Pacific Wrens - San Francisco

Previously considered the isolated western subspecies of Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes, these tiny, west coast cousins were given fully-specific Pacific Wren Troglodytes pacificus status some years ago; I've been coming across them in various shady places on the trip so far, usually in dense, mature mixed woodlands, and usually just by voice (although several have given brief views).


So it was a pleasure and a bit of a surprise to discover that, with a little coaxing, the Pacific Wrens of Golden Gate Park have their own scene happening and don't mind onlookers. How very San Fran.


The species is known for being notoriously shy and retiring, fascinatingly in very stark contrast to the very closely-related Wrens back home in Blighty (which would start a fight with a truck given the chance); so it was almost comforting to find the park birds being somewhat more attention-seeking than they're supposed to be.

Red-tailed & Red-shouldered Hawks - San Francisco

One of several Red-tails kicking around the park, this bird was obviously used to human disturbance, judging by its habit of swooping close overhead and landing nearby. It also evidently had no dining neuroses, and proceeded to delicately rip a gopher to shreds (still extant in the last two shots), wipe its bill on a branch, and then take a short snooze.










Red-shouldered Hawks - noisy juveniles over the park.

Pygmy Nuthatches - San Francisco

One of many new species encountered in the park, Pygmy Nuthatches are - like all nuthatches - inherently entertaining and attractive; however, their behaviour and calls set them aside even within their genus.


They travel through trees and shrubs in marauding gangs at high speed, pausing only where food source dictates, where they're liable to dangle from branches and perform acrobatics worthy of chickadees; all the time keeping in contact with high-pitched bips and beeps. One flock approached us while we were picnicing by the lake, stayed within a few metres of us for a good fifteen minutes, and numbered at least twenty birds.

Great Horned Owls - a family in San Francisco

We thought we were lucky finding the Great Horned Owl out in the open by the roadside near Belgrade, Montana, but luck is evidently relative. After a productive couple of hours birding the park I'd ascended the hill on Stow Lake, and basically bumped into this family of owls, out in the open, just a couple of metres from a fairly busy path, and wholly unperturbed by passers-by. Just had to fetch the missus for this one, of course....

Steller's Jays - San Francisco

Simultaneously elegant, comical and rowdy, Steller's Jays are a tame resident in the park.

Elegant Terns - San Francisco

Another species if not off the radar then not entirely on it, Elegant Terns are, according to Sibley, a passage visitor to this part of the coast, from breeding grounds much further south. So (almost literally) stumbling upon a gang of about twenty-five birds on the beach did just nicely.... and as shown in several of the photos, some juveniles were still dependent their parents.