Trip Reports

Our group partook in finding the winter resident birds in UC Regents’ Blake Garden. Meghan, the head gardener, gave a synopsis of the garden’s history to begin our tour. Although it was cool and overcast we found or heard 25 bird species. The birders who stayed the two and a half hours until the end of the walk witnessed a mixed flock of about six species. Bob Hudson submitted the official bird list to ebird and shared it with those participants who shared their ebird contacts or email addresses.

It was an enjoyable experience and hopefully there will be returning birders to the Blake Garden.

We will repeat this tour on February 5, 2020. We plan to offer a guided birding walk through the Blake Garden once a month in 2020.

For a full list of the birds seen see ebird:

http://ebird/org/checklist/S63313645…

Our walk went from the Tilden Nature Center parking lot to Jewel Lake, then a bit into Wildcat Canyon to see “birds on the wires” and back. White Pelican fly-by and White-tailed Kite were Birds O’ the Day! Winter Survival tip from a Raven at the Little Farm: Grab an egg when you see it! From Great Egret at Jewel Lake: Carpe Diem (Seize the Fish)!  View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S63109858…

Today’s field trip participants were able to see most of the overwintering special birds, including the male ORCHARD ORIOLE, a YELLOW-SHAFTED NORTHERN FLICKER, an Intergrade NORTHERN FLICKER and a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER in the garden.  We were able to observe three different hummingbird nests, including an ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD feeding young at a nest in the garden, an ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRD nest above the steps leading down to Aquatic Park, and an ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD on a nest in a Cypress tree above Black Point (unfortunately about 20 feet from a sign saying that tree removal would start there on Tuesday – don’t know if the tree with the nest is slated for removal). Three WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS flew over. A WHITE-THROATED SPARROW was foraging in the Battery. A NASHVILLE WARBLER was in the garden early in the morning, and we observed two ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER – one in the garden and one in the Battery. The WESTERN BLUEBIRDS were checking out the nest holes in the Cabbage Palm next to the Chapel.…

“That’s the bird of the day!” sang out one participant, looking up at a catalpa tree across from the Garden Center. As always when approaching the pair of trees flanking the path about midway though the walk, I’d stopped to point out the horizontal rows of holes in the bark and explain that they were made by Red-breasted Sapsuckers – the slim rusty-hooded woodpeckers that farm these trees, drilling holes and then returning to them to clean out both the sap that bleeds in and the bugs that come to eat the sap. Also as just about always, we scanned the trees, found no sapsuckers – recorded on only seven other occasions in more than a decade of monthly visits – and crossed the street, heading for the garden. Then someone toward the rear of the group looked back and said, “SAPSUCKER!!”

We crowded round and got all the available scopes on the bird, which spent a satisfactory few minutes walking slowly up the trunk and providing good views for all. A number of unusually bright golden Lesser Goldfinches moved through the catalpas while we were watching, adding to the fun.

The day, warm and sunny and windless, was already off to a good start when the sapsucker took center stage. We’d seen Red-breasted Mergansers from the parking lot near the dome cage, along with many of the remaining winter migrants (Common Goldeneyes, Bufflehead, assorted scaup), plus both a Green Heron and a Belted Kingfisher, two of the showiest attractions of any walk. Strolling past the Nature Center toward El Embarcadero, we’d passed an active Black Phoebe nest and spotted the remaining winter ducks (Canvasbacks and Ruddy Ducks – some actually starting to turn ruddy), plus both kinds of egrets, all five wintering grebes, and the first few Double-crested Cormorants (still crestless and ignoring nest sites) of the season.

Hank-the-Rescue-Pelican (alone last month) had not one but three visitors, all starting to show their breeding bumps. Could this be the year Hank’s company stays? And on top of everything else, we spotted a still-spotless Spotted Sandpiper fossicking around the shore of the bird paddock, looking like a regular despite not being seen since a year ago. Spotted Sandpipers are  fun to watch, and they’d be easy to recognize if they were called “Pumping Sandpipers” or somesuch – they all always waggle their rumps up and down while walking or perching, but they have spots on their otherwise plain white breasts only a few weeks a year, and this wasn’t one of them. …

The March 4th-Wednesday Golden Gate Bird Alliance walk was cancelled, like pretty much everything else in this first month of the recognized pandemic, but I strolled down to the usual starting place at the usual time. (Strolled ’cuz I left the spotting scope home – scopes want to be shared, and there’s no way to share a scope and maintain social distancing and surface cleanliness – meaning I wouldn’t have to slog back up the hill with it. And with all the news of beach closures, I didn’t like the chance of the entry being blocked to cars – which it wasn’t, but the exercise was good.)

Anyway, one intrepid birder joined me for much of the walk, carefully hovering six feet away, and we saw or heard 42 species of birds – more than in any of the past three years, despite the reduction in eyes and optics on the hunt – mainly because the weather was rather better than in preceding March trips. Partly cloudy, meaning partly sunny, and often without cold winds….

The first biggest observation: the island trees held zero nesting cormorants. The remnants of last year’s nests clung to the branches, but no one was rebuilding. We did see half a dozen Double-crested Cormorants on the floats, including one with beautiful white crests like an Easter Bunny costume, so maybe April will see some action. On the other hand, another cormorant on the floats was so pale it looked like a new-fledged juvenile; maybe they’re nesting elsewhere this year.

Lots of courting action on the lake: Two male Common Goldeneyes were trying to impress the same female with the length of their necks (a drake can reach his tail with the back of his head, even though they usually look like they don’t have necks at all), and several pairs of Eared Grebes were swimming side by side and showing off their gold and copper and steel party clothes, some of the flashiest among North American birds. Ruddy Ducks were everywhere – the most numerous bird on the lake – and many of the drakes lived up to their name for a change: brilliant russet backs to go with their black caps, white cheeks, and sky-blue bills.

Hank-the-Rescue-Pelican had a friend, a first for March since 2010 (and that may have been a misguided checkmark for Helen, the lake’s previous rescue pelican). Hmmmm. Hank can hope, and so can we, but the chances aren’t good.…