December 5, 2005
Groundhog Bay
Since many of the birds we missed last weekend in San Francisco Bay were still being seen, and some new ones found, Marcel and I decided to do a return trip on Saturday. Our first stop was Venice Beach in Half Moon Bay, in search of an adult Slaty-backed Gull. We found the required mass of gulls around the creek mouth...
.. but not out target. We were saddened to see this Western (or hybrid) Gull, which appeared to have been shot through the neck with a dart. In spite of this horrible injury, the bird seemed able to walk and fly without any difficulty - I guess gulls are pretty much indestructible!
When gull-watching got too much, a tame mixed flock of Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds, provided a welcome distraction.
The next bird on our hit list was the Rusty Blackbird in Bayfront Park. This time we got lucky - we pulled into the parking lot to find several birders watching it at very close range. The bird was much prettier than I expected, with the rust colours really obvious in the strong sunlight.
If you saw this view in Britain, you'd think you were watching a Fieldfare...
Since high tide was approaching, we tried for a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow near San Mateo. Again we struck out, but I enjoyed watching the local race of Song Sparrow tucking into the seeds of my study organism, Spartina.
A visit to the Palo Alto Baylands was similarly uneventful, while dipping a Clay-colored Sparrow in Lake Merced at least gave us glorious looks at a young Cooper's Hawk.
In the fading light we searched in vain for a drake Harlequin at Heron's Head Park, but instead had to make do with a flock of Mew Gulls, several Horned Grebes and this Whimbrel.
