Land’s End and Sutro Baths
I entered Land’s End near the Northeast corner about 4:00 P.M. I was planning to walk along the cliffs but some Violet-green Swallows got me to detour briefly over to the golf course. Also present were Mouring Doves, Brewer’s Blackbirds, and about 100 loud motorcycles. However, they all passed and I returned to the main cliff trail.
This trail has some of the most impressive views in San Francisco. Among other things I was watching soaring ravens from above. However, my camera battery ran out of juice near the end of the Presidio so no pictures in this report, sorry.
At least one Aechmophorus grebe was swimming in the bay, but without a scope pinning it down as a Clark’s or a Western was hopeless. Even looking down at the bay from the heights was a little dizzying and I had to steady myself against a Redwood.
A little further down the path, though, you can walk down some steps to the edge of the water. From here it was easy to pick out numerous Brandt’s Cormorants as well as a dozen or so Surf Scoters (almost all female). Roughly nine Brown Pelicans and one Caspian Tern flew by. There may have been some Common Murres in the surf too, but they were too far away to be sure.
Climbing the stairs and continuing along the trail, I found some Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a soaring Red-tailed Hawk.
I exited through the parking lot and continued along Point Lobos Ave around 6:00 P.M. A few Mallards and one lonely Ameircan Coot were hanging out in the remains of Sutro Baths. The usual hundreds of Brandt’s Cormorants were perched on the Seal Rocks. Just south of Cliff House, I found a few dozen sanderlings almost directly beneath me on Ocean Beach. Warning: if you’re at all subject to vertigo, do not attempt to look straight down with binoculars at many small running birds. Thankfully there was a wall there or I would have gone right over.
There were still a couple of hours of daylight left, but by this point I was exhausted, so I just walked home to my motel, and crashed for the night. I wanted to be up early the next morning to reach Mount Davidson near dawn.
