At the start of the summer holidays, Jayne and I went on a long-awaited 3-week trip to California. We spent the first week in San Francisco, before moving down the coast to Seaside and Monterey Bay for the second week, and finished off in Groveland, near Yosemite National Park, for the final week. During our time there, we spotted , and managed to identify, 100 species of bird (including 62 lifers), 20 species of butterfly, 4 species of dragon/damselfly, 16 species of mammal and 4 different reptiles/amphibians!
During our stay in San Francisco, we were based on the west
side of the city, in the Stanyan Park Hotel, right next to the Golden Gate Park. We chose to stay here, so that we could visit the park, and the two museums
that stand in its grounds, the De Young Museum and The California Academy ofScience (both worth a visit).
Our first visit to the park, on the evening of 23rd
July, gave us excellent views of our first “lifers”, namely, Black Phoebe
and Anna’s Hummingbird, along with Brewer’s Blackbird, American
Crow, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco and Raven. As it turned out,
all of these species were common throughout the park, and were seen regularly.
We also spent most of Sunday 24th and Friday 29th in and
around the park, and added the following species: California Scrub Jay
(common), California Towhee (2/3 seen), Nutall’s Woodpecker (1), Downy
Woodpecker (1), Hairy Woodpecker (seen regularly), Allen’s
Hummingbird ( a few seen, much less common than Anna’s), Steller’s Jay
(heard more often than seen, but relatively common), Song Sparrow (not easy to see), House
Finch (regular), Barn Swallow (regular), Tree Swallow (1 bird
seen at a nest with 1 well grown chick), Red-winged Blackbird (just a
few seen around the Stow Lake), Brown-headed Cowbird (adults seen by Stow
Lake), White-crowned Sparrow (regular), Pygmy Nuthatch (seen with
a Brown Creeper in trees near the Japanese Tea Gardens), Red-tailed Hawk
(regular/common), Chestnut-sided Chickadee (heard regularly, but tricky
to see), Lesser Goldfinch (1 pair seen feeding on dandelion seeds), Western
Gull (common), California Gull (common around Spreckles Lake), Mallard
(common), Canada Goose (common, including in the Botanical Gardens), Cackling
Goose (1 on Stow Lake, possibly feral) and White-fronted Goose ( 1
on Spreckles Lake, probably feral), Great Blue Heron ( 1juvenile on Stow Lake), Hutton’s
Vireo (1 seen) and an Osprey (flying over the Botanical Gardens, with a
fish in its talons).
Whilst in San Francisco, we also visited several other areas, where we spotted other species. A trip to Fort Mason added Pigeon Guillemot to the trip list, along with Snowy Egret, and our first confirmed Brandt’s Cormorant.
Whilst visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, we saw a lovely
flock of 6 moulting Surf Scoters, 5 Western Grebes, hundreds of Brandt’s
Cormorants, dozens of Brown Pelicans, 2 Caspian Terns, along
with a small flock of Pygmy Nuthatches, a single American Goldfinch,
Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, Cliff Swallows, Brown-headed
Cowbirds (adults and juveniles) and Cliff Swallows (attending a nest).
A walk around the Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39 area added Heerman’s Gull, Western Gull, House
Sparrow, Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Great
Egret and Eurasian Starling.
On our last day in San Fransisco, we headed out to the coastal area of Sutro Baths/Land’s End/Point Lobos. Here we recorded Western Blue Bird (juveniles), Black Oystercatcher (2), House Finch (c.10), Brandt’s Cormorants, Brown Pelican, Dark-eyed Junco, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, Downy Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron, Caspian Tern, Raven (a flock of 23 on Ocean Beach!!) and our first Whimbrel of the trip, on Ocean Beach.
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