Today dawned cold, windy, and rainy and, as expected, not many
students showed up for the Saturday SFO field trip. We split the group
in half, Laura Stenzler and Dave Nutter taking one group, Dave Nicosia
and I the other.
Our group headed for Stewart Park where we would be able to scan the
lake from the shelter of the large pavilion. Even though there were
few birds on the lake, we were able to concentrate on the salient
features of several ducks (Common Merganser, Bufflehead, Common
Goldeneye) and one gorgeous, breeding -plumaged Horned Grebe. A few
Ring-billed Gulls were visible, but no other gulls or terns showed up.
And we got to watch and listen to a couple of Fish Crows.
From there we drove over to and walked around the Swan Pen. We had
good luck with the warblers: a bright male Yellow Warbler and two
Yellow-rumpeds. There was one cormorant on the snag across from the
boathouse.
At that point the rain had almost stopped, and we headed out to
Shindagin Hollow where we walked up Leonard Road and eventually heard
two, maybe three, Louisiana Waterthrushes. But, try as we might, we
were unable to spot them. We drove Shindagin Hollow Road to the
bottom. No Winter Wrens, but we did get good looks at a singing Purple
Finch, several Belted Kingfishers, a group of Field Sparrows (what
were they doing around the pond?), a fly-over Wood Duck, and brief
looks at an Eastern Towhee.
By the time we returned to the Lab, we had dried out, and I don't
think anyone regretted coming out on what initially looked like a
miserable day. We had 51 species for the trip.
Bob McGuire
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