Post by paulos on Feb 12, 2024 9:26:08 GMT -8
A quick academic conference in San Francisco in January gave me a few opportunities to get out and see birds around the city. I was able to spend one morning in Golden Gate Park, the long green strip on the west end of the city. The opportunity allowed me to find my first California Towhees. I had brief views of a small flock of Red-masked Parakeets fly over the narrow "Panhandle" on the east edge of the park. There were lots of Pygmy Nuthatches, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Townsend's Warblers throughout the park. I was also pleased to see an Acorn Woodpecker and California Scrub-Jays. I saw several Red-shouldered Hawks. Black Phoebes were everywhere, including downtown.
After the conference I had one extra day in the area before heading home, which I spent at the Ocean Beach area and the west end of Golden Gate Park. I saw my first Snowy Plovers (including a flock of over 50 roosting on the sand), lots of Sanderlings, some Willets, Black Turnstones and Brown Pelicans. It was nice to get to study Western Gulls up close--their bill shape really is very bold and unique compared to the Glaucous-winged and hybrid gulls on the coast up here. And there were plenty of aptly-named Surf Scoters diving in and out of the big ocean waves.
I spent some time trying to (unsuccessfully) stake out Tricoloured Blackbirds that roost in the evening and a few other rarities on some "lakes" (tiny ponds) in Golden Gate Park. I did hear a rare (for there) Western Tanager and had several encounters with Nuttall's Woodpeckers (another first for me).
The trip report: ebird.org/tripreport/192582
A few photos: