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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kibet" data-source="post: 3495531" data-attributes="member: 126488">Day 10 Sunday 27th NovemberGarretson point & Arrowhead Marsh (GGAS)Clicking on my Calendar in the morning to work out the public transport for getting to Garretson point, I found that the Bart did not start until 0800. So I arranged for an Uber and it cost me only a couple dollars more than public transport would have (8 USD). Arriving at Garretson point, I had about an hour before others would arrive (you can probably see a pattern here). Walking along the shore, I could see various rafts, which included American Coots, Ruddy Ducks and Western Grebes. Moving further around, I finally got a picture of a lone Pied Grebe in the sun, followed by a Willet that was not bothered by me waiting for the sun to move up in the sky to remove the shadow on it. The leader and others, including Calvinfold from Birdforum, started to arrive and we were treated with a raft of American Avocet. At the reedbed, where the avocets had been earlier, the Scaup (Lesser and Greater) had started to wake, and also were joined by Ruddy Duck and Northern Pintail. A Starling perched on  a wire at the bridge as somebody asked if I could take the Stalings back to Europe and we continued along the path to Black and Say’s Phoebe. As the group stayed behind the leader, it allowed time for people to get on it. A Nuttall’s Woodpecker called and one of the participants was able to track it allowing others to follow and get nice views of it travelling up a tree trunk. I got a nice ID shot of an Osprey flying off, which I would have been rather happy about if it was not for what happened later. The final bird before we left for Arrowhead Marsh was a Spotted Sandpiper.Upon arriving at the Marsh, one of the regulars already had the spotting scope on the Ridgway’s Rail, where one conveniently sat at the edge of the reeds allowing good views. Another stood a little to the left, more camouflaged and hidden in the reeds. The pier had Black-Necked Stilt with Marbled Godwit mixed in and joined by a lone Double-Crested Cormorant which I got pulling a comedic face. We were then treated to a male and female Northern Harrier (Hen Harrier) hunting low over the marshes. This was quickly followed by a pair of Peregrine Falcons, which nest on a nearby disused railway bridge, flying overhead. A small group (me included) broke away from the main party to take a walk up the canal to the site for Burrowing Owls. As we reached the canal, another Spotted Sandpiper was hunkered down on the other side. Wetlands at the side gave Lesser Yellowlegs, Northern Shoveler and Blue-Winged Teal, with the latter two still sleeping. Incidentally, the water birds in SF do seem to like to sleep to very late in the day. A lovely example of a male Northern Pintail in the middle of the Canal joined some Coots.The regular, who was not distracted by the Pintail (and various sparrows) and who had put his scope on the Rail earlier, had the scope already on the Burrowing Owl by the time we rounded the corner. Ignoring the man-made nesting mounds, the Burrowing Owl simply made the nest in the middle of the meadow next to a bush. The best thing the conservationists had done was simply build a worthwhile fence (compared to the César Chávez "bits of string", more on that later). The Burrowing Owl sat like a little mound of mud, eyes closed for the most part, giving us an occasional look, seemingly not bothered by Jackrabbits and Ground Squirrels prancing about.Leaving the owl behind, as Raptors have been known to work out where people are looking or pointing at before, we carried on along the fence to the road that would lead us back to the car park. As we crossed the road, we saw a Horned Grebe in the water, and a Black Oystercatcher on the other side.  As we headed to the cars at the car park, one of the group called out about an Osprey with a fish. I look up and in perfect view overhead was the Osprey, carrying a fair sized fish. In situations like this, normally the light would be bad, or the sun was behind it, or my camera would fail to focus, or the subject would become shy and start flying away, or a wing would get in the way. Not this time, camera worked perfectly, and the sun was high and not flooding the Osprey into shadow. The legs were in perfect position holding the fish, so that both bird and fish were in profile. Now, that was a WOW moment! One of the other birders offered to take me up to their house for some Acorn Woodpeckers, and I gladly accepted, especially when it came with the offer of finally having some Thanksgiving Turkey. The Turkey had other ideas, doing a somersault out of the Tupperware and landing on the floor. The birder’s cat remained uninterested until it was cleaned up and then proceeded to lick the carpet for trace turkey flavour. Instead, we had a lovely smoked salmon lunch, before heading up the hill to the land owned by Eugene O’Neill (American Playwright) Foundation.We had only got into his garden, when we got the first Acorn Woodpecker in an oak tree with Wild Turkey below.  The walk up the track gave us Dark-Eyed Juncos, Cal Tows and Oak Titmouse. As we got to the barn on the estate, which seemed to be set up as a theatre, there was a telegraph pole full of acorns, with an Acorn Woodpecker preparing the next hole for further winter supplies. We saw some split and dead trees from woodpeckers having put so many holes in the tree, it lost structural integrity.Going further up the hill, we had a fly over from a flock of Band-Tailed Pigeons. A couple of oak trees to the side, showed Acorn and Nuttall’s Woodpeckers, with a little extra one of the White-Breasted Nuthatch. The walk got steeper and muddier, with my fitness and balance getting put through its paces. The light was starting to fail as we descended the hill, and lightening up some images later of silhouettes, we saw some small bird we had struggled with was a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, and the final bird of the day was the Western Bluebird, perched on the wire as we walked through a suburbs street. I was dropped off at the nearby BART, to return for the evening after having a fantastic day.Photographed Species 81/56</blockquote>

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