Northern California Birds

I kept an eye out and my camera ready for birds during my family's August visit to San Francisco and Northern California.  At the famous Golden Gate Bridge, a California Gull admired the iconic structure along with me.

These gulls are quite abundant.  My family and I spotted some down the coast at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. 

This is another gull we spotted along the coast.  Not sure the exact kind, unable to match using Google images and other sources despite the bird's distinctive black tipped beak.

Black Oystercatchers like rocky coastlines and that's where this one was spotted along the rugged Pacific Ocean coast.

I was excited to see this Red-Tailed Hawk at the Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco.  I photographed it from a pretty great distance. 

I saw this next bird in different places along the Northern California coast, a little bit inland.  Looked like a Blue Jay but upon further research I discovered it to be a Western Scrub Jay.  It does have a scruffy, scrubbed sort of look.  The first time I saw one, I couldn't get a photo of it, but then I would see them a few more times in different settings and had more success.  The one below I found on a fence near the Point Reyes National Seashore visitors center.

This Scrub Jay in a tree is pictured at the Ano Nuevo State Reserve.

Another new bird for me is the White-Crowned Sparrow.  Spotted some along a path at the Ano Nuevo State Reserve along the coast south of San Francisco.

San Francisco Trip

We just had an amazing week in the San Francisco area.  What a beautiful area and a nice reprieve from the hot and humid South.  What's not to love about Northern California?  You've got San Francisco (and Oakland), the rugged Pacific coast, the low, brown mountains, and Silicon Valley, the home to Apple, Google, Yahoo, McAvee, Intel and countless other cutting-edge technology companies.  Of course I took a lot of pictures, about 600 to be (somewhat) exact. Here are some of my favorites!

Here are my obligatory Golden Gate Bridge shots. Really liked the Presidio too, the old army fort that we accessed to get to the bridge. I was also very impressed with the Bay Bridge connecting S.F. to Oakland. This photo was taken from AT&T Park, home to the baseball Giants.  We caught a day game between the Giants and Cubs.

AT&T Park is a beautiful stadium with a neat location on the bay downtown. Statues of Giants legends Willie Mays (pictured), Juan Marichal, and Willie McCovey surround the park.  I wonder if Barry Bonds will ever be memorialized this way by the Giants.
                                
We spent enjoyable time touring the Northern California coast north and south of San Francisco.  The water was a little too cold for swimming for those of us used to the Charleston area warm summer waters. The boys and I had fun rappelling down one bluff south of Half Moon Bay.  A rope was tied to the top to help people descend and return to the top.

We visited two lighthouses in the area at Pigeon Point and Point Reyes.  Point Reyes (first below) took a lot of driving then walking to reach, including more than 300 steps to descend and (ugh) to walk back up.  But well worth it for the views and adventure!

At Pigeon Point a worker told us, upon hearing that we are from Charleston, that this Lighthouse, built in 1871, is the same design as our Morris Island light.

Back to San Francisco for these last shots.  Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill was cool to see on our last night.  It was too dark to read the statue's inscription.  Only later via the Internet did I learn that it's of Christopher Columbus. 

 

I was struck by the residential housing in the city, its stacked, steeped and layered look. My older brother Matt is an artist in Alexandria, Va. This photo reminds me of one of his paintings. Hope you like this Shout Out brother!

Finally, a parting view from Treasure Island of San Francisco from across the bay. 

 

Hope this isn't my last visit to this wonderful and interesting part of America!

Birding Hot Day Hot Spot (Part 2)

Charleston's historic Magnolia Cemetery is the final resting place for many prominent people throughout the Holy City's history.  Hundreds of Civil War Confederates are also buried there, including a few hundred South Carolinians killed at Gettysburg.  The cemetery's ponds, Cooper River proximity and marshes make it a popular bird habitat. 

This posting is the second part featuring photos I took at Magnolia Cemetery in late July on a blistering hot and humid day.  This is probably my favorite photo from that outing- a Snowy Egret at a pond next to the remains of an old tree.

A pair of White Ibis standing by at Magnolia Cemetery

The distinctive American Anhinga at the top of this tree (note its webbed feet) and just below is an American Bittern.   

This Wood Stork's open beak indicates just how hot a day it was. My car gauge indicated 99 degrees outside while there then climbed to 102 during the drive home.

Birding Hot Day Hotspot

My favorite local birding spot continues to be at, of all places, a cemetery.  I stopped by Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery one steamy afternoon this week thinking birdwise it would be dead (ugh).  But it turned out to be one of my best birding photography adventures ever! 

A couple sweaty hours later I had photographed no less than eight species and I saw a couple more.  The star to me was the Wood Stork, my favorite bird because of its size, prehistoric looks, cool black bordered wings and rarity.  You just don't see these big birds as often as many of the other coastal species. 

