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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kibet" data-source="post: 3495919" data-attributes="member: 126488">Day 11 Monday 28th NovemberTilden Nature AreaI was almost tempted to skip this walk today, with the later finish and strenuous walk yesterday, a backlog of photographs to go through, and I would be visiting later in the week.  Also with my “Gang attack” from the Raccoons, and the stalking by the Coyote, I was likely at this rate to run into a Mountain Lion, and as I would be on my own, and a workday, I would be more likely to be picked off. Well, I risked my life to go on this trip, just so I could report back to you…okay I wanted to go, and going through the pictures could wait. Plus my legs had actually survived pretty well. A little later start, I was there by 0800 on a rather dull morning. I was dropped off, by an Uber (8 USD), to just over a dozen Wild Turkey and promptly found no cell reception. Not even emergency numbers. I was officially in a dead zone, so when the Mountain Lion did come forth, it would be mano-a-pato. I did not favour my chances. Luckily, I had been making videos to show online later and had begun a tendency to commentate aloud on what I was seeing, even when I was not recording a video. So, the Mountain Lion would at least hear me coming, and would not attack by being surprised by me.The walk down to Jewel Lake was quiet, other than the Wild Turkeys, and it was only I got closer that I heard Steller’s Jay and Scrubbies. The lake itself seemed devoid of anything feathered, not even a coot or mallard. As it had only been half an hour since arriving, I decided to go down the path next to the lake, and take a walk around it. That path, was not a loop, but instead came to a forked trail which eventually went back to the car park, where I had started the day. I started the walk again.The walk down to Jewel Lake was quiet, other than the Wild Turkeys, and it was… there was movement in some bramble-type bushes. With so much branches and twigs in the way, the speed of the bird hopping along, I knew that I had no chance of photographs. It was a Pacific Wren. This wren may have been too elusive for me to take a picture of, but it allowed me to get a photograph of a bird I had wanted all week, the Chestnut-Backed Chickadee. I could see that the picture was blurry as I got one shot off before it flew as my camera focussed on the twig behind, but I had it. As I was walking doing another video to say about getting the CB Chickadee, I stopped to more Chickadee calls, and found the “Magic Zone”. In this 3-4 meter area, with trees on either side, that I had walked passed to nothing before, suddenly had a flurry of activity. The CB Chickadees, which I got better shots of, was followed by a Townsend’s Warbler, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Dark-Eyed Juncos, as a couple of Cal Tows rustled about on the pathway. A Brown Creeper came in with good light and side views, and a Spotted Towhee came up to have a look and pose for some photographs. The Oak Titmouse followed up the rear of the foragers as the magic was starting to dissipate.  Steller’s and Scrubbies flew across the path (the latter whilst making another video), as a pair of American Crows flew higher up, and American Robin perched on the tall trees. So in the space of 20 minutes, in that Magic Zone, I had managed to see 12 species and improve on some photographs.With no further activity, I walked a couple of minutes to find a Black Phoebe on the high bare branches of the pines. I was at a crossroads, and had to choose between trails. Now, I may have sounded organised so far, in fact I took a copy of the Tilden Nature Area Map of all the different trails. Unfortunately, not on the computer that I had with me or had access to, so I was blind. I took the left trail, heading up Wildcat Canyon. For the next 40 minutes, I saw no birds and only one person, probably not helped by the extremely slimy mud, before finally seeing GC Sparrows, followed quickly by another Spotted Towhee. Another 40 minutes, and finally a Black Phoebe, which seemed to be in a more active area again, with four Robins flying overhead, six Acorn Woodpeckers congregating on a branch, Red-Tailed Hawk, followed by Turkey Vulture. The shrill of the Anna’s marked one that had been strangely absent all day, the first since I started the walk 4 hours ago. Northern Flicker went onto the Acorn Woodpecker tree, which was promptly chased off. For the next 20 minutes, it seemed to be every 200 meters, there was a pair of Scrubbies, until finally one convinced me to take a photo of them. A small flock of American Bushtits foraged in a bush, which would be the final bird of the day. I found out that I could still get a GPS signal on my phone, so could see how far I had to walk to get off the track. After the Bushtits, people started to be a common sighting, and I eventually got on a road to civilisation. Walking a couple of more miles to the BART Station, whilst stopping off at a discount grocery store, I took the return journey back to the hotel. It was probably one of the longer walks of the vacation so far at about 15 km (9 miles). I did take a nap when I got back to the hotel.Photographed Species (to be filled in as now at hotel on different computer)</blockquote>

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