You’ll soon be able to see a scene like this in Golden Gate Park when you look across Stow Lake up towards Heron Island.
Get on down to the Stow Lake Boathouse area on Saturdays starting April 13th to get involved with Heron Watch. It’s brought to us by Nancy DeStefanis, director of San Francisco Nature Education, every year.
The view from Strawberry Hill – Dad watches the kids while Mom’s out hunting gophers and whatnot:
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See you there!
An ideal nesting site high above the Polk Street Steps, don’t you think?
It’s protected from the rain and wind and of course there are plenty of rats scurrying about City Hall these days, non?
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This new nest matches the other one the Polk Side has.
What’s going to come out?
Either seafood or a gopher – it’s got to be one or the other.
Num num!
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You’ll soon be able to see a scene like this in Golden Gate Park when you look across Stow Lake up towards Heron Island.
Get on down to the Stow Lake Boathouse area on Saturdays starting April 9th to get involved with Heron Watch. It’s brought to us by Nancy DeStefanis, director of San Francisco Nature Education, every year.
I mean, these herons aren’t going to watch themselves…
The view from Strawberry Hill almost exactly five years ago – Dad watches the kids sitting in a hundred-pound nest the while Mom’s out hunting gophers and whatnot:
Click to expand – think this is the biggest photo I’ve ever posted online.
See you there!
Look to the Skies for Signs and Wonders…
[UPDATE: Comment below or on this thread from a year ago...]
Oh, they’re making their way here right now, these yellow-orange Hooded Orioles.
Look for them in Dolores Park and the Presidio and Golden Gate Park and all over, basically.
As seen on Strawberry Hill, back in the day:
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Well, it turns out that City Hall, home of the Biggest Classical Dome in the Western Hemisphere,*is also home to raptor nests. Check out the Polk side of the northeast corner. See all that straw and whatnot? That’s your raptor nest.
Truth be told, all of our hawks and falcons in the area are pretty much the same boid, so they look pretty much the same. But I’d venture to say that this critter is a red tailed hawk, or a red-shouldered, or one of them peregrine falcons, something in that area.
Anywho, this raptor seemed awful interested in this nest this AM.
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Same critter, but on the north side.
Here’s another angle of the nest on our crumbly City Hall. (Can you see the nightmare-fuel cow’s skull complete with assorted cow skull icons?)
If you like urban birds of prey, look forward to this new joint opening December 10, 2010 in the bay area:
“THE LEGEND OF PALE MALE documents the mysterious power possessed by a single red-tailed hawk to open the eyes and hearts of die-hard city dwellers to the wonders of nature. It begins in 1993, when a young man from Belgium looking to change his life has an unexpected encounter in Central Park with a wild redtail hawk, a fierce predator that has not lived in the City for almost a hundred years. He buys a video camera and sets out to track the hawk, and after almost twenty years, realizes he has been led down many trails of life, death, birth, hope, and redemption. THE LEGEND OF PALE MALE is a Balcony Releasing film, runs for 85 minutes, is in English, and is not yet MPAA rated.
Affectionately known to New Yorkers as Pale Male, the hawk becomes an obsession and a metaphor for triumph against the odds. His posh 5th Avenue nest starts out as a novel curiosity to a handful of avid birdwatchers but becomes an international tourist destination until, on a December afternoon without warning, the building management dismantles PaleMale’s beloved nest. In a wingbeat, media from around the world assemble on 5th Avenue to cover the unprecedented protest. Gathering behind Pale Male is an army of birdwatchers, movie stars, poets, children, dogs, and late night comedy show hosts. What unfolds next, as they say, could only happen in New York.”*Yes, bigger than the U.S. Capitol rotunda. I mean, natch, that was the whole point. We bad.
Have you seen “Presidio Habitats,” the Site-Based Art Exhibition Celebrating Presidio Nature and Wildlife? Well, then get up there, it’s ending May 15, 2011.
Bring your walking shoes and then make the Triskelion (srsly, that’s what they call it) pavilion at Fort Winfield Scott your starting point.
Forty-foot shipping containers never looked so good:
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Here it is from the outside:
And here’s the starting gate of Presidio Habitats:
Something to do with bunnnies and turtles, take a look:
O.K. then. Here’s Patience by Jensen Architects. or part of it anyway:
The mise-en-scene:
Western Screech Owl Habitats by Ai Weiwei:
A 600mm shot shows that these porcelain palaces are move-in ready:
Winged Wisdom by Phillippe Becker Design / Brody Hartman:
A closer view:
Sculpture Habitat for the Gray Fox by CEBRA
Owl Dome by Taalman Koch Architecture:
That’s just a taste. The whole point is that you’re supposed to get out there and go see everything for yourself. The more the merrier.
As these people realized on Saturday, walking along the new/improved Park Trail. (Learn more about the changes to this trail after the jump.)
The entire place is one giant art gallery but without the white wine.
And, oh yes, here’s one concept that didn’t make it. I guess you’d need to suppose that a bird made a nest and laid eggs in a golf cart and then somebody hoisted it into the air. Anyway, here’s the Photoshopped proposal:
(This installation might serve to hack off the golfers of the Presidio, I don’t know…)
There you have it. Here are some upcoming events for PH and you can find the deets of the Park Trail after the jump.
Exhibition Pavilion and Self-Guided Tours
The starting point for the Presidio Habitatsexperience is an indoor exhibition space created from repurposed shipping containers. Here visitors can view all 25 proposals submitted for the exhibition, scale models, and other artist material, as well as video about the Presidio’s plants and wildlife. An Exhibition Mapwill lead you on a self-guided journey encompassing all installation sites. The Exhibition Pavilion hours through October 31, 2010: 11 am – 5 pm, Wednesday-Sunday. It is located at the corner of Storey Avenue and Ralston Avenue in the Fort Scott District.
Log Cabin Series
The Presidio Trust presents a year-long series of talks, multimedia presentations, and performances at the historic Log Cabin. Inspired by the Presidio, its wildlife, and Habitats art, the Log Cabin Series will host events on the second Thursday of each month. The Exhibition Pavilion will be open until 7 pm on these evenings.
Animal Estates and Edible Estates: An Evening with Fritz Haeg
Thursday, June 10, 7–8:30 pm
Author, designer, and artist Fritz Haeg created Snag Tower, a vertical dwelling for native species and currently an installation of Presidio Habitats. Learn about his project Animal Estates, proposing the re-introduction of native animals into cities, and his book Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn.
Triskelion: The Story of the Presidio Habitats Exhibition Pavilion
Thursday, July 8, 7–8 pm
San Francisco Architects Zoe Prillinger and Luke Ogrydziak, known for their progressive, modern designs that include new media technologies, discuss their creation of the Presidio HabitatsExhibit Pavilion from repurposed shipping containers arranged at 120 degree angles around a central atrium.
The Birds and the Bees: A Presidio Experience
Thursday, August 12, 7–8 pm
About 200 bird species and 57 bee species buzz and fly through the Presidio. Gain a new perspective on the different shapes and sizes of wildlife homes within the Presidio from Presidio Trust natural resource experts.
The Art of Patience: Meet Architect Mark Jensen
Thursday, September 9, 7–8 pm
Architect Mark Jensen will discuss his Habitats installation Patience, featuring dramatically austere yellow chairs that afford visitors a unique perspective on the Presidio’s Great Blue Herons.
Family Program: Create with Nature
Saturday, June 12, 10 am to 2 pm
Saturday, August 7, 10 am to 2 pm
Kids and grown-ups alike will get creative with natural materials in an outdoor Presidio setting. The ingredients for the day include wood, leaves, stone, pine cones, bark, branches, water, and imagination. Bring a picnic lunch or snack. Meet at the Exhibition Pavilion.
Guided Adventures
Presidio staff, friends, and FOR-SITE Foundation representatives will lead visitors on guided walks. Meet at the Exhibition Pavilion. RSVP is required to (415) 561-5418 or presidio@presidiotrust.gov.
Presidio Butterflies 101 Walk
RSVP to (415) 561-5418 or presidio@presidiotrust.gov
Sunday, July 18, 10 am to Noon
Sunday, August 29, 10 am to Noon
Presidio Habitats Curatorial Walk
RSVP to (415) 561-5418 or presidio@presidiotrust.gov
Saturday, July 24, 10 am to Noon
Saturday, August 7, 10 am to Noon
Anrica Deb at Mission Local today asks whether the harmless pigeon is a Winged Rat or Family Bird?
But why should it be one or the other? The correct is answer is that San Francisco’s Official Bird is both winged rat and family boid.
As seen here, where the traffic signal-loving rock doves of Mid-Market have set up a new nest, after the Owner Move-In eviction that occurred recently at the amber light.
See? It’s a new nest for our family-oriented pigeons. The LEDs act as incubator lamps when the parents are out making a mess of Mid-Market:
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Que bueno!
Turns out that the Presdio‘s born-and-raised millionaire and billionaire NIMBY neighbors can’t keep modern art out of our Presidio after all.
Anyway, this is the first I’ve heard of the effort. Check it.
Look for this next time your in the Presidio:
SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 — PhilippeBecker (www.beckersf.com), a San Francisco branding and design agency announced today that it is one of11 international designers and artists commissioned to create art for public display in the Presidio, in the first-ever public art project conceived for a National Park.
Commissioned in 2009 by the FOR-SITE Foundation in partnership with the Presidio Trust, 25 designers and artists were invited to submit habitat proposals for specific animal residents of the Presidio. 11 submissions were selected and commissioned for the Presidio Habitats art installation, including PhilippeBecker’s “Winged Wisdom”. [http://for-site.org/presidioHabitats/artist.php?code=2]
Winged Wisdom was conceived by Brody Hartman, director of creative strategy for PhilippeBecker, and designed in collaboration with Philippe Becker, creative director. “The American robin is an enduring icon in our landscape. It is a beloved bird whose behavior demonstrates nature’s ‘wisdom’, which in turn teaches us valuable lessons about how to relate to the land and with each other,” says Hartman. Winged Wisdom is composed of three-dimensional letters that spell out within the landscape three of the robins’ wise behaviors: ‘resolve conflict with song’, ‘adapt to change’, and ‘nest from the inside out’.
Each letter, built of steel armature and mesh netting, is filled with sterile straw, providing ideal nesting material for the robin. “Our hope is to give park visitors an unexpected, yet mindful provocation of nature’s strength and wisdom,” says Hartman.
Other installations include Fritz Haeg’s Snag Tower, Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects’ Exhibition Pavilion, and Ai Weiwei’s Western Screech Owl Habitats. Overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio Habitats installations will be on view for a full year. More information is available at http://www.for-site.org/presidioHabitats/about.php
PhilippeBecker is a branding and design agency founded in 1998. Agency clients include Clorox, Del Monte, Disney, Gap, Hewlett-Packard, IDEO, Jamba Juice, JCPenney, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, Safeway, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., and Wrigley. More information is available at www.beckersf.com.
About the FOR-SITE Foundation
The FOR-SITE Foundation, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place. FOR-SITE was created in 2003 to encourage the development of new work for exhibition in public institutions. Presidio/Site/Sculpture, a site-based initiative of the FOR-SITE Foundation launched in 2008 with Andy Goldsworthy’s Spire, provides the public with new ways to see, understand, and appreciate the natural, historic, and cultural resources of San Francisco’s Presidio, a 1,491-acre urban national park. More information is available at http://for-site.org/.
If you want to see 1000+ more Western Gulls (Larus occidentalis) taking wing in San Francisco County, head on over to Alcatraz, where half the place seems to be a nesting colony. The things are everwhere these days.
They’re hanging about all over:
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And why not? They’re protected from any kind of threat you’d imagine.
Verily, Alcatraz Island is a kind of Paradise, a resort island for gulls.
