Date: 4/6/26 8:54 pm From: Logan Kahle via groups.io <logan...> Subject: [SFBirds] San Francisco Big Day 4/5/2026 145 species; Brown Booby (long)
Hi All,
Yesterday on 4/5/2026 Jonah Benningfield and I, the Benthic Vertebrates, embarked on a 19 hour, all-out San Francisco Big Day, logging about 110 miles in the car and seeing 145 species between 3:30am and 11pm.
While this was my first balls-to-the-wall big day in San Francisco, we learned an immense amount from an effort done by Emmett Iverson and I on March 18th (logging 128 species, and informing many of the routes, strategies, and things to absolutely avoid that we learned for this day). Also a huge shoutout to Dominik Mosur and Keith Maley for helping us understand modern bird distribution around the city. Jonah and I have not been properly active in San Francisco for many years, and the extended experience of the local community made this effort possible.
Our day began at 3:30 when I picked Jonah up from his house in the Presidio. I got there slightly early and listened for Great Horned Owls but none were calling. Weird. After we both assembled our stuff we went briefly to Simonds Loop to drop some stuff off and again listen for Great Horns. This territory was silent too. But at least there was never a worry of missing Great Horned Owl on an SF big day...right?
Anyways we reached Golden Gate Park just after 4am and added our first bird of the day: a BARN OWL staked out by Dom in a nest near Metson Lake. While quite common through the city, Barn Owls are not especially vocal, and can be a bit of a pain on these big days (indeed, we were not able to find one on the March 18th day), so we were excited to get one out of the way so early. But no Great Horns were vocalizing.
Next on the agenda was Lake Merced. We were unclear how many of the birds there would be singing in the pre-predawn but we were excited to give it a shot. Marsh species sometimes sing amazingly early in the morning, so we had hopes that birds such as Great-tailed Grackle and Common Yellowthroat may be sounding off already. As we rolled up to the concrete bridge, arriving at the suiting hour of 4:20, we gave a round of clapping to the reeds, and immediately two VIRGINIA RAILS and several SORA gave their raucous calls into the night. Good start. Additionally, several MALLARDS called away, the goofy display of RUDDY DUCKS could be heard in the night and we also added our first calling AMERICAN COOTS, PIED-BILLED GREBES, and an early-singing MARSH WREN.
Our next stop was the Wooden Bridge. Cedric had given me some advice in the evening of the March 18th day that the best region and area of historical nesting of Green Heron was at the wooden bridge. So we were curious if we might hear a night-calling Green Heron. As we rolled up, we once again heard a pile of Sora calling in the reeds, along with our first CANADA GOOSE, WESTERN GULL and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. A BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON "quacked" away while a GREAT BLUE HERON also called from the reeds. A KILLDEER sounded off from the golf course, one of few we would encounter this day. But no Green Heron. Alas.
It was then on to maybe my most anticipated part of the night. I recently got access to a thermal camera and, while useless for most birding, I was eager to try it out for finding shorebirds at night on the beach. We walked out from Ortega, the spot that Emmett and I had found the plovers to be roosting back in March, and started scanning around the cold sandy dunes for little heat-blobs. Sure enough, after about 5 minutes I found one, a plover shaped blob amongst the sand. A quick look with the flashlight confirmed it was indeed a SNOWY PLOVER! It is always hell trying to find these things in the daytime on people-packed hot sunny spring days on the beach. Some SANDERLINGS were running around at tideline nearby, and a WESTERN SANDPIPER called overhead. We proceeded to sloat to see if we couldn't score some more shorebirds. We couldn't, but CALIFORNIA TOWHEES had started going off. In the thermal, an odd-shaped blob perched atop a cement patch. I couldn't figure out what it was so we wandered closer, and closer, then it took off revealing itself to be a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE. Pretty funny little encounter.
Dawn was coming and we were going to try out a new strategy. Dawn chorus is a tricky and challenging time for San Francisco big days. In many areas, a series of scarce residents are extremely vocal in the early morning, but in San Francisco that is, for the most part, not the case, as many of the coveted migrant species are relatively silent. So we decided to head to the concrete bridge to see if some of the marsh species (Yellowthroat, Grackle etc) sound off earlier than their woodland bird counterparts. Dawn was explosive at the lake, but unfortunately that was mostly because several dozen TREE SWALLOWS were screaming away, drowning out any other sounds. Among them, our first BARN SWALLOW, AMERICAN ROBIN, HOUSE FINCH, and SONG SPARROW sounded off, but it was overall an underwhelming 30 minutes at that time of the day. We decided to relocate to the Wooden Bridge to once again try for Green Heron and any early marsh birds that may be singing. We couldn't find Green Heron once more, but the first of the morning's landbirds were sounding off in the form of MOURNING DOVE, AMERICAN CROW, COMMON RAVEN, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, and DARK-EYED JUNCO, among birds we'd already picked up, and CLARK'S GREBE and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS swam around on the water. But, by far the highlight and what made the whole Lake Merced leg worth it was a single female CINNAMON TEAL that swam by just as we entered the time of visible light. With our first true score in the bag, we headed north.
