Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Our Staff
    • About Our Board
    • Our Commitment to Diversity
    • GGAS in the News
    • Annual Report
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Join/Renew
    • Donate
    • Other Ways to Give
    • Planned Giving
    • Member Login
    • Corporate Partnerships
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Golden Gate Audubon Society
  • Education
    • Speaker Series
      • Past Speakers
    • Eco-Ed for Kids
    • Adult Education Classes
    • Rotary Nature Center
  • Conservation
    • Bird-Friendly Coffee Club
  • Volunteer
  • Bird With Us
    • Field Trip Information
    • Travel with GGAS
    • SF Bay Ospreys
    • Birding Resources
      • Authors
    • Christmas Bird Counts
    • The Gull
    • Golden Gate Birder Blog
    • GGAS’s Birdathon
  • Archives
    • Trip Reports by Year
    • Past Speakers
    • The Gull Archives
    • GGAS Press Releases
    • Travel with GGAS – Past Tours
  • Donate
 

GGAS Field Trip Report

August 26, 2020 – Lake Merritt

Trip Leader(s):

Hilary Powers
Ruth Tobey

Date/Location:

August 26, 2020
Lake Merritt

Trip Info:

Number of Participants: 4
Number of Species: 37

After a solid week of blazing heat, our small group gathered under overcast August skies, happily zipping up coats in the strong cold  breeze. Later the sun did come out, the coats came off, and the air-quality station by the Nature Center – silent at the beginning of the walk – started a lovely but horrifying nonstop chorus of chimes. Later already? The time jump makes sense, as it was a day of startling sights, defying the usual chronological follow-the-walk narrative.

We collected three different raptors – the most for any one walk – including a Cooper’s Hawk and two Red-shouldered circling high in the sky (besides perched on other occasions). Even better, a young Red-tailed Hawk swooped in close enough to look as big as an eagle as it snatched something to snack on from the grass and then perched low in a pine near Children’s Fairyland. And better still, the Red-tail flew just over the head of a guy flying small drones above the lawn, so we had a lot to watch and were still there when a drone got itself trapped inside Fairyland. We left with it clattering mournfully behind the fence and the pilot heading off along the wall in search of someone working inside who might be persuaded to help him recover his probably illicit toy.

For sheer drama, the raptors couldn’t match of all things the Violet-green Swallows. We’d never spotted these birds in August, but today they darted in a countless crowd near one corner of the big  gray building at Perkins and Bellevue, flashing back and forth and perching briefly on  the top edges of windows ten stories or so off the ground. What were they chasing? No way to tell, except that it almost certainly had six legs and one or two pairs of wings. Later, in the garden, we met someone who lives at that level in the building, who said  she hadn’t seen anything like it, ever.

Heading back to the lake from the swallow building, we heard and then saw a Belted Kingfisher – missing from the walk since last February’s final pre-pandemic trip – perched in one of the bare trees on the cormorant island. This one was a juvenile, the first to show up here without an accompanying adult, and we can hope it was looking for a desirable spot to spend the off-season. 

Any of those sightings could have been the main event on an ordinary walk – but not this time, even though the real bird of the day didn’t make it onto the report list. Pet and domestic birds aren’t counted, but who could resist stopping to watch a Blue and Gold Macaw? Especially not a macaw wearing a red hoodie like the one we saw supervising from its chauffeur’s shoulder while its chariot (a bright red compact car) was rearranged to suit it. The front seat was fully equipped for parrot transport already, with an elaborate perch system and several dishes for snacks and drinks, and the rest was quite stuffed with mostly anonymous packages. The driver glanced up from his current armload and snarled “No pictures!” and “I’m very busy!” So we wandered on, puzzled and irritated and charmed in roughly equal measure.

Also enjoyed: a couple of Green Herons, assorted Black-crowned Night-Herons (including several very young stripey youngsters), and two or three Snowy Egrets, plus a single American Coot (forerunner of the returning flood), both Brown and White Pelicans, lots of Double-crested Cormorants of all ages (but none in or near the old nests), and a whole host of Western Bluebirds, mostly heavily speckled juveniles. And a bunch of other species, of course – 37 all told, up from last year but slightly down from the year before – making for another in our unbroken series of very good days at Lake Merritt.

More Reports

January 27, 2021 – Lake Merritt

The January still-not-Golden-Gate-Audubon walk was a big day for species count – 55 in all, counting two reported from mid afternoon, a tie with the

Read More »

December 23, 2020 – Lake Merritt

Birds are usually masters of social distancing: if you’re there, they’re not. But something – pandemic frustration? – was in the air for the December

Read More »

November 25, 2020 – Lake Merritt

When we assembled for the November 4th-Wednesday not-really-Golden-Gate-Audubon walk, the day seemed perfect – sunny and still, with just enough nip in the air to

Read More »

October 28, 2020 – Lake Merritt

The October 4th-Wednesday (non) Golden Gate Audubon lake walk drew a somewhat scary 12 participants, evoking a nervous “Hey, we’re a lot less than six

Read More »

September 23, 2020 – Lake Merritt

The September not-quite-Golden-Gate-Audubon walk attracted eight masked birders – a record for the pandemic – for a round of amazing delights in perfect air. (Really

Read More »

August 26, 2020 – Lake Merritt

After a solid week of blazing heat, our small group gathered under overcast August skies, happily zipping up coats in the strong cold  breeze. Later

Read More »

Our Mission

The Golden Gate Audubon Society engages people to experience the wonder of birds and to translate that wonder into actions which protect native bird populations and their habitats.

Home page photo of Allen’s Hummingbird by Robert Ho. Home page photos rotate on a monthly basis. If you have a Bay Area bird photo you would like us to consider, email us at mramos@goldengateaudubon.org.

Home page bird illustrations by Tex Buss. We are grateful for her generous donation of time and talent!

Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Twitter

Contact Us

Golden Gate Audubon
2530 San Pablo Avenue, Suite G
Berkeley, California 94702

Phone: 510.843.2222

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, or by appointment

Email: ggas@goldengateaudubon.org

Manage your GGAS account online

Now you can manage all your GGAS business online — renew your membership, update your contact information, view past donations, or sign up for events such as classes, Birdathon or the Christmas Bird Count. Click here to access your account. (You’ll need to create a login name and password if you don’t have one already. If you forget your password, click on the “forgot your password” link.) You can also sign up for our new GGAS Chat to get updates on trips, talk with other members, and more!

© 2021 Golden Gate Audubon Society | All Rights Reserved
All photos on this site belong to the photographers and may not be used without written permission.
  • About Us
    • About Our Staff
    • About Our Board
    • Our Commitment to Diversity
    • GGAS in the News
  • Education
    • Speaker Series
      • Past Speakers
    • Eco-Ed for Kids
    • Adult Education Classes
    • Rotary Nature Center
  • Conservation
    • Bird-Friendly Coffee Club
  • Volunteer
  • Bird With Us
    • Field Trip Information
    • Travel with GGAS
    • SF Bay Ospreys
    • Birding Resources
      • Authors
    • Christmas Bird Counts
    • The Gull
    • Golden Gate Birder Blog
    • GGAS’s Birdathon
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Member Login
  • GGAS Archives
    • Trip Reports by Year
    • Past Speakers
    • The Gull Archives
    • GGAS Press Releases
    • Travel with GGAS – Past Tours
  • Contact Us
    • Join/Renew
    • Other Ways to Give
    • Planned Giving
    • Member Login
    • Volunteer Hours Reporting
  • Blog
  • Donate