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San Mateo Birds of the Coast

For easy to find reference.

Habitats:
Sandy beach and mudflats, rocky headlands, coastal scrub, freshwater marsh, lake, riparian woodland, farm fields.

Specialty birds:

Resident
Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants;
White-tailed Kite;
Peregrine Falcon;
Black Oystercatcher;
Marbled Murrelet;
Rhinoceros Auklet;
Western Screech-Owl;
Northern Pygmy-Owl;
Chestnut-backed Chickadee;
Wrentit.

Summer
Brown Pelican,
Cinnamon Teal,
Heermann’s Gull,
Elegant Tern,
Pigeon Guillemot,
Black Swift,
Allen's Hummingbird,
Bank Swallow.

Winter
Western Grebe;
Wandering Tattler;
Long-billed Curlew;
Black Turnstone;
Surfbird;
Thayer’s and Glaucous-winged Gulls;
Say’s Phoebe.

Other key birds:

Resident
Black-crowned Night-Heron,
Virginia Rail,
Common Murre,
Great Horned Owl,
Winter Wren,
Common Yellowthroat,
Purple Hnch,
American Goldfinch.

Summer
Caspian Tern,
Grasshopper Sparrow.

Winter
Red-throated Loon;
Eared Grebe;
Surf and White-winged Scoters;
Bufflehead;
Sora;
Greater Yellowlegs;
Marbled Godwit,
Ruddy Turnstone;
Sanderling;
Loggerhead Shrike;
Lincoln’s Sparrow

Unusual Swarm of Seabirds

Unusual Swarm of Seabirds

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

####

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.

Coastal Birds

I'm living about 75 feet from the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean and about half a mile from a protected freshwater lagoon. While there certainly bird friendlier places to live, there probably aren't a lot! I've had a couple or more truly memorable birding days walking out of my front door in the last couple of months since we've lived here.

The four newest birds that I hadn't seen here before I saw with my neighbor Tim in Laguna Salada on Monday after work. I added a Green Heron, a Black-crowned Night Heron (juv.), a Greater Scaup, and a beautiful Ruddy Duck with its bright blue bill.

Standard fare on any given day are American Coots, Pied-billed Grebes, Red-winged Black Birds, Marsh Wrens, Common Goldenthroats, Song Sparrows and Ravens.

There is a resident Red-Shouldered Hawk. On Sunday we watched thim beat from perch to perch trying to shake a Raven that didn't appreciate his presence as much as we did. I lost him for a little while, but right before it would have been too dark to see anything a Ravens rose up from out of nowhere and the Red-shoulder too, but he fled off to the north. A moment later another Red-shoulder and a Red-tailed Hawk rose from the same spot harassed by the Ravens and split up heading south and east. A majestic finale.

On a solo hike though the lagoon and the hills and coastal cliffs I had my widest variety of raptors, and probably birds in general. I found the Red-shoulder and Red-tail right away. The next bird got my pulse going. A Peregrine Falcon flew into the area marking the second time I've seen him. I'm fairly sure I spotted a Merlin hunting at near the peak of hills near Mori Point. From the peak I spotted an American Kestrel perched at the the top of a tree on a neighboring hill. And a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawk sprang into view just in front of me then flew around the hillside out of view.

Later on I added a Horned Lark to my life list. And I recall a Great Blue Heron slowly drift over head before alighting on a the grass atop the cliffside. LBJ's I saw that day remain that.

It was a great day of hiking and birding and I can't wait to repeat it.

Along the surf itself there seem to be a regular contingent of Surf Scoters. The males' remarkable oversized red, yellow and black bill makes for fun contrast to the black and brown bills I'm used to seeing. As far as sea gulls go I'd say there is a mix of California Gulls, Herring Gulls, Western Gulls, and Mew Gulls. But there could be a lot more that I can't distinguish.

Crows, Rock Pigeons, Brewer's Black Birds, and Starlings round out the more common birds in the district.