nearby another male-female couple. Consider it a double date. Click to expand:
Next come the kids.
This little hummingbird seemed a bit hungry as he clucked for his food as he perched on a tree limb inside of the San Francisco Botanical Garden (nee Strybing Arboretum) in Golden Gate Park.
Poor little feller.
This pair of finches could be seen bringing nesting material to an open-air junction box yesterday. Is this a safe place to nest, in with all those wires?
The boy finch stands guard while the girl finch checks things out. Click to expand:
Probably. One of the tags has “Digital Telephone” on it and DSL never killed anything of course. But you never know what else is in there.
Stay safe, finchees.
These two icons of San Francisco’s Castro District can appear to be close together if you stand in the right place. The Castro Theatre is in great shape and the giant Gay Pride Flag at the corner of Market and Castro looks a lot spiffier these days compared to the past. Check out the history of all those colors here. An older version from the filming of the Sean Penn movie Milk…
| hot pink: sexuality |
| red: life |
| orange: healing |
| yellow: sunlight |
| green: nature |
| turquoise: magic/art |
| indigo: serenity/harmony |
| violet: spirit |
…and the current. From Corona Heights, click to expand:
And here’s the theatre without the flag, as seen during the filming of Academy Award-winning Milk
The San Francisco Bay Guardian’s question from last year: “Where are all the chicks?” The writer was referring to California Quail in the Presidio of San Francisco. As of 2006, there were female quail there but things took a turn for the worse last year.
Quail sometimes travel between the Presidio and Golden Gate Park – that’s where these two were sighted yesterday. Sometimes, you can see a lot of California’s official state bird at Strybing Arboretum and sometimes you can’t. Thesse critters can fly away from danger, but they generally don’t like being out in the open. The kind of environment that they prefer is not present in S.F. as much as before.
Godspeed, little quail.
