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GGAS Field Trip Report

February 24, 2021 – Lake Merritt

Trip Leader(s):

Hilary Powers
Ruth Tobey

Date/Location:

February 24, 2021
Lake Merritt

Trip Info:

Number of Participants: 10
Number of Species: 45

Falcon Flies at Lake Merritt! And perches. And looks around. And takes a little circling flight. And perches. And sits looking down at the lake and across at the Bellevue Club for so long that the February 4th-Wednesday not-quite-Golden-Gate-Audubon walking party eventually strolls onward, heads buzzing with Peregrine Falcon delight but fickle eyes searching for new wonders…. Though the park offers a seemingly endless pigeon buffet, this was only the third peregrine sighting on the walk since record-keeping started in 2009: high point of the day and maybe the year.

Not that there wasn’t plenty else to see. The nest sites on the island tree were still unclaimed, but a Double-crested Cormorant with crests perched on one of the floats with another cormorant cuddled close, offering hope for this year’s season. The nearby waters held the usual crowd of American Coots, not-yet-ruddy Ruddy Ducks, and Greater and Lesser Scaup, along with the better part of a dozen moon-cheeked Common Goldeneyes, and farther out – toward the other side of the lake – a small flock of Red-breasted Mergansers swam with their long ragged crests blowing in the wind.
All along the lake, we saw lots of grebes – Pied-billed, Eared, and even one each Western and Clark’s. By contrast, the herons were almost missing. One lone lorn Snowy Egret was the only member of the whole class to put in an appearance, which feels like an excuse to add a sighting from the day before the walk: a Green Heron was fishing along the island rocks with all the feathers from the base of its beak over the top of its head raised in a 3″ tall punk hairdo. Though I’d never seen the like – a Green Heron’s head generally forms one smooth line through the spearpoint beak – it can’t be all that unusual: the first handful of images provided by Professor Google includes one from the Audubon field guide <https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/green-heron> that almost matches it, so you can see for yourself.

The lawns were jumping with small birds – mostly White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows, but with a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers pursuing the ground-foraging segment of their jobs (eating everything anyone else eats, and more of it if they can get it). Western bluebirds hopped up and down between grass and branches, as always an astonishment of color in the near-summer-strength sun. They’d nested already – several were clearly juveniles (distinctive streaked gray bodies and blue flight feathers), even though the Sibley guidebook says to expect that plumage in May rather than February.
A Hermit Thrush brightened the ground in the Garden Center garden, which was also home to assorted hummingbirds, finches, and sparrows. Probably-a-Cooper’s-Hawk flew out very fast as we were entering, rocketing into the trees across the road. Then the walk wound up as it often does at the Sensory Garden, where we enjoyed (and were beginning to envy) the small birds splashing in the flat stone fountain, which has to be one of the pleasantest places on earth on a warm morning.

All told, and despite the herons playing hooky, we collected a total of 45 species on the day – down from 52 last year, but about the same as usual for the month. And at the end, as we stood around in the sort of it’s-all-over-but-don’t-wanna-leave conversation we often wind up with, I glanced up and saw the trunk of a birch tree break out in little knobs that moved around. “Creeper-creeper-creeper!” I squeaked, pointing. Sure enough, a Brown Creeper was making its way up the white bark, then fluttering down to the roots to repeat the trip. Brown Creepers are way up on the list of birds we don’t expect but always want to see, and this was only the second one recorded on a February walk: a splendid conclusion to a splendid morning at Lake Merritt, where every morning has splendors of its own to offer the attentive eye…

More Reports

March 24, 2031 – Lake Merritt

The still-unofficial 4th-Wednesday Golden Gate Audubon walk drew 13 birders – much less scary now with so many of us fully vaccinated – and the

Read More »

February 24, 2021 – Lake Merritt

Falcon Flies at Lake Merritt! And perches. And looks around. And takes a little circling flight. And perches. And sits looking down at the lake

Read More »

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

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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 »

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 a Northern Harrier hunting by Diane Winkler. 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 idebare@goldengateaudubon.org.

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

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

Email: ggas@goldengateaudubon.org

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  • About Us
    • About Our Staff
    • About Our Board
    • Our Commitment to Diversity
    • GGAS StrategicPlan
    • GGAS in the News
  • Education
    • Speaker Series
      • Past Speakers
    • Eco-Ed for Kids
    • Adult Education Classes
    • Rotary Nature Center
  • Conservation
    • Conservation Info
    • 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
    • Birdathon 2021
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  • GGAS Archives
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    • Past Speakers
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