San Francisco

Kate and I flew to San Francisco last Thursday. While each of us has been here a couple of times over the past 30 years, the only time we have been here together was way back in 1992, before we were married.

The day we arrived, we checked into our hotel then headed to Berkeley to have dinner with a friend. We were treated to a lovely sunset looking back at Mount Tamalpais.

Kate and I spent most of Friday meandering through Golden Gate Park. I was keeping my eyes out for new birds to photograph. Fairly early on, Merlin identified a Pacific Wren by its call, a new life list species for me. It took me about 5 minutes of searching to find it buried in the dark thicket. This photo cleaned up remarkably well considering how extremely dark it was.

Not much later, I was able to photograph this Townsend’s Warbler, a second new life list species.

In one of the ponds, I saw this male Hooded Merganser.

Not far away, a cairn of turtles presented itself on a turtle stone.

Throughout the walk, Merlin kept hearing Chestnut-backed Chickadees, but I could not see them high in the trees. Eventually, I was able to spot one and add it to my life list. Unfortunately, I was only able to get this disappointing shot.

Overhead, a Peregrine Falcon flew by.

On Saturday, we decided to walk along the water near the Golden Gate Bridge. When we first arrived near the Crissy Field Marsh, we were greeted by this sand jack-o’-lantern and sand sphere cairn.

Shortly before we got to the marsh, I spotted a Greater White-fronted Goose mixed in with a flock of Canada Geese, another addition to my life list.

Most of the sparrows I saw were either Song Sparrows or White-crowned Sparrows, both of which I have seen countless times this year. I was happy to photograph this Golden-crowned Sparrow which I had only previously seen in Nome Alaska.

At the marsh, first bird I noticed was this Long-billed Curlew. I had photographed them in San Diego when I was helping Becca move in.

My second and final life list addition for the day was this Eared Grebe.

Past the marsh, Crissy’s Field was full of Western Meadowlarks.

Looking back eastward, we could see the sailboats in the bay in front of Alcatraz.

Pivoting around, downtown San Francisco was visible over the scrub.

As we walked towards the bridge, we were passed by the cyclist carrying his large dog on his back.

Here is a view of the Pacific Ocean after we had crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge.

And finally, here is one last view of the Golden Gate Bridge, this time from the Pacific side rather than the city side.