AROUND THE BAY, December 1, 2006

This morning I drove down to the Ravenswood Section of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This section is next to and under the Dumbarton Bridge which crosses the San Francisco Bay in Palo Alto. It was a fairly high tide today so my target was a Black Rail. It was quite noisy right next to the bridge but more importantly there was no marsh for a rail to hide in. There were some excellent mud flats where I saw hundreds of DUNLINS, a few SEMI-PALMATED PLOVERS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, a few WESTERN SANDPIPERS, one RUDDY TURNSTONE, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, BLACK-NECK STILT, RING-BILLED GULL, WESTERN GULL, GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, and one THAYER'S GULL, first year. I walked along the edge of the Bay to a trail but was shocked to find it closed during hunting season, October 21 through January 28! I had no idea that hunting was allowed in this very urban setting. The trail would have taken me out on a levee to some marsh habitat with pickleweed where I would have had a better chance at seeing a rail. I desperately needed a restroom at that point so I didn't even chance walking the trail. I turned back to the car, saw some SONG SPARROWS and SAVANNAH SPARROWS and went immediately to Bayside Park on Marsh Road where I knew they would have a restroom. I didn't have a whole lot of time before work to look here and I wasn't even sure it was a good place for rails period. There were some GADWALLS, CANVASBACKS, NORTHERN PINTAILS, GREAT EGRET, SNOWY EGRET, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, BUSHTITS, and BLACK PHOEBE. There was probably more to explore but I needed to start down Highway 101 toward downtown for work soon. I made one last stop at Bear Island in Redwood City but had insufficient time. There is a boardwalk over a marshy area there that looked promising but I didn't see or hear any rails there either. I added CANADA GOOSE, BELTED KINGFISHER, and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW to my bird list for the day. Then it was time for work in downtown San Francisco. During lunch I stopped by Ferry Park without my binoculars. I was very surprised to see a VARIED THRUSH there. I also saw a HERMIT THRUSH, WINTER WREN, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW before it was time to get back to work. No rails but there is an even bigger tide tomorrow so I will try again then.