Have just returned from 4 nights in San Francisco following a 4 week cruise from Southampton.
On the first day we walked from Fisherman's Wharf to Fort Mason. We started seeing some of the local birds many of which we could not identify.
The next day we left the ship and were taken on a trip of the city. This stopped at The Golden Gate park for an hour. Loads of birds about so the following day we took a taxi to the park and spent several hours there.
Could have done with a better bird book since we could not identify about half the birds we saw. My husband took quite a few record shots.
Luckily on the Monday we had booked a trip with
www.naturetrip.com. This is run by Eddie Bartley and
Noreen Weeden
We soon learnt the names of those mysterious birds we had seen on the previous day.
Locations we visited in order:
San Francisco Aquatic Park
Fort Mason--Community Garden
Marina Green (drive by)
Lincoln Park--Legion of Honor
Cliff House (& Land’s End)
Golden Gate Park--North Lake
Golden Gate Park--Bison Paddock
Lake Merced--Concrete Bridge area
In San Mateo County:
Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Half Moon Bay Airport fields
Denniston Creek mouth
Pillar Point Harbor
Bayfront Park
Back in San Francisco:
Heron's Head Park.
We were picked up at 7.30 and they planned to drop us back at the hotel once it was dark. Unfortunately it was wet and cold. Eddie had a radar map on his phone and did his best to miss the wet patches. In spite of the rain and the cold we had a great day. Eddie recorded 90 birds plus 2 calling. We saw 87 of these. Luckily at lunch time the rain stopped for a bit and we were given a great feed which included home made soup. Just the thing for a cold damp day.Eddie and Noreen were great bird guides and great hosts. Highly recommend contacting them if you are in the area.