Seeing a Green Heron was also a treat.  I had never seen this small bird before and needed some help to accurately ID it.  It may have been the intense heat making the birds not want to fly away so quickly but I was able to get fairly close to many perched birds.  They knew I was there but didn't fly away, allowing me to get all the photos I wanted. 

Like Wood Storks, American Anhingas are big and awkward.  And also like the Wood Stork seeing an Anhinga with its wings extended is an impressive site. 

More cemetery birds next posting!

Iguanas

St. John's many iguanas were a neat surprise.  They were everywhere around the resort where we stayed this summer. They don't bother people and they are really interesting to observe.  So rugged looking and they come in many sizes and coloring.  And their tales are just magnificent!  The hotel grounds people say the iguanas are no trouble.  I was told they eat some of the pretty flowers on the grounds but on this tropical island the flowers bloom year-round so no worries.

Virgin Islands Birds

I came across some interesting birds during our St. John vacation this summer.  My favorite photo is of a Yellow Warbler my family and I saw while hiking to Leinster Bay, one of St. John's many beautiful beaches.  The pretty little bird kept flying around this vehicle parked in the woods.  It seemed to be fascinated by its reflection, perhaps thinking it was another Yellow Warbler!  It didn't stay in one spot but for a few seconds so getting good pictures of it was a challenge. 

Black-headed Gulls were bountiful on the shores of this Caribbean island.  Using some treats, I attracted some to my hotel room terrace and soon one gull turned into several.  They raised quite a ruckus with their shrills and shreiks.  I have a video clip of the ruckus on a YouTube video I just produced about our trip (it's at the very end). 

It can be viewed at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izSlqjqifCE

Probably the island's most common bird is the Pearly-eyed Thrasher. They have a vibrant and endearing song and always seemed busy, busy. We'd see them around the resort and everywhere else on the island. 

I see lots of herons back home but not with the coloring of the one spotted a few times in a marsh at the Westin resort where we stayed.   My friend Suzanne helped confirm that this is a Little Blue Heron in the process of changing from white to blue. 

My featured last bird I spotted while snorkeling in Leinster Bay.  It was cruising the waters below for fish reminding me of the Brown Pelicans seen back home.  But I quickly noticed the different profile and thought it may be a Frigatebird.  I had seen some of these large birds over the waters of Puerto Rico during our previous Caribbean excursion.  I took this photo with my snorkel camera.  I was hoping it would fly lower over me but it never did so this was the best I got.  I cropped the original to give a better look at it. Later at the hotel I got on the internet and confirmed it to be the mighty Magnificent Frigatebird. 

Favorite Five: St. John Vacation

New note: Check out my St. John YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izSlqjqifCE

This is no easy task:  selecting my five favorite photos from my family's St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands) vacation this summer.  My first pick is a gorgeous sunset we enjoyed our first night on the island.  We were dining at the Westin Resort where we stayed.  We were at one of the outdoor restaurants as the sun began to set.  The beautiful sunset would set the tone for a wonderful week of ideal weather and fun in the sun and water.

St. John's reputation for excellent snorkeling did not disappoint.  There are numerous places to snorkel and we visited several during our stay.  We saw squid, turtles and many colorful fish big and small.  The water was clear and the beaches and surrounding rugged lands were beautiful.  Here we set out at remote Leinster Bay which takes some effort to reach because once you park you must hike for about 30 minutes to get there.

I enjoyed learning about St. John's history, how Denmark long owned the island until selling it to the U.S. in 1917.  American Laurance Rockefeller, in the 1950s, bought much of the island with the intention to protect it from development.  He would turn some 50,000 acres over to the U.S. National Park Service.  What a joy to today travel through the Virgin Islands National Park and take in all of its natural beauty and reminders of its sugar cane history.  There are historic sites and ruins throughout the park including the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins.  I've been a big fan of sugar mill ruins since seeing so many on Barbados several years ago.

Curvy mountainous roads and left-side driving are part of the St. John adventure.  But you are rewarded by many spectacular vistas and views.  Photo opportunities abound.  I really like the grayness of this sailboat setting and the little touch of blue on the boat.  This was taken at very eastern point of St. John at Coral Bay.

Iguanas, many huge, are common sites on St. John.  They were everywhere at the Westin Resort, as accepted as the human guests.  They are no threat and make for an unusual part of the exotic island landscape. I was excited to find one in a natural setting on some rocks near the Westin beach.  I like this photo because it really shows the iguana's claws and face, at the expense of not seeing its really long tail-- so I've included a sixth shot as part of my Favorite Five.  It's my blog-- so I guess that's OK to do! 

Great times on the Virgin Islands!  I definitely give St. John and the Westin Resort five stars. Hope to get back there again. Still many things we weren't able to squeeze in during our week. Cheers!

Bull Island Pelicans

    
Brown pelicans were abundant on the Bull Island beach during my recent visit. It was fun to walk up and try to capture them close-up with my camera. A couple types of terns also turned out for the beach party.