Saturday Morning at Golden Gate Park
Saturday morning I woke up early and started out to Golden Gate Park, whose southwest corner was just a couple of blocks from my hotel. (So why is the Golden Gate Bridge not in the Golden Gate Park? And just what is the Golden Gate anyway that it has both a bridge and a park?) I walked into the park and was immediately confronted with several Common Ravens, which, unlike in New York, are actually common out here. I heard and saw many more throughout the day.
I continued north into a bushy, covered area and soon came out by a large field. Bushtits were foraging in the bushes. Black Phoebes were flycatching from the bushes and the ground. House Finches were singing in the bushes as well.
I exited the field and headed east. American Robins and Brewer’s Blackbirds were feeding in the grass along the road. I didn’t find a lot more until I stumbled on the North Lake, which apparently is one of the more reliable hot spots in the park. This serene location yielded Mallard, Pied-billed Grebe, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Western Scrub-jay, and an unidentified Hummingbird, probably an Anna’s. Probably 70+ Cedar Waxwings were flocking various trees I didn’t recognize. I spotted what i thought was a Wilson’s Warbler, but it was a quick look across the pond in foliage so I wasn’t sure. Fortunately several local birders confirmed it.
I don’t know the park very well so I just zigzagged across it, passing through or by the angler’s ponds, the bison paddock, another small lake with a small waterfall, the Frisbee golf course (California Towhee), a horse stable (House Sparrow), a large soccer field, and various other locations. At 9:30 I realized it had taken me two hours to get about 20% of the way across the park, and I needed to get halfway to catch the the #28 bus that cuts across the park and through the Presidio since I was trying to hook up with the Audubon Society at the Palace of Fine Arts at 10:30.
With some regret I bushwhacked my way north and found myself on a very large and fast highway (Crossover Drive?). I thought Central Park had too much traffic, but that’s nothing compared to this. Nonetheless, I managed to cross it eventually and reach Fulton Street. From there it was a fast few blocks to 14th Ave and the #28 bus. I just missed one, but another one came along in 20 minutes or so and still managed to get me through the Presidio in time. It’s a long route, but there aren’t a lot of stops on this part.
Total species count for the morning: 22
- Mallard
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Western Gull
- Rock Pigeon
- Black Phoebe
- Western Scrub-Jay
- Common Raven
- Tree Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Bushtit
- American Robin
- European Starling
- Cedar Waxwing
- Wilson’s Warbler
- California Towhee
- Song Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- House Finch
- House Sparrow
Next stop: the Palace of Fine Arts.
May 16th, 2007 at 10:58 AM
The Golden Gate is the strait that the Golden Gate Bridge, umm, bridges, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. As for Golden Gate Park, it seems to have always been called that, even when it was just a gleam in Frederick Law Olmsted’s eye. Although he did not design it, as he did Central Park and Prospect Park, he seems to have been the first to call for San Francisco to build a major urban park, and he watched its construction with considerable glee. (At the time, Fairmount Park in Philadelphia was the only park comparable to Central or Prospect.)