On our way towards the Presidio we swung through Golden Gate Park. It was truly fantastic to be here in the early morning when the people and dogs and mayhem had not arrived yet, and we made a couple quick stops as we passed through, picking up BROWN CREEPER (not found in the Presidio in our last two big day attempts), along with our first RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, STELLER'S JAY, PACIFIC WREN, PURPLE FINCH, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, and TOWNSEND'S and WILSON'S WARBLERS. We rushed to the Presidio.
The Presidio is where we spent the majority of the morning. Having done a couple of these efforts now, and reading other's reports, it seems clear to me that spending most of the morning in the Presidio is the optimal strategy for any car-based city effort. However, there are a million ways to go about the Presidio and we experimented a little with this one.
We started our effort by gunning it for the coastal bluffs and their wonderful residents. Shortly after getting out of the car, we added SPOTTED TOWHEE and BEWICK'S WREN. But no wrentit. We listened. We whistled. We waited. Then, far out to the north we heard one of San Francisco's only Wrentits calling into the hills. Lets roll.
We went down the hill to Lobos Dunes. This was a suggestion from Jonah and one I had not thought of previously, but turned out to actually be a quite solid stop, and gave us a shot at scarce residents like Hairy Woodpecker and Hutton's Vireo. Anyways, we walked down the boardwalk quickly adding up a variety of new species, such as WESTERN BLUEBIRD, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, LESSER GOLDFINCH, and a WESTERN SCRUB-JAY perched up on a snag. Then, as we were leaving, Jonah spotted a FOX SPARROW, our only one of the day. It was time to roll.
Next stop was Fort Scott. Neither of us were sure about if the local Cliff Swallows had arrived yet, but we decided to give it a shot. Rolling up, we easily found the local HOODED ORIOLES. Walking out over the field, we noticed a group of swallows foraging overhead: VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, and Tree. But no cliffs. Hmm. Well at least there had been plenty on the battery the previous day. Fingers crossed. Our first BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD called overhead, and a BREWER'S BLACKBIRD was singing from the parking lot. Our first RED-TAILED HAWK circled lazily overhead and our first WESTERN KINGBIRD bombed north. On a whim, we decided to check the community garden for any odd sparrows or the like. We were stoked to find a singing WESTERN FLYCATCHER, our only one of the day. It was heating up, and we headed for the battery.
We started our watch from the battery by looking at the rocks. In short order, we picked up BRANDT'S CORMORANT, SURF SCOTER, COMMON MURRE, ELEGANT TERN, HEERMANN'S and CALIFORNIA GULL, WESTERN GREBE, and WHIMBREL. There was lots of activity offshore, and we were feeling good. Jonah quickly spotted the male BLACK SCOTER, and on the rocks we added BLACK TURNSTONE, BLACK OYSTERCATCHER, and WILLET. Things were looking good. We continued scanning the channel. A group of BROWN PELICANS flew through, and we added COMMON and RED-THROATED LOONS. At one moment, we had Heermann's Gull, Brown Pelican, and Elegant Tern (not to mention murres) in the same scope view, and I realized that those were 3 different birds all missed on the original 2007 big day record, and all species that have basically become likely (or more likely) possibilities in early or mid April in the last 20 years. Times change. Jonah wisely checked the bridge tower, netting us PEREGRINE FALCON, and on the nearshore rocks was a lone PELAGIC CORMORANT, our only one of the day. It was time to move up to the main watch spot. We were astounded to find 0 birders. Where was everyone?? The winds were similar to the previous day, when over a dozen people were present. Fortunately, that made it nice and easy to not get information from observers outside our party!
As we turned our attention skyward, it quickly became clear this was a flight day as well. Groups of Yellow-rumps and Western Kingbirds passed by, as well as a smattering of swallows, including our desired CLIFF SWALLOWS. Our first of several LAZULI BUNTINGS sounded off, and a NORTHERN FLICKER called in the distance. While absent predawn at the concrete bridge, several groups of GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES came through, always a sign of a good day up here, and a rare-for-the-battery HOUSE SPARROW sounded off. Jonah scanned the channel for terns but our first CASPIAN TERN came from behind us. Things were looking good. An early-flying TURKEY VULTURE, a bird missed on my March effort, flew by, one of only two seen all day. A group of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES headed along the bluff, normally a bird you would miss on one of these days if not for the battery. A BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER headed north right overhead, and our much-desired HAIRY WOODPECