One Last Trip To Golden Gate Park
Monday morning I had a few hours to kill before I had to get to SFO and catch my flight home so I took a quick spin up Ocean Beach and then into the Western part of Golden Gate Park. Common Ravens were once again common. A couple of American Crows also called, but they were vastly outnumbered by the ravens. Song Sparrows and American Robins were common. Hummingbirds, both Allen’s and Anna’s, were almost as common. So were any number of people doing Tai Chi at various locations.
The first new trip bird I found was a Winter Wren. I think I had these on Mount Davidson the previous day, but I was never sure. This particular wren was a lot more cooperative and let me see it rather than just singing from distant bushes.
The Cedar Waxwings were back at the North lake, maybe 100 total. Black Phoebe, Mallard, Red-winged Blackbird, and Brewer’s Blackbird were also present, along with one Black-crowned Night-Heron. However the Pied-billed Grebe had disappeared. I wandered into the north woods briefly and scared up California Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, and American Goldfinch.
However the final bird for the trip was a new California bird for me; a Brown Creeper climbing directly up a large trunk by the side of the road and calling. I’ve never heard them call in New York. In fact, a lot of birds seemed to be singing and calling out here that don’t do that a lot in New York City. (Cooper’s Hawk is another that I rarely if ever hear in New York, but that wouldn’t shut up in San Francisco.)
Total species count for the morning was 19:
- Mallard
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Western Gull
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Allen’s Hummingbird
- Black Phoebe
- American Crow
- Common Raven
- Tree Swallow
- Brown Creeper
- Winter Wren
- American Robin
- Cedar Waxwing
- California Towhee
- Song Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- American Goldfinch
I checked out of my hotel about 8:30 A.M. and still made my 12:30 flight out of SFO with plenty of time to spare. This definitely beats spending an extra two hours in the airport.
The total species count for the entire trip was 65, though that includes three introduced species that “don’t count”:
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- Muscovy Duck
- Mallard
- Surf Scoter
- Ruddy Duck
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Clark’s Grebe
- Brown Pelican
- Brandt’s Cormorant
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- American Coot
- Whimbrel
- Marbled Godwit
- Sanderling
- Ring-billed Gull
- California Gull
- Herring Gull
- Western Gull
- Caspian Tern
- Rock Pigeon
- Mourning Dove
- Red-masked Parakeet
- Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Allen’s Hummingbird
- Black Phoebe
- Western Scrub-Jay
- American Crow
- Common Raven
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-green Swallow
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Bushtit
- Pygmy Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Winter Wren
- American Robin
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- Cedar Waxwing
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Western Tanager
- California Towhee
- Song Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Hooded Oriole
- Purple Finch
- House Finch
- Lesser Goldfinch
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
That’s fewer than I was hoping for but it still included three life birds (Clark’s Grebe, Hooded Oriole, and Pygmy Nuthatch) and 13 California birds. My California total is now 141, six behind New Jersey. (New York’s still way out in front with well over 200.) Probably I could have done 10 or 12 better if I’d rented a car and brought a scope. I did miss a couple of sites that should have provided reliable life birds, but sometimes it’s nice just to walk and really see a place rather than hop from site to site trying to rack up as many species as you can. Maybe if I come back for JavaOne next year, I’ll get a car then and visit Lake Merced, Fort Funston, and Candlestick Point, or even get out of the city. But for now it’s back to New York.
