Sunday, August 21, 2005

More birds, but in the City!

I surely did not expect to see any more cool birds this weekend. But, I did. On the way to Fort Funston I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk on a light post on Rt. 1 between the entrance to Lake Merced and Fort Funston. It was quick, but sure enough, when we left it was still there and most definitely an adult Red-shouldered.

Inside the park I had a great day too. Literally the first tree we came to after leaving the parking lot held a Cooper's Hawk on a top-level brach. We looked for a little while with me handing off my binoculars to my wife. I grabbed them back in time to see a raven approach and the the Coop take off, fly behind us, and make a cool twist before diving down below sight in the direction of Lake Merced. The long tail and relatively large size convinced me she was a female Coop.

On our walk we continued to see cool stuff. In addition to all the neat puppies and doggies, we saw a very satisfied Osprey carrying its dinner from the surf to a perch somewhere in San Francisco. There were quite a few gulls chasing him but he won out and soared inland.

But the coup de gras was seen from the wooden deck next to the hang glider runway. From there I spotted half a dozen porpoises swimming northward along the beach. The 6 to 8 dolphins arched their backs through the surf and occasionally jumped clear of the water, turning a few degrees and crashing back-first into the sea. We watched them for twenty minutes or so and pointed them out to the rest of the people on the deck. I won't comment on the woman who answered dully, "Yeah," to my question, "Did you see the dolphins?" I guess her bitterness was compounded by her expression.

As the guy sitting next to us at Howard's Cafe said, "This has been a good Sunday."

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