Angry Halloween Stares!

No one wanted their pictures taken today.

The owl gave me a full on exorcist head spin stare on my Halloween owl walk!

Our Halloween themed cat was not excited to have his picture taken either.

Happy Halloween!

 

Owl rich day!

I went on two walks today and saw at least 5 individual owls.

No pictures from the dawn walk but I saw two flying, one screeching then flying right over my head! I heard at least 4 great horned owls and found a location new to me that I went back to later.

On the sunset walk I saw two Barn Owls and two Great Horned Owls.

I also heard another Great Horned Owl hooting in the new area I scoped out in the morning but couldn't see it. Just for fun I took a few pictures of where I heard the hoots. It turns out one of the pictures I took had the owl in it!

Can you spot the owl ? I made it easier by cropping the image some.

I know which tree that is so I'm going to take a look next time I'm out.

So many owls today!

 

Enjoying a relaxing weekend drink

Another image from the long weekend walk.

I do love macro shots of insects!

Lucky Scrub Jay shot

I heard a few scrub jays during my walk the other day but couldn't spot them and figured it wasn't the day I would spot one.

Later as I was about to head home I heard this jay just a few feet from me, looked up and managed to get a few shots before it grabbed a nut and dove into the bushes.

It always seems like the birds you want to see show up as soon as you stop looking for them -:]

 

New barn owl spotted me

I took a fairly long walk yesterday seeing a lot of fun waves, birds, and bugs but spotting this barn owl, that is new to me, was my favorite moment.

I was checking a tree that I have seen a different barn owl in and didn't see anyone in the normal spot. Thinking the tree was empty I stepped under to look for any fresh signs like owl pellets and whitewash (bird poo -:)

Not seeing anything fresh I looked up and was surprised to see this super cute small (female?) looking down at me. Since I had my camera out I quietly took a couple of shots and moved away slowly to avoid disturbing it any more than I already had.

It looked smaller and darker than any of the barn owls I have seen in that area so I think it must be new to me. Though I bet it has seen me wandering around the area before.

At first I thought the images weren't very good because of the branches right across the face but realized they capture the moment we shared better than a clear shot ever could.

Walk left me feeling melancholy

It started off very nice seeing a bunch of birds. All regulars I was hoping to see.

Norther Flicker

Barn Owl

Female Belted

Then I walked up to a lake I haven't been to in a few weeks and to my surprise there was a very handsome male Kingfisher.

He was catching fish sitting in spots that were easy to see him. Then he flew off. I headed toward home also in the direction he flew off in hoping I might see him at one of the other two lakes I would pass.

At the 2nd lake there was a Great Egret looking very photogenic.

While taking photos of the egret there were a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks making a ruckus and flying into low bushes.

I just managed to get a blurry picture.

It was making a lot of noises so I moved to where I could get a better view and saw the hawk covering something up.

To my surprise it had taken a Belted Kingfisher which I suspect was the one I had seen earlier.

While I know the hawk needs to eat just like the kingfisher catching fish it still made me feel a bit sad at the moment then faded into a lingering melancholy.

On the way out I saw another regular (10) Great Horned Owl hidden in one of it's regular spots keeping a close eye on everything.

Still so amazed and happy to have Golden Gate Park for these amazing walks and experiences.

OB steps it up another notch

Swell and paddle leveled up a bit today and there were just a few people out. I only managed to get shots of a few rides.

Coast Guard was out training which is a good sign the waves are big.

Look at that boat take on the waves.

Then look at that guy paddling out from shore through those same waves. Fun!

Walk in the park

 Here are pictures from yesterdays walk in the Golden Gate Park. They are in the order that I came across each.

I also met @woodynotallen just before the coyote snuck up behind us as we walked over to see the barn owl.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Coyote

Red-shouldered Hawk

Barn Owl

Racoon

Great Horned Owls

Hard not to ❤️ an afternoon walk in GGP with so many nice creatures and people.

OB edging into double overhead

A fair bit out of my range so I swapped the wetsuit and surfboard for a camera and telephoto lens.

It was looking pretty and busy out there.

Lots of waves ridden, lots of marine activity including a whale passing through the lineup.

And in addition to the double overhead waves folks out there also got to deal with double overhead white water -:[]

October Full Moon Rise by Sutro Tower

 Another photo I didn't post last week of the October Full Moon Rise.

Again seen walking back from our local grocery store so the only camera I had was on my cellphone so wasn't super happy with it. But it's still pretty cool and goes well with the sunset and equinox sunset pictures so figured I should post it.

Near Fall Equinox Sunset

This is a few weeks old but saw it looking through some old photos.

We were walking home from our local grocery store and the sunset just about lined up with the end of the east/west road and I couldn't pass up the chance to get a picture.

Pictures don't do last nights sunset justice

Nothing like closing out a surf session with an amazing sunset.

Spider too cute to be scary!

It's spooky season and what goes better than spiders? Cute spiders!

Saw a smallish spider on the ceiling and decided to try and get some macro shots of it. I did not see how cute it was until I reviewed the first few shots. Look at that face!

Our holiday themed black cat saw what I was looking at and got a bit crazy wanting me to help him get it. I decided best to catch it and put it outside before it became a snack.

Coyote Awareness practice?

I came across these two who seemed to have setup a coyote awareness work shop session of some kind -;P

They were coming down the narrow path I was on and didn't seem to want to get out of the way for me and I had to shout and clap to get them to turn around so I could get off the path and keep some distance from them.

Golden Gate Park is so fun!

Watching you from the bushes (o)(o)

I was checking a regular spot for great horned owls but didn't see any. Then I saw what looked like two red tailed hawks fighting as they fell from the top of a tree across the street. One landed in a bush and looked to be sitting there. I walked closer to get a picture of the hawk. But as I got close I realized I found one of the owls I was looking for and that it had been fighting with a hawk!

It sat there watching me for a bit then flew up into the tree they frequent.

Golden Gate Park makes for fun walks -:]