I spent last week, spring break week, in downtown San Francisco, at the south end of the bay, along the Pacific Coast north and south of the city, and in the Coast Ranges between Palo Alto and the coast. The trip garnered a surprising 17 new lifers, including:
Black phoebe, golden-crowned sparrow, willet, long-billed curlew, American avocet, whimbrel, marbled godwit, California quail, California gull, western gull, black oystercatcher, pelagic cormorant, Bewick's wren, pacific loon, greater scaup (finally, a reliable viewing in good light), California towhee, eared grebe. The total species count for the trip was 76. I met an avid bird artist in Bolinas, a little artisanal enclave almost on the top of the San Andreas fault. He is nearly done illustrating the identification paintings for a guide to Sierra Nevada species. His work is very impressive, and he gave me a "test" with several of the finished plate proofs. I did pretty well on the western species, although I couldn't get the sage sparrow and I flubbed a couple others. Some other highlights: many duck species (and only a handful of mallards), three cormorant species, a count of 80 willets at Richardson Bay (Mill Valley, Marin County), tremendous diversity of shorebirds and ducks at Baylands Preserve near Palo Alto, at least a couple dozen long-billed curlew at the same location. Both Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks were seen at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve, and a beautiful dark red trillium was in bloom there. Weather cooperated just enough for some beautiful scenery and photo ops, even during the fogs. Lee Searles Des Moines --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
