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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

California uber alles (1 Viewer)

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening
Supporter
Scotland
As I've mentioned before on here, from 13th - 21st November I was away in San Francisco. This was partly to attend some academic conferences but I had plenty of free days to indulge in other pastimes. The weather was very pleasant the whole week with no rain and mostly sunny days. It was occasionally foggy until mid-morning and was windy enough for a whale-watching trip I hoped to go on to be cancelled due to bad weather. Here's a quick run down of the places I went to.

Day 1 - After enjoying wonderful views of a largely cloudless North American continent from the air, I managed an hour or so birding around the Presidio and Crissy Field. This area is a large wooded park that lies to the south of the Golden Gate Bridge and was just a few blocks from my hotel. Crissy Field is an old airfield where there is a saltmarsh restoration programme going on. The creek here is quite good for gulls, waders etc.

Day 2 - Birding around the Presidio in the morning and then Land's End and the Sutro Baths - an area of woodland and rocky coast right out on the edge of the Pacific.

Day 3 - Visit to Lake Merced, a collection of lakes in the south of San Francisco. Good for some wetland species.

Day 4 - A fairly spectacular day biring the Palo Alto Baylands between Mountain View and Palo Alto. This is an area of saltmarsh, tidal creeks and salt pans on the southern part of San Francisco Bay. Very large numbers of ducks and waterfowl, lots of raptors and waders and a few other goodies. A real 'you don't know where to look' sort of place.

Day 5 - A day hiking in the Marin Headlands just to the north of the Golden Gate Bridge. A fairly wild area of chapparal and scrub. I also visited Hawk Hill, a well known raptor observation point, and Rodeo Lagoon, a small, marshy coastal lake. I did very well for raptors on this day, with 10 species and some very close views.

Day 6 - A visit to Oakland on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. Firstly I walked around Lake Merrit, a shallow lake right in the heart of the city. This was a remarkably good place considering its location. Then a walk around Arrowhead Marsh in the Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline. This was a very nice area of marsh and open water that was particularly good for waders. I also had a walk around the Presidio early in the morning.

Day 7 and Day 8 - Spent these two days around UC Berkeley and saw a few interesting birds in the woodland around the campus.

Day 9 - A final walk around the Presidio in the morning before heading for the airport for my flight home.

Here's a few pictures from the gallery, of varying standards. I'll post a species list below:

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/38547/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/38548/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/38546/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/38700/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/38701/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/38702/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/39086/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/39091/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/39088/sort/1/cat/500/page/1
 
Here's a species list. I managed 133 species and 34 lifers (marked with an *):

