First Blush: Duck mating dance begun

Now that there’s plenty of water in San Francisquito Creek – but it’s no longer rushing rapids like – a growing group of ducks has taken up residence. What the female Dawn Jogger saw this morning was a small army of males all jockeying for the interest of one female. Once they’ve paired off for mating season, there always seems to be a few guys left over. The male DJ used to call those groups “bachelor pads”…

First Blush: Mystery bird has taken creek residence

When the female Dawn Jogger was taking a walk late yesterday afternoon, a man stopped her as she was crossing the San Mateo bike bridge over San Francisquito Creek. He wanted to show her a large bird with black feathers and a white plume that he said had been in the same place adjacent to the bridge for a couple of weeks. She’s seen a lot of snowy egrets and Blue Herons over the years in the creek but never a bird that was this dark in color. He/she seemed to be in sentry position – guarding a nearby nest? Sure enough the same bird was in the same spot early this morning. But exactly what it is – heron or egret – remains a mystery. FYI, the photo makes the bird appear smaller than reality…