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Western SF birding

1 October, 2007 by Adam R. Paul

Saturday proved a fine day for birding in the western parts of San Francisco, netting me 43 species, probably the most I’ve seen in a (mostly) solo outing.


Red-shouldered Hawk

I started at the northeast end of Lake Merced, finding a good number of birds along the overgrown path to the fishing platform. A Red-shouldered Hawk called noisily, posing for a couple of photos before taking off, and numerous warblers worked the nearby bushes.

Chestnut-backed ChickadeeFox Sparrow

Yellow WarblerPygmy Nuthatch
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Fox Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, and Pygmy Nuthatch. Click any photo for a larger version.

One brilliant Wilson’s Warbler afforded a brief, but full glimpse, and several Yellow Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers were afoot as well. White-crowned Sparrows worked the underbrush, along with a lone Fox Sparrow, while Pygmy Nuthatches and Chestnut-backed Chickadees flitted about the larger trees.


Warbling Vireo

A plain whitish bird caught my eye – vireo? It wasn’t a bird I was very familiar with, but upon inspecting my photos of it, it was a Warbling Vireo, which I’d seen but once before, but not very well.

Lake Merced

I headed back toward the parking lot and down the paved path to the golf course, not seeing anything beyond the expected Brewer’s Blackbirds, European Starlings, and many Double-crested Cormorants.

 
Clark’s Grebe and chick

By the wooden bridge, a Clark’s Grebe had a cute fluffy youngster in tow. This seemed somewhat late, although I don’t claim to know when Clark’s Grebes normally hatch their broods. A California Towhee scratched in the underbrush along with many White-crowned Sparrows, but not much else was afoot, so I returned to the car.


Eurasian Collared-Dove

Next I drove to the lot at the southeast end of the lake to see what all was going on here. Turns out, plenty! As I looked in the woods by the concrete bridge, I met another birder by the name of Bob, and we spent the next hour or so birding together. He was kind enough to point out the Eurasian Collared-Doves (LIFER, but not a terribly interesting one, I’m afraid – it’s non-native and looks very much like a Mourning Dove) on the wires by the west end of the concrete bridge, then we walked along “Vista Grande Canal.”

“Vista Grande Canal”

Whoever named this unattractive, garbage-strewn concrete ditch “Vista Grande Canal” surely has a wry sense of humor, however, it proved rather productive bird-wise, despite being wedged beween the traffic’y Lake Merced road and a golf course.

With the help of Bob’s sharper-than-mine eyes, we soon saw a Black-throated Gray Warbler, more Warbling Vireos, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Yellow Warblers, a few Townsend’s Warlbers, some Black Phoebes, a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and many more Pygmy Nuthatches, Brown Creepers and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

 
Osprey

At the end of a branch, high in a tree, an Osprey perched, glaring down at us with its lovely yellow eyes.  All told, the detour-to-the-ditch was pretty birdy!

Bob had plans to bike across the Golden Gate for a raptor watch at Hawk Hill, so we parted ways and I headed back toward the car.  Not much else was afoot that I hadn’t already seen, so I decided to head north to see what was at the Sutro Baths area.

 
Brown Pelican

It was very prety at the baths, but  only the expected birds were seen: Brown Pelicans, Brant’s Cormorants, Western and Heermann’s Gulls, Rock Pigeons, two distant Black Oystercatchers sheltering on one of the offshore rocks, and that’s about it.  A Red-tailed Hawk flew by so low that I didn’t even recognize it until it had passed.

 
Some bridge or another….

I walked a short ways north on the Coastal Trail, but saw no birds of any sort – the early afternoon time and large number of people likely didn’t help!  Returning south, I briefly checked out Sutro Heights Park, but it was very quiet too, so I decided to call it a day.

This was a fine outing indeed, and I appreciated birding with Bob, as I doubt that I’d have seen the Black-throated Gray Warbler without his eyes, and it’s always nice to have extra eyeballs on the lookout.

Birds seen (43 species):
– American Coot
– American Crow
– American Robin
– Anna’s Hummingbird
– Black Oystercatcher
– Black Phoebe
– Black-throated Gray Warbler
– Brant’s Cormorant
– Brewer’s Blackbird
– Brown Creeper
– Brown Pelican
– California Towhee
– Chestnut-backed Chickadee
– Clark’s Grebe
– Common Raven
– Common Yellowthroat
– Double-crested Cormorant
– Eared Grebe
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
– European Starling
– Fox Sparrow
– Golden-crowned Sparrow
– Great Blue Heron
– Great Egret
– Heermann’s Gull
– Mallard
– Marsh Wren
– Osprey
+ Pacific-slope Flycatcher
– Pied-billed Grebe
– Pygmy Nuthatch
– Red-shouldered Hawk
– Red-tailed Hawk
– Red-winged Blackbird
– Song Sparrow
– Townsend’s Warbler
– Warbling Vireo
– Western Grebe
– Western Gull
– White-crowned Sparrow
– Wilson’s Warbler
– Yellow Warbler
– Yellow-rumped Warbler

* = life bird, + = year bird

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Posted in Birding, Nature, Photography | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on 2 October, 2007 at 08:24 Bernie Kasper

    Love the images Adam, especially the Hawk, the shot of Lake Merced is rather interesting as well. It looks like a lot of the lakes here in Southern Indiana. Nice shots and info, thanks for posting.


  2. on 2 October, 2007 at 10:38 Keith Fahlgren

    The birding at Hawk Hill on Saturday was pretty impressive, with a few more than 500 sightings and a very close look at a Merlin. My surprise there was the difference between hawk watching in Detroit the weekend before and Hawk Hill last weekend. Detroit’s numbers were huge, but no one seems to know about it (unlike PA and Cape May, NJ).

    Saturday at Detroit:
    http://www.smrr.net/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?b-Journals1/m-1191107181/
    1,086 birds, for a season total of 137,945

    Hawk Hill Saturday:
    http://www.ggro.org/dailyhw06.html
    535 birds

    On the Red-Shouldered, some one at Hawk Hill said that the number of RS nests in Golden Gate Park was greater than Red-Tailed…


  3. on 2 October, 2007 at 15:48 montucky

    Again, I appreciate the photos of the birds. They are excellent! Aside from the “Canal”, you have some very pretty scenery there, too!


  4. on 5 October, 2007 at 06:35 Adam R. Paul

    Bernie: Thanks! I was a little surprised to learn yesterday that Lake Merced is a natural lake – I’d assumed it was man-made. Its by far the largest in San Francisco, at 4.5 miles circumference. Most of the views of it are considerably more urban than what I showed 🙂

    Keith: ooh a close Merlin sighting would be a treat indeed! Thanks for the info and comparison w/Detroit. Joe Morlan said the same thing about RSHA nests in Golden Gate Park outnumbering RTHAs. I certainly see & hear a lot of RSHAs both there and at home, where at least one, possibly more, live in Buena Vista Park.

    Montucky: Thank you! Western SF is very pretty, and comparatively off of the tourist track vs. Fisherman’s Wharf & Pier 39 anyways.



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