Red-throated Diver - 1 Sutro Baths
Great-northern Diver - 2 Presidio, 1 Rodeo Lagoon
Pied-billed Grebe - Numerous on most fresh or brackish water. 100s at Palo Alto
Slavonian (Horned) Grebe - Small numbers in a few places
Black-necked (Eared) Grebe - Numerous on most lakes. 100s at Palo Alto
Western Grebe - Some large flocks particularly on the sea
Clark's Grebe* - Quite a few amongst the previous species. Most large grebes at Lake Merced were of this species
American White Pelican* - 100s at Palo Alto but none elsewhere
Brown Pelican* - Quite common in wetlands around San Francisco and Oakland. None seen at Palo Alto though
Double-crested Cormorant - Common around most water
Brandt's Cormorant* - 100s at Sutro Baths and smaller numbers elsewhere on the coast
Pelagic Cormorant* - 1 with Brandt's at Sutro Baths and 1, rather surprisingly, on freshwater at Lake Merced.
Great Blue Heron - quite common
Great Egret - quite common
Snowy Egret* - common in most shallow water
Black-crowned Night Heron - some good roosts, including one of around 15+ just a few blocks from where I stayed in a small surburban lake.
Turkey Vulture - a few at Palo Alto and 30+ in the Marin Headlands, often flying just over my head
Mute Swan - a few on the lake near my hotel. Probably as wild as most in the UK
Brant - two on Rodeo Lagoon, both young birds
Canada Goose - fairly common
Green-winged Teal - 150+ at Palo Alto. Not many elsewhere
Mallard - common
Gadwall - 50+ Palo Alto, a few elsewhere
Pintail - 150+ Palo Alto, 5 Arrowhead Marsh
Blue-winged Teal - 6 at Palo Alto (3 pairs). Very smart indeed and not too common in California in winter
Cinnamon Teal - 20+ Palo Alto, including some very bright drakes.
Shoveler - 2000+ Palo Alto. Huge numbers really - the commonest dabbler there. A few elsewhere.
American Wigeon - 200+ Palo Alto and smaller numbers elsewhere
Canvasback - 500+ Palo Alto with quite a few in Oakland
Ring-necked Duck - quite common on various lakes
Greater Scaup - this and the next species formed vast flocks out in San Francisco Bay around Palo Alto. Also some around Oakland
Lesser Scaup - see above. This species seemed to be the more numerous of the two Scaups
Surf Scoter - small numbers on the sea around San Francisco and also some on freshwater at Mountain View and Rodeo Lagoon.
Common Goldeneye - good numbers, particularly at Lake Merrit
Barrow's Goldeney* - 20+ Lake Merrit. Much commoner here than I expected, although the numbers were hard to assess given the difficulties of IDing immatures in particular
Bufflehead - small numbers in various places. Regular at Crissy Field
Ruddy Duck - 5000+ Palo Alto and lots on most lakes. Probably the most numerous duck in the Bay area.
Osprey - 1 at Lake Merced and 1 from Hawk Hill
White-tailed Kite* - at least 5 of these beautiful raptors at Palo Alto
Northern Harrier - several at Palo Alto where they were almost constantly in view. Many came very close. Also a number in the Marin Headlands and one at Arrowhead Marsh
Sharp-shinned Hawk - several in the Marin Headlands and a few others
Cooper's Hawk - one from Hawk Hill but no definite others
Red-shouldered Hawk* - A number of this incredible looking buteos. Often really approachable
Red-tailed Hawk - common with 30+ in the Marin Headlands. Some very dark birds seen
American Kestrel - small numbers. The first bird of the trip with one on San Francisco airport
Merlin - 2 at Palo Alto including a 'Taiga' adult male. 1 at Hawk Hill. I've seen loads of these before but still one of the highlights of the trip
Peregrine - 1 Land's End, 1 Palo Alto, 1 Marin Headlands
Pheasant - 2 at Palo Alto. Probably rather plastic but aren't they all
Clapper Rail* - 2 of the California subspecies seen very well at Palo Alto. Also heard calling at Arrowhead Marsh
American Coot - common on most areas of water
Grey (Black-bellied) Plover - a few at Arrowhead Marsh and Crissy Field
Killdeer - quite common in a few places
Black Oystercatcher* - 2 at Sutro Baths
Black-necked Stilt - a few small flocks at Palo Alto and Arrowhead Marsh
American Avocet - some large flocks at Palo Alto and smaller numbers at Arrowhead Marsh
Greater Yellowlegs - moderate numbers at Palo Alto and Arrowhead Marsh, 1 at Rodeo Lagoon
Willet* - moderate numbers at various places including Crissy Field
Whimbrel - a few Hudsonians in with curlews at Palo Alto and 1 at Arrowhead Marsh
Long-billed Curlew* - Over a hundred at Palo Alto, 1 at Rodeo Lagoon and a few at Arrowhead Marsh of this big cinnamon coloured beauties
Marbled Godwit* - small numbers in various places including Crissy Field
Ruddy Turnstone - 1 at Sutro Baths
Black Turnstone* - 50+ at Sutro Baths and 2 at Arrowhead Marsh. Always wanted to see this bird
