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Birding at Lake Merced and Chain of Lakes (SF)

4 September, 2007 by Adam R. Paul

So I actually managed to get out twice this weekend – yay! Yesterday, I decided to revisit Lake Merced, which I’ve only birded once before, back in April.


Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

I first stopped off at the parking lot at the end of Sunset Blvd. and moseyed around there. Like before, there were dragon boat races going on, which limited the waterfowl opportunities. In the shrubs were Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, many Brewer’s Blackbirds. Atop a telephone pole were a few dozen European Starlings, clucking and whirring as they are wont to do.

Walking to the bridge by the golf course, I saw a flash of yellow in the shoreside reeds. Warbler? It was small and distant, but enlarging the photo I took of it showed it to be a Common Yellowthroat, my first of the year. There wasn’t much else in the water save for an American Coot and a couple of Western(?) Grebes.


Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)

 

A Western Scrub Jay foraged in the hillside below the parking lot, and a Black Phoebe flycaught nearby. Many Double-crested Cormorants were clustered in one end of the lake, disturbed by the rowboat racing.


Western (L) & Clark’s (R) Grebes (Aechomophorus occidentalis & A. clarkii)

I next walked down to the little fishing pier, taking a few minutes to find the trail, which is rather overgrown. Not much to see other than a few dozen Double-crested Cormorants roosting in a nearby tree, a Western and Clark’s Grebe swimming together, and a Great Blue Heron atop an overturned fishing dinghy, peering intently into the waters.


Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus)

 

Having birded my fill here, I drove to the southeast shore to see what was by the concrete bridge. More Coots, many Rock Pigeons, Mallards, and Western Gulls feeding on the handouts people were leaving, more Brewer’s Blackbirds and a few Red-winged Blackbirds.


Can you find the birds in this photo? 🙂

Dozens of Double-crested Cormorants floated and perched in a twiggy area, and two juvenile Red-necked Phalaropes swam quickly into the reeds when they caught me looking at them. Another Western Scrub Jay was chasing American Robins around, and a Marsh Wren called from the reeds.

Still, nothing too unusual here, so I packed it up and decided, since the day was yet young, and I had no other plans, to pay the Chain of Lakes in Golden Gate Park a visit.

Chain of Lakes consists of the 3 lakes along 43rd Ave. in the park. Starting at South Lake, which other than a few Mallards being fed by an elderly Indian woman, was bird-free, I headed north towards Middle Lake.

Pygmy NuthatchTownsend's WarblerBrown Creeper
Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea), Townsend’s Warbler (Dendroica townsendi), and Brown Creeper (Certhia americana). Click the photos above for larger images

 

Middle Lake proved quite productive indeed, with a flurry of Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Pygmy Nuthatches, and Brown Creepers in the trees, chattering noisily. A Winter Wren made a mad dash for cover, sensing that I was about to get a photo of it, and a Townsend’s Warbler foraged with the Chickadees in the foliage.

Light conditions here were pretty awful, as it was overcast and in the shade, requiring the use of ISO1600 to get anything like an acceptable shutter speed, but I was able to capture some useable images of most of the little tree birds I saw.


Belted Kingfisher, female (Ceryle alcyon)

 

Heading around the lake (really more of a bog for most of it) I heard a rattling call. Kingfisher? A hundred feet later, a distinct blue and white form confirmed it – a Belted Kingfisher was hanging out. It opened its mouth, wide, then wider. I expectantly waited for another of its distinctive calls when gack, gack, out came a pellet! Although Owls are well-known for their pellets, virtually all birds eject them. Most, being from much smaller birds, are not noticeable.

Continuing to North Lake, on a whim I decided to check out the lawn by the restrooms, as I usually bypass it, and it proved quite birdy indeed! Several dozen American Robins foraged in the grass and a flock of Dark-eyed Juncoes flitted about.


Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)

Zip! Chiik! A Hairy Woodpecker zoomed by, landing in a nearby tree and hanging around for a few pictures.


Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia)

A flash of yellow in the bushes caught my eye – a warbler? No, a female Western Tanager. But different flash of yellow was – a Yellow Warbler (LIFER!). It didn’t hang around very long, however, and I had to content myself with watching a couple of Anna’s Hummingbirds go into territorial snits with each other as they fed from a blooming tree.

Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Walking around North Lake made me glad I’d seen a lot on the green, as it was surprisingly empty of birds. A few Mallards and Coots, a Great Egret (in contrast to the more usual Great Blue Heron that’s often there), a Black-crowned Night Heron, a California Towhee, a Song Sparrow, and that’s about it. Even the gang of Common Ravens that is nearly always heard, if not seen, was absent.


