We were supposed to be heading to Elkhorn Slough and Big Sur yesterday, but with a forecast calling for rain, and possibly snow levels down to 100 feet, we reconsidered. This is coastal California and we're just not wired for birding in the cold. And I was really not relishing the drive down Highway 1 to Big Sur with the potential for snow or ice on that curvy road. Well, maybe third time will be the charm.
So I stayed home, got a bunch of things done, then rewarded myself with a few hours at Hayward Shoreline. It's been years since I'd birded there and it was a long overdue trip.
Hayward Shoreline, on a chilly but clear day by the bay...
(The title of the diary refers to some problems I was having in publishing it, now resolved. But might as well leave it, since the day's adventure was a result of original plans not quite working out.)
Since I was just fitting the trip in after a day of doing chores, I didn't really plan it carefully in terms of tides. Which is normally a big factor when birding in a tidal marsh. So the birds had clearly been there at some point, but they were a bit further out on the mudflats during my visit.
Looks like there were lots of birds here not too long ago...
It didn't take long to start seeing them, though. Following a curlew as it flew, I noticed another bird perched on a bit of scrub just beyond it...
Curlew's to the right, perched bird right in the center.
It was a merlin - a large pale female that looked almost prairie falcon-ish in size. I'm pretty sure it was a prairie merlin - richardsonii - because she was so light in color, and lightly marked. After several minutes she took off across the marsh and finally landed on this bit of ... well, I don't know what it is. Kinda looks like a mast from an old shipwreck, but from other angles, it looked like an old power pole. I'm including this picture not because it's a great photo of her, but because it's just such a cool thing she's sitting on. (she's perched just above the disc shaped thing)
enhydra lutris enlightens us on what this thing is.
There was a lot of activity further out on the mudflats, almost beyond binocular view. But down in the channels and sloughs, a number of birds were working for their meals. I saw a few Great Egrets walking along, looking into the sides of the channels at eye level, and it looked like they were stabbing into the mud like sapsuckers hitting a tree trunk. New to me - I don't think of them as "vertical" feeders, only stabbing downward for a meal. But I guess it's that I've never been around them in these circumstances.
There were also many Long-billed Curlews working the channels. This one paused its search to eyeball a jet that was flying over on a approach to Oakland Airport.
It was a treat to get so close to so many curlews. They're lovely birds, but they usually seem to be much further away. Normally a scope-bird rather than a bino-bird. Gorgeous in the late day's sun.
There was a pair of Canada Geese who weren't quite tame (no begging for food, thankfully), but also weren't particularly nervous about people. This one let me get in close for a portrait...
... before deciding it had urgent business to attend to down in the mud.
San Francisco looks very different from this angle - looking up toward the city, with the mass of Mt. Tamalpais in the background. (The slight tilt is due to my unsteady stance, but I don't know how to fix it... any geniuses out there who can help?)