Surfbird* - 4 at Sutro Baths in with the above. Another one I've always wanted to see
Sanderling - a few in various places
Western Sandpiper - 50+ at Arrowhead Marsh
Least Sandpiper - the most numerous peep with 100s at Arrowhead Marsh
Dunlin - Only seen at Arrowhead Marsh
Dowitcher sp - Quite a lot at both Palo Alto and Arrowhead Marsh. I never heard any call so I'm not really certain which ones I was seeing (both are possible). Might post some pictures up to see if anyone else can do them!
Franklin's Gull* - a 1st winter seen at very close range at Lake Merrit. Quite unexpected as this species is supposed to be scarce in California
Bonaparte's Gull - 30+ at Lake Merced and small numbers at various other sites
Heermann's Gull* - 5+ at Sutro Baths and 6 at Rodeo Lagoon. Various ages seen
Mew Gull - fairly numerous, particularly around Crissy Field
Ring-billed Gull - numerous in some places but not others. Most common at Lake Merrit
California Gull - common in most areas
Herring Gull - only a few for certain
Western Gull* - very common everywhere
Glaucous-winged Gull* - widespread in moderate numbers. Many apparent hybrids with the previous species
Elegant Tern* - 6 at Land's End and 2 across the Bay in Marin County. I was surprised there were still good numbers of these about
Forster's Tern - 50+ at Palo Alto
Feral Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon* - a couple of large flocks seen in flight around Hawk Hill
Mourning Dove - moderate numbers
Burrowing Owl - 1 at Mountain View in with ground squirrels
Short-eared Owl - 1 at Palo Alto
Anna's Hummingbird* - lots of these stunners all over the place. Far more males than females seen
Belted Kingfisher - a few, including 1 at Crissy Field
Nuttall's Woodpecker* - 1 seen in the rather small area of parkland at Lake Merrit.
Downy Woodpecker - small numbers
Northern Flicker - frequently seen
Black Phoebe* - a common and ubiquitous bird. My first lifer of the trip
Say's Phoebe - 1 Crissy Field, 1 Palo Alto, 1 Arrowhead Marsh
Loggerhead Shrike - 2 of these engaging birds at Palo Alto
Steller's Jay - 1 at the Presidio eating a Monarch butterfly, 1 at UC Berkeley
Western Scrub Jay - common
American Crow - common
Raven - common
Chestnut-backed Chickadee* - Lots of these lovely birds in most wooded or scrubby areas
Oak Titmouse* - one seen in the same area of Lake Merrit as the Nuttall's Woodpecker
Bushtit - common
Pygmy Nuthatch - Quite a few of these engaging things, mainly in the Presidio
Brown Creeper - 1 UC Berkeley, 1 Presidio
Bewick's Wren - a few of this smart wren in various places. Most common in the chapparal in the Marin Headlands
Marsh Wren* - Seen at Lake Merced, Palo Alto and Arrowhead Marsh. Heard more frequently
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - very common
Hermit Thrush - regularly seen
American Robin - a few flocks in the Presidio but otherwise rather scarce
Wrentit* - A bird I've always wanted to see. The commonest species in the chapparal in the Marin Headlands but easier to hear than see. Had some excellent close views of a few birds though. None elsewhere
Northern Mockingbird - small numbers
Starling
American Pipit* - 50+ at Arrowhead Marsh. I was quite struck by their distinctive call - like a thin Pied Wagtail
Cedar Waxwing - small flocks in the Presidio and at Mountain View
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1 at UC Berkeley
Yellow-rumped Warbler - very common
Townsend's Warbler* - this very smart bird was common in most areas of woodland and scrub
Common Yellowthroat* - a few of these crackers at Lake Merced and Palo Alto
Spotted Towhee - one seen well at Rodeo Lagoon
California Towhee* - common in most scrubby areas
Rufous-crowned Sparrow - a pair seen on the road up to Hawk Hill. A bit of a surprise
Savannah Sparrow - common at Palo Alto but not seen elsewhere.
Fox Sparrow - quite common in areas of scrub, particularly at the Presidio
Song Sparrow - Common
White-crowned Sparrow - very common
Golden-crowned Sparrow* - common almost everywhere. Seemed to favour scrubby or wooded areas more than the previous species
Dark-eyed Junco - the 'Oregeon' type common
Red-winged Blackbird - only moderate numbers. 1 seen with one leg!
Western Meadowlark - Quite a few in some places e.g. Palo Alto, Arrowhead Marsh
Brewer's Blackbird - common and tame around the city
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2 at Lake Merced
House Finch - very common
Pine Siskin - some moderately sized flocks in various wooded areas
Lesser Goldfinch - a few seen on day two in the Presidio but not otherwise recorded
American Goldfinch - 2 at Lake Merced the only ones seen
House Sparrow
 
One's that got away:

Had brief views of a rail at Lake Merced, probably a Virginia but I didn't see it well enough.
Heard an owl calling in Sausalito in Marin County. It sounded like a rather feeble Tawny Owl: "Pew-pueew" or something like that. I wondered if it might have been Northern Saw-whet
Saw a couple of flocks of free-flying parrots over my hotel but never had my bins to hand when I saw them. Parakeet sized and shaped with long tails, rapid flight in tight flocks and a rather Mallard-like quacking call

Stuff I missed:
Seabirds - I hoped to go on a whale watching trip to the Farrallon Islands, which would have produced a few more seabirds as well as cetaceans. There were two trips I could have gone on but both were cancelled so no auks and no shearwaters
Pacific Loon - saw fewer divers than I thought and maybe just didn't go to the right bits of the Bay
Wood Duck - one I hoped I might 'just come across' at one of the lakes I visited
California Quail - I bet I probably walked past a few but none showed themselves
Semipalmated Plover - rather baffled as to why there were none of these at the various good spots I visited for waders
Wandering Tatler - was hoping there might be a few lurking about but I probably didn't spend enough time on rocky coasts
Thayer's Gull - I looked as hard as time allowed at gulls but saw nothing that remotely convinced me
Red-breasted Sapsucker - another I thought I might just bump into
Hutton's Vireo - supposed to be moderately common in the area but I couldn't nail any
Varied Thrush - a bit of a disappointing miss as this a bird I'd really like to see
Tricoloured Blackbird - I looked quite hard at some of the Redwinged but that's definitely what they all were

Still, let's accentuate the positive and talk about some other impressive wildlife:

One of the highlights of the trip was the Bobcat I saw in the Marin Headlands (see photo above). It just sat in the grass about 50 yards from the trail and looked at me, whilst various people whizzed past on bikes.
Also had a nice view of a Coyote on the golf course in the Presidio, and saw various Squirrels (Grey and California Ground Squirrel). Monarch butterflies were quite common. I saw one snake in the Marin Headlands - a very small one with a couple of broad yellow lines down the body. On the sea I saw a few Porpoises (Harbour?) and several seals, which looked rather like Harbour Seals Phoca vitulina. I'm not sure if you get those in CA though. I've got some reasonable pictures if anyone knows.

Best wierd birding story:
I was walking up the road to Hawk Hill when I was surprised to see two Rufous-crowned Sparrows. I was surprised because, although I knew this species was found in some parts of the Bay area, it wasn't listed in any of the site guides for the Marin Headlands/Hawk Hill area. When I got to the top of the hill I met up with several local birders who were monitoring the hawk migration. I mentioned to one (who seemed to be the 'leader') that I'd seen this pair of RC Sparrows and that I wondered if this was unusual. His reply was 'Oh, I don't really do the little birds'. He asked one of the other birders present (one who apparently did know the little birds). This guy asked me why I thought this was unusual and I tried to explain. He then asked me to say again what I thought I'd seen to which he replied 'Rufous-crowned Sparrow - I've never heard of that one'. This species is definitely fairly widespread in California. I got the feeling I might as well have been asking about Salamanders or Weevils.

Best food/ drink: Nice Nepali restaurant near my hotel. Very good smoothies in Berkeley. The more I seemed to pay for food, the less good it seemed to be.
 
Hi Andrew,

Sounds like you had a pretty fantastic trip - shame you missed out on a few things that you were after but I guess that's always the way when you've only got a limited amount of time somewhere. It definitely got me thinking about the need to get out to California and do some birding at some point soon.

Anyway, a great thread title and a very thorough and interesting report - had to laugh about the Hawkwatchers - I've come across that phenomenon before whilst trying to point out (uncommon in CT) a pair of Vesper Sparrows to a guy watching migrating Red-Tailed Hawks - he couldn't have been less interested - very strange - Luke.
 
Glad you saw Wrentits. Our only Babbler. If it occured in England perhaps it might be called, "Babbler". Hope you were treated well in my state. Nice to see ol' Jello B. quoted in the title of a thread. Any thoughts on Cal Football? You were in Berzerkley.
 
The title intruiged me.........Dead Kennedys wasnt it? Brown Ale & spit both sprang effortlessly to mind.
Nice. Excellent report, hopefully California will be for me too......bitte!
SE.
 
Andrew, that was a most interesting report. I enjoyed reading about your trip over here. You mentioned some of the birds that I have really wanted to see our west and have not yet seen. Namely, Wrentit, Varied Thrush, Red-breasted Sapsucker to mention some. I was a little surprised that you did not see Wood Duck, California Quail, Semipalmated Plover and Pacific Loon. I would have thought that those would not be too difficult. However, I was really impressed with what you did see. I believe anyone would be happy with the list of birds which you observed.

As to the incident with the "hawk watchers", what can I say? The "I don't do little birds!" and "Rufous Sparrow? I've never heard of that one." seemed rather bizarre to me! Apparently you ran into a couple of "characters". I have heard that some "hawk watchers" do develope a rather "one tracked mind" though. Not all of us Yanks are quite like these guys you ran into to.

Thanks for the report! I greatly enjoyed reading it.
 
'llo Andrew,

Great report indeed and quite a few nice birds (not to mention the bobcat!).

As far as my (limited) experience goes, you want to head into montane pine forests for the varied thrush.

One question as well: did you use a car to get around while there, or make use of the public transport?

Cheers,

Filip
 
Filip - I entirely used public transport and my own two feet to get around. I expect I would have seen a few more species with a car but probably would have gone mad trying to drive in San Francisco. Varied Thrush is supposed to winter at much lower altitudes so I thought I had a chance around the city. I was probably just unlucky.

James - For some reason the Balivicar Snowy Egret never really got me that excited. It's pretty rare for me to twitch anything more than about 10 - 20 miles from where I live.

Larry - I was surprised I didn't see the species you mention as well. They're all birds I just expected to bump into, as they're all described as being fairly common in the guides I've looked at. I probably just didn't look in quite the right places.
 
Good collection of birds for about a week. I've been to California on conference-related trips 3 times now and have managed to find similar stuff although you have a good few I've missed. I've been particularly frustrated by my failure to find white pelicans they must be very impressive. As for the bobcat; very jealous.
Harbour seals are pretty common on the coasts around there so it's pretty likely that's what you saw. As far as I know California sea lions and northern elephant seals are the only other "seals" that get anywhere near the mainland round there and both are obviously different from harbour seals.
Shame about the whale-watching trip; definitely worthwhile if you go back (it took me 2 trips to get OKish views of whales but the birds were great).
Michael
 
Andrew Whitehouse said:
Filip - I entirely used public transport and my own two feet to get around.

Thanks for the info Andrew. I may be going to San Francisco for a few days this spring. Good to know that you don't need a car to get around.

Cheers,

Filip
 
Having never been further west than western Iceland, this trip would have been a veritable orgy of lifers for me Andrew, 88 to be precise. I really must go to North America soon. Inspirational stuff!

As for dedicated raptor watchers, I met one once at Monfragüe in Spain. The chap said he was only interested in birds of prey and didn't have the remotest interest when I pointed out a singing Subalpine Warbler a few feet behind him. Odd, but each to their own.

E
 
I must admit that whilst I am perhaps disparaging about the raptor obsessives in America, I'm reminded of the 'Marsh Harrier Man' who apparently used to sit in the hides at Minsmere (maybe he still does) and bellowed loudly whenever a Marsh Harrier appeared. 'Marsh Harrier!' 'Food Pass!' etc to anyone within earshot.

I also know a story about a well-known wildfowl obsessive who once went seawatching in Islay. An adult summer Sabine's Gull flew past along the shore at close range and he calmly pointed out that he'd seen many of these in Spitsbergen. Then a couple of Brent Geese flew by and he went apoplectic with excitement. I know which one would have got me going.
 
A good place for White Pelicans is the Central Valley and it's National Refuges. Sacramento and Grey Lodge are closest to me and the former always has the prehistoric beasties in residence. If you could just rent a car for a day, parts of the valley can be incredible. A single rice farmer 15 miles south of me can at times have 5 million ducks, geese, swans, and shorebirds on his land. Helps with the fertilizer bill. One Bald Eagle at Sac Refuge can get 50 thousand mixed geese in the air. Definitely worth the drive in the winter. Sac Refuge is about 2 hours from San Fran. And lastly, I think most American Birders would be happy to take a visiter to their local haunts. Perhaps a call to a local Audubon chapter or a forum like this might be a start for a "Contact" here in the New World. Split the fuel cost and treat for lunch. My fellow colonists enjoy the mother tongue and the zeal of those interested.
 
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