August 2006 Field Journal

8.1 How many Lawrence's Goldfinches were in SF?
I still haven't figured out how many individuals are out there. Up to 7 were reported at Quail Commons, four at Presidio HIlls and another 3 at Fort Scott. Given how far they can range..

8.5 City Birds
Today, Dan Murphy and I had the continuing adult male AMERICAN REDSTART at North Lake. The bird was foraging in foliage on the west shore roughly opposite the densely foliaged exotic conifers roughly midway between the south and north ends of the lake. I got a few photos that I'll try to get aposted. Other warblers included a couple of WILSON'S WARBLERS and an early YELLOW WARBLER.

I hooked up with Hugh Cotter later this morning at Battery Boutelle and we had boat loads of ELEGANT TERNS with flocks numbering in the hundreds routinely flying (mostly out) of the Golden Gate. Also, raptor activity wasgood with as many as five RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS visible at one time, several RED-TAILED HAWKS (mostly juveniles), a TURKEY VULTURE or two and a COOPER'S HAWK. Hugh probably has more from this morning...

Note that Battery Boutelle will be closed during the week for the next six weeks on weekdays as the park service is renovating the trail in the area,
but the battery will be accessible on weekends.

8.7 Cordell Bank
Leatherback Turtle
Black-footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Ashy Storm-Petrel
Brandt's Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Baird's Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Pomarine Jaeger
Sabine's Gull
Common Tern
Arctic Tern
Black Skimmer
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Rhinoceros Auklet
Tufted Puffin
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern Fur Seal
Northern Right Whale Dolphin
Humpback Whale
Pacific White-sided Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin
Harbor Porpoise
Dall's Porpoise

8.12 Presidio
Very little of interest today other than a (the continuing?) WESTERN KINGBIRD at Fort Scott.

8.13 Western SF
Today, I birded a few spots in the fog in extreme western SF. The Cliff House was quiet other than a flock of about 8 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES very close to shore. On Ocean Beach near Lincoln, there was a small mixed flock in the area of a small pool including what I identified as a juvenile RING-BILLED GULL. The bird was quite a bit smaller than both the Western and California Gulls with a delicate bicolored bill and long primary projection. The mantle pattern showed dark centers with broad white edges. The underparts were fairly clean white and some streaking on the upper breast. Assuming the id is correct, one wonders if this is an early arrival. Also, there were hundreds of ELEGANT TERNS at the tide line.

At the south end of Ocean Beach, there was a feeding frenzy with large numbers of expected species including lots more Elegant Terns. I was amazed not to find a jaeger chasing the terns with this amount of activity. The only other birds of note were another flock of 5 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES and another single also flying by.

At the south end of Lake Merced, I found a distant bird north of the concrete bridge that appeared to be entirely white. It had me going for a while until an _Aechmophorous_ grebe swam up and started to feed its leucistic juvenile. I was running late so I didn't have time to grab my scope and identify the parent to species.

8.20 Western SF
The feeding frenzy was much reduced at the south end of Ocean Beach; nothing really of note other than a couple of COMMON LOONs offshore. Hugh and I hooked up at Battery Boutelle and didn't have much of note during a thankfully brief stop. At Fort Scott, there were a few migrants including an early RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, a WESTERN TANAGER and a couple of WILSON'S WARBLERs that may have been migrants. Also, there was a NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW there as well. Hugh had to leave, but I birded Crissy Field with hundreds of ELEGANT TERNS in the channel. But the best find was a COMMON TERN on the Coast Guard Pier. It didn't hang around long; I looked away for about 30 seconds and it was gone.

Sorry; forgot to mention that at Crissy Lagoon there were 7 LEAST and one WESTERN SANDPIPERs and a LONG-BILLED CURLEW.


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