Will's bird blog: California (birding) trip: Part 1, San Fransisco, days 1-3

Day 1 (18th August)

We landed at San Fransisco mid afternoon and we (mum, dad, brother and two birding family friends) were very tired as our body clocks thought it was around 10-11pm. Whilst still in the plane (but on the ground) I did see a couple of gulls and a Heron species but didn't manage to ID them. We got in a small shuttle bus which would take us to our accommodation, a very nice self catered apartment overlooking the bay and Alcatraz Island. From the minibus the first birds as expected were Feral Pigeons and House Sparrows but we did spot a Raven soaring towards the golden hills behind the west side of the city. We were staying in the Fisherman's warf area which meant that there were lots of birds since there was water, harbours and lots of food dropped by people. We got to the flat and instantly saw Brown Pelicans and Western Gulls as well as a distant Surf Scoter and flocks of Brewer's Blackbirds. It was getting on early evening and as it got dark a Great Egret and some American Crows went to roost. This wasn't a bad first afternoon.

Western Gull

Day 2 (19th August)

I (like everyone else) woke well before first light (again due to jetlag) which was in a sense good as from the flat we saw Great-Blue Herons and Double-Crested Cormorants fly from there roosts sights into and around the bay along with endless streams of Brown Pelicans. Also seen in the early hours were (Eurasian) Starlings and (Eurasian) Collared Doves, both now very common species after their introduction. A bit of seawatching into the bay also produced a Willet, some Pigeon Guillemots and a few Caspian Terns, but still no lifers. After breakfast the majority of the group wished to see the city whereas Les (family friend) and I wished to go birding along the seafront so we did just that. We arranged to meet the others back at the apartment that afternoon. The first bird of the walk was a fantastic Heerman's Gull, this was a bird that I really wanted to see. We carried on walking west along the seafront towards the Golden-Gate Bridge and saw some rather unexpected birds such as Black-Crowned Night-Heron, Purple Finch and my best ever views of Surf Scoter. One thing we noticed as we got into a rather more wooded area were lots of Hummingbirds mobbing Red-Tailed Hawks and zapping around. One briefly landed and we got a look at it, these were Anna's Hummingbird, a beautiful little bird. Whilst watching them a woman asked if we were birders, we replied yes and she told us about a place called Crissy Fields were there was a small marsh, a reminiscent of the huge marshes that used to be at the site before the city. We thanked her and decided to head that way. We went through lots of docks (with sea defences) which rewarded us with a Pelagic Cormorant and some Black Turnstones. We arrived at the small (tidal) marsh and were struck by how strange it was that in the middle of a very loud urban area next to a highway was this little piece of tranquility at the height of urban birding. We entered the tiny reserve and, surely enough, on the central island were many birds. There were Marbled Godwits, Elegant Tern, Caspian Tern, Long-Billed Curlew, Willet, Snowy Egret, California Gull, Western Gull, Semipalmated Plover and close-by one the shore were a few Killdeer and a Great Egret. This was most definitely didn't expect to have all of these waders in San Fransisco itself. We then walked around Crissy Field Marsh onto Crissy Field where there was a flock of American Goldfinch and Lesser Goldfinch. It was now around noon and we decided to head back east along towards pier 39 where we knew there were California Sea Lions. On the way there we saw a Cooper's Hawk and a large high flying flock of White-Faced Ibis. We noticed that bizarrely there were relatively few House Sparrows, this was presumably due to the competition of the numerous Brewer's Blackbirds and Brown-Headed Cowbirds which filled their niche. We managed to see the Sea Lions from pier 41, this was better as although they were slightly further away the pier was far less crowded (the view is fine as there is no pier 40). To top the day off an immature Bald Eagle flew high over.

California Sea Lions

California Gull

Killdeer

Elegant Terns, Caspian Tern and Western Gulls

Heerman's Gull

Surf Scoter (female)

Surf Scoter (male)

Day 3 (20th August)

One of the things that my brother really wanted to do was visit Alcatraz Island and (disused) prison. The rest of us weren't that fussed, but if we had known the birdlife on the Island we would have wanted to go there as much if not more than him. We got on the ferry and saw straight away Pigeon Guillemots, California Sea Lions and Brandt's Cormorants. Whilst cruising towards the island we saw more of these as well as lots of Elegant Terns and also Harbour Seal and Harbour Porpoise. Whilst docking on Alcatraz we noticed some little birds flitting around on the rocks. Once on the Island we got a closer look, they were Black Phoebes. These Phoebes were also accompanied by a Wandering Tattler. We all continued up towards the main prison building to do the audio tour. The tour was absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend it as it took you around and told you things you otherwise wouldn't have known. After the tour we walked down slightly towards the small cliffs. We were greeted by a colony of Brandt's Cormorant and Western Gulls. There were also Song Sparrows (Pacific (California) ssp.) and Anna's Hummingbirds. I would definitely go again and I believe that slightly later in Autumn or in Spring the Island would be good for migrants.