Embarcadero Plaza

The Embarcadero Plaza is about the biggest open space with trees in the Financial District, or easily reachable from 2nd and Market. I took my binoculars to the park this Monday afternoon to see what I could see.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
possible Orchard Oriole
American Robin
various other LBJ's


All but the Robin were firsts for me.

The Day After

Unwilling to let my first birding trip of the year be the only outing of the weekend, I trekked back to the lagoon from our place.

Notable birds and birds not seen or ID'd the day before include:

Purple Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Green Heron
Red-Tailed

But most interesting was a double siting of the local fox. I saw him once last year and was very happy just knowing he was there. Yesterday I walked all the way around the lagoon as there were a number of dog owners doing things I should have mentioned to them that were not good for the local ecosystem. But I didn't -- I wussed out. Instead I walked to the other side of the lagoon to where I had never been before. Upon entering an opening, into the field that the Northern Harrier from Saturday was very likely patrolling, I saw the fox languidly taking in the sunlight. He saw me and slowly wandered into a den-looking mass of shrubberies. Awhile later as I was birding the inner perimeter we surprised each other, with him bounding off into the reeds and me getting to see him bound. Quite the thick bushy tail he had.

So my two favorite lagoon rarities, both of which I described but we did not see on Saturday, ended up being the main events of Sunday. Too bad Jessie didn't stay the weekend.

Birding with Jessie

Jessie's my old fishing buddy. He came over to go crabbing on the pier at night but it rained so we hung out inside and looked at bird books while discussing life's events.

The next morning he mentioned that he wanted a new hobby and asked if I had any suggestions. So the obvious was suggested and we took the dog on his first long walk since his surgery down to the lagoon for the year's first birding walk, mine and Jessie's and Pirate's.

We saw:
At the beach:
Willet
Surf Scoter
Raven
Brandt's Cormorant
Rock Dove
Brewer's Blackbird
Sanderling
Western Grebe
various gulls

At the lagoon:
Marsh Wren
Pied-bill Grebe
American Coot
Ruddy Duck
California Towhee (we think)
Red-shouldered Hawk (2)
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Northern Harrier
Says Phoebe

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Back to Birding

I've been on a hiatus. No official birding excursions, no GGRO volunteering, barely even used my binoculars lately. But that's all changing.

Against all odds my brother is catching the twitcher bug. His first trip out of the country, to Africa, has awakened his inner birder. And in turn reawakened mine. That days are getting longer again helps as well. That 2006 is over and behind us is a boon.

So here then is my 2007 Proclamation and Manifesto.

1) Go birding more. Incorporate it into everything I do outdoors and much more of my indoor time as well. I've got the Peterson Bird Calls of the West to learn, several new books w/CD's of bird calls, and David Attenburogh's Life Of Birds to view.

2) Get outside more. Hiking, biking, walking along the shore. Whatever. Stay outside as long as possible every day. Fear not the rain (get rain pants).

3) Plan outdoor events. Camping, day hikes, weekend drives outside our normal range. We almost left decided to move away from California a few months ago. If that ever does happen I don't want to later realize how much of California I missed. It's time to double-down and see ALL of California.

4) Open my birding horizons. I started with hawk watching, duck ID'ing, and marveling at Herons and Egrets. I've come to appreciate all birds now, but I really need to learn them more.

5) Concentrate on learning bird calls. It's wonderful to have gotten the tools. Now use them.

6) Learn the constellations.

7) Learn the trees. I got a constellation and a tree book free from work from a series called Stikky. As in Stikky Trees and Stikky Sky. I started to learn the trees and the new memory technique was working. Then we moved and I lost the books, only to have found them recently. I've been fascinated by the night sky for as long as most people my age, but can't hardly name anything bu the Big Dipper and Orion. I want to know where Cassiopeia is, or at least how to spell it.

8) Be more efficient at work, so I have more time to what I want during the day.

That's it for now. Be back soon.