Squirrel

I returned to the lawn, but didn’t see anything I hadn’t seen half an hour earlier. A woman with an off-leash dog running around probably didn’t help matters.


American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Birded out, I walked back to the car. Quite a satisfying birdy Labor Day, I must say, even if the weather was less-than-ideal for photography.

Birds seen:
– American Coot
– American Robin
– Anna’s Hummingbird
– Belted Kingfisher
– Black Phoebe
– Black-crowned Night Heron
– Brewer’s Blackbird
– Brown Creeper
– California Towhee
– Chestnut-backed Chickadee
+ Common Yellowthroat
– Dark-eyed Junco
– Double-crested Cormorant
– European Starling
– Great Blue Heron
– Great Egret
– Hairy Woodpecker
– Mallard
– Marsh Wren
– Pygmy Nuthatch
– Red-necked Phalarope
– Red-winged Blackbird
– Rock Pigeon
– Song Sparrow
– Townsend’s Warbler
– Western Grebe
– Western Gull
– Western Scrub Jay
– Western Tanager
– White-crowned Sparrow
– Winter Wren
* Yellow Warbler

+ = year bird, * = life bird

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Posted in Birding, Nature, Photography | 9 Comments

9 Responses

  1. on 4 September, 2007 at 13:58 rowdycowchick

    Your photos are fabulous! I especially love the squirrel!


  2. on 4 September, 2007 at 14:17 Bernie Kasper

    Wow!!!.. These are great Adam, the Hummingbird, Kingfisher, and Song Sparrow are as about as good as you can get. Wonderful shots, shooting at 1600 must have been a bear, were they hand held?


  3. on 4 September, 2007 at 14:39 Adam R. Paul

    RowdyCowChick: Thanks!

    Bernie: Thanks for the kind words! I prefer a lower ISO when possible, of course, but at ISO 1600 I was only at 1/800s @ f/5.6 (wide open on this lens when the 1.4x TC is attached) – just barely enough to freeze these little, active birdies. Most of my bird shots, including all of the ones in this post, are taken w/a monopod. I find a tripod to be unwieldy since I’m usually pretty mobile when birding, and by the time I setup/breakdown, whatever I wanted to shoot is usually gone 🙂


  4. on 4 September, 2007 at 17:58 mon@rch

    whenever I see your post in my RSS feed, I always know that you will have some amazing photography! This is no exception with these stunning shots! Which one to start with, that grebe or even kingfisher photo?? Robin, Hummingbird or even your warblers! Each and every one is so perfect! WOW Great Job Adam! So many lifers here, I just need to go birding out west one of these days!


  5. on 4 September, 2007 at 19:02 montucky

    Outstanding photos, Adam! You had an excellent day. I really like all the photos, but especially the Song Sparrow. That’s a very special shot!


  6. on 5 September, 2007 at 18:20 Mary Carlson

    Great pix, Adam. It definitely looks like you had a productive day. I loved every one of those photos – but I am especially amazed at the hummer photo. Thanks for sharing.


  7. on 7 September, 2007 at 13:37 Adam R. Paul

    Monarch: Well, thanks! If you ever get out this way, it’d be fun to show you around!

    Montucky: Thank you – it was a fine day indeed! Song Sparrows are fun to photograph, and are relatively cooperative as far as the small passerines go.

    Mary: Thanks! Hummers are such characters – these two were going nuts on each other as they tried to feed from the same tree.


  8. on 7 September, 2007 at 16:54 aullori

    I absolutely love your birding photos – you can tell you have a soft spot for these guys. I love that song sparrow as well. “Catching” any bird is tricky but a small sparrow like that is so much more difficult. However, the photo looks like you paid the bird six sunflower seeds to pose for you. 🙂 I learn so much about birding by looking at your blog. Beautiful. I love how you captured the colors of the kingfisher in your photo! I envy that shot! I also really dug on your warbler shot … again such a tiny guy. Beautiful photos! Everytime I look at your birding photos I think I’m impressed and then you one up me. Very nice!


  9. on 9 September, 2007 at 09:29 Adam R. Paul

    Thanks, Aullori! Song Sparrows, at least compared to many other birds of their size, are actually not TOO hard to photograph, as they fairly predictably perch atop bushes and sing. This makes it easier to use a wide’ish aperture to totally blur out the background, since the farther away the background is, the blurrier it is.



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  • About Adam


    I am an avid nature lover and amateur photographer, living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. On this blog, you will find photos and narratives from birdwatching outings, hikes, as well as any other random travels. For more information, see here.
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