Birding San Francisco: November 4, 2006

It finally stopped raining today but it was too foggy to study jaegers off of the Cliff House so I was relegated to skulking Lake Merced for any lingering vagrants. The most interesting bird at South Lake Merced was a first year RING-BILLED GULL. So I moved on to the Boathouse where I found about six BONAPARTE'S GULLS feeding over the lake. I got some nice photos of one that perched on one of the boat ramps and pictures of a second winter GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. At North Lake Merced the best I could come up with was a SORA that was calling from the reeds. I stopped briefly at South Lake in Golden Gate Park and only saw one AMERICAN WIGEON. At Rhododendron Dell I could not relocate the WHITE-THROATED SPARROW I saw there yesterday in the drizzle, nor the two LINCOLN'S SPARROWS but there were about 100 AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES and one PURPLE FINCH. A TURKEY VULTURE (rare in San Francisco) circled overhead.
For my next stop I decided to try the San Francisco Botanical Garden formerly known as the Strybing Arboretum. The best birds of the day were right at the entrance. On the lawn was a CACKLING GOOSE and in the pond were two male HOODED MERGANSERS. There was also one MEW GULL and another GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. I found the CALIFORNIA QUAIL family in the California Section cowering under some salvia. The only other interesting birds were a flock of BUSHTITS and two WINTER WRENS.
After lunch I tried for shorebirds at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area which is one of the very few access points to the San Francisco Bay in San Francisco County. Unfortunately it is in a run down neighborhood and worse it is right next to the stadium, now called Monster Park where the 49ers play football. On Sundays during football season there is no access to the park unless you want to pay $25 and hear loud noises and be around a lot of trash. On Mondays after a home game the amount of trash is truly astounding. Needless to say much of the trash blows right into Candlestick Point SRA. Today when I arrived it was high tide so I only saw two SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, one BLACK OYSTERCATCHER, a few BLACK TURNSTONES, some BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, WILLETS, BUFFLEHEADS, SURF SCOTERS, RUDDY DUCKS, two LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, and one MARBLED GODWIT. For my last stop I made a brief visit to Heron's Head Park, a salvaged levee that goes out into the Bay and borders a sensitive wildlife area with one of the very few accessible marshes in San Francisco. Unfortunately this park is also in a marginal neighborhood and has also become a magnet for off-leash dogs even though they are prohibited in the park. Today was no different and I encountered some seven off-leash dogs in this tiny park, one of which was wandering into the wildlife area and another of which attacked me for no reason. I only stayed 15 minutes--long enough to see GREATER YELLOWLEGS, ELEGANT TERN, and FORSTER'S TERN. The Elegant Terns will soon be gone from here. That concluded my day of birding.