Saturday, November 18, I started out birding S. Lake Merced in San Francisco. There was little of interest there aside from two MEW GULLS and one first year RING-BILLED GULL. I moved on to Middle Lake in Golden Gate Park and it was equally uneventful with the most interesting sighting being a BELTED KINGFISHER eating an entire crab. There was also one SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.
I left the city and drove down Highway 101 into San Mateo County where I decided to check out the Public Access Trail around the SF Bay from the Sam Trans Station (San Mateo Country Transit). It's a nice paved trail that goes along the Bay but Saturday was just not the day. Most of the shorebirds I saw were well out into the Bay and I did not have my scope in hand and thus was unable to identify most of them. The only things I was able to identify were two CANVASBACKS, a big flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, a few GREATER YELLOWLEGS, WILLETS, SAVANNAH SPARROWS, and some GREATER SCAUP. It was unusually warm and I had on too many clothes. I proceeded down 101 to the San Mateo Bridge where I cut over to the East Bay and parked at Hayward Regional Shoreline which is a local park with access to the east side of the San Francisco Bay. This park has hosted many rarities over the years. There were many shorebirds and I did have my scope but it was low tide and most of the birds were well out into the Bay too far for comfortable viewing with a scope even. I saw some AMERICAN PIPITS near the parking lot and in the bay were BROWN PELICAN, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, SNOWY EGRET, GREAT EGRET, BLACK-NECKED STILT, WILLET, LONG-BILLED CURLEW, MARBLED GODWIT, LEAST SANDPIPER, WESTERN SANDPIPER, DUNLIN, and scattered in were a few RED KNOTS. On the raised pile behind the Bay that everyone calls Mt. Trashmore because it used to be a dump, were a few CANADA GEESE. Near the parking lot were some ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS, CALIFORNIA TOWHEE, and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. A TURKEY VULTURE soared overhead as I left.
Sunday, November 19, Susan and I drove 60 miles down the long winding Skyline Boulevard, Highway 35, to Big Basin Redwood State Park. The drive is stunning with views of the Pacific Ocean on the west side and the Crystal Springs Reservoir on the other and then through groves of redwoods and oaks. Today the fog was thick all morning until we reached Highway 35 and then it cleared up. Big Basin doesn't have any extremely tall trees as you would find at Redwoods National Park up north but it is a large grove of Redwoods mixed with Douglas Fir, Coast Live Oak, and Pacific Madrone. In the understory are Sword Fern, Huckleberry, a few Hazelnut Trees, and lots of Redwood Sorrel, among other things. There was not a huge diversity of birds but we had made the long drive specifically to look for Varied Thrushes which I had been having a hard time filming. When we first arrived at 8:30 AM before the crowds had had time to wake up, there was a VARIED THRUSH on nearly every limb and walking on the ground. We saw about 40 VARIED THRUSHES throughout the day and I was able to get some nice video of this skittish species. When we first entered the park I heard some drumming and Susan located the source-- a PILEATED WOODPECKER right over our heads. Other interesting birds were ACORN WOODPECKER, WINTER WREN, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, FOX SPARROW, and HERMIT THRUSH. After satisfying ourselves with the VARIED THRUSHES we took the 8 mile round trip hike to Berry Creek Falls. As we descended the steep trail down to the falls the number of birds we saw fell with the terrain. But it is a lovely walk among the towering Redwoods and along beautiful Berry Creek. At the falls we stopped for lunch and then hiked back out.
As the crow flies it is not that far from Big Basin to Pescadero Marsh but the only way to get there is to back out onto the winding Highway 35 and then down the equally winding Highway 84 to tiny La Honda and then on the impossibly winding Pescadero Road. It took over an hour to get to Highway 1 from Big Basin and Susan was nearly sick from all the curves and turns in the road.
It was already past four as we pulled into the parking lot for Pescadero Marsh. We
walked down to the bridge that crosses Pescadero Creek where it flows into the Pacific Ocean. Almost immediately on commencing across the bridge I spotted a large Loon in the water on the ocean side. I didn't even bother to identify it. I pulled out my camera and started taping. When it dove and was apparently underneath the bridge we decided to cross Highway 1 and walk down to the marsh. We ran into some birders on the other side of the bridge who excitedly told us that the YELLOW-BILLED LOON was still in the marsh! I had just seen my first ever YELLOW-BILLED LOON! We walked down to the marsh and saw it some more as it dove and surfaced periodically but the sun was sinking fast and the lighting was becoming difficult. So we decided to head back to the car. Other interesting birds in the marsh were WESTERN GULL, GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, SURF SCOTER, BUFFLEHEAD, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN SHOVELER, GADWALL, NORTHERN PINTAIL, MALLARD, and GREATER SCAUP. The sun was going down as we proceeded down Highway 1 back home. It was quite a birding weekend after all.
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