The San Francisco Citizen

This one didn’t end well for the crayfish.

Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California

This didn’t end well for the gopher.

The parent bird, the tallest one, just hunted and killed a pocket gopher to bring back to the nest high above Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. The middle chick (fledgling now?) scooped up the undigested rodent to the chagrin of its siblings.

You can see the outline of the gopher slowly sliding down the neck of the aptly named Great Blue Heron.

Canon 600mm 4.0 IS with Canon 2x II extender.

Here’s what they want you to believe: the route of the Bay to Breakers footrace is all downhill after topping the Hayes Street Hill. From the website:

ING Bay to Breakers is a 12K (7.46 miles) course. From sea level at the Embarcadero the course rises steeply along Hayes Street Hill. Around the 2.5-mile mark runners climb an 11.15% grade between Fillmore and Steiner, bringing them to the highest point in the race, approximately 215 feet above sea level. The remainder of the course gradually flows downhill alongside the Panhandle and through Golden Gate Park.

But that’s simply not true. Take a look at this elevation profile. See? After dipping down a bit the course continues to rise and reaches its highest point in Golden Gate Park. So there’s a reason why it feels you’re going uphill after conquering the Hayes Street Hill - you are going uphill.

Thousands of runners are in Golden Gate Park today preparing for tomorrow’s race. Going to the west uphill in the Panhandle:

Why does the mainstream media repeat a falsehood year after year? Laziness, mostly.

But check for yourself, if you want. Mike did last year and came to this conclusion:

According to the Garmin GPS I was using, the highest point is indeed in GG Park, not the top of Hayes Street Hill.

So plan your racing strategy accordingly.

Have fun tomorrow!

This little pup has been bred to attack vermin, so that’s what must be on its mind a great deal of the time.

Eternal vigilance.

“I’m the king of the world! Whoo hoo!”

Click to enlarge:

Small Brewers Blackbirds generally don’t take kindly to any kind of hawk flying by their nesting areas. The problem is that this hawk is hunting around her own nest. She’s not going to abandon her young ‘uns, so she just ignores the daily harassment.

The blackbird rode on the hawk’s back for a short while and then flew away, to come and fight another day.

After being chased all around by two green-headed males, this female duck took a break to contemplate motherhood. She used the time to look at a new mom with ten young’uns and pondered the large responsibility of raising a brood of ducklings.

Decisions, decisions.

Click on photo to take a gander:

It’s that time of year again when giant herons return to their home island on Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

This particular domestic partnership is shown high atop a Monterey Cypress changing shifts as they take turns guarding their nest and hunting for seafood and pocket gophers. Mmmm, pocket gophers.

Come and watch them on Saturdays per this schedule from San Francisco Nature Education when people like naturalist Nancy DeStefanis can hep you to what’s going on and offer you a free close-up view of the avian activities.

See you there!