August 24, 2026: Morning Nature Tour

I had the pleasure of taking out a lovely lady on a morning nature tour of our local hotspots. Her and her husband had just flown in the night before from Australia and she wanted to start her day in nature as her husband went off to work meetings.

It was her first time to the San Francisco Bay Area so I picked her up from her hotel and took her to some of my favorite places.

First stop was The Stanford Dish, We walked for about 2 miles and saw Acorn Woodpeckers, an American Kestrel and a large Red-tailed Hawk sitting on the dish.

We then went to The Arizona Cactus Garden and saw some Anna's hummingbirds and looked at all the different cactus plants.

We then headed to the Elizabeth Gamble Garden where we saw more hummingbirds and many amazing and colorful looking flowers.

.We then went to go check out a barn owl roosting in a palm tree.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable morning and we covered quite a bit of ground.

Female Acorn Woodpecker as evidenced by the black band between its red crown and white forehead. Males have no black band and red cap touches white forehead

Female American Kestrel as evidenced by the reddish-brown, heavily barred wings and tail

Red-tailed Hawk on the Dish

House finches hanging out

Look at that bottom tooth on this poor guy!

Deer family

The Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford University

Female Anna's Hummingbird

Male Anna's Hummingbird

Coyote on the loose! (iphone pic taken from the car. Unfortunately my camera was in the trunk)

Elizabeth Gamble Garden

Japanese Anemone aka Eriocapitella hupehensis

Dahlia Mystic Illusion

Female Anna's Hummingbird feeding on Puruvian Lilies

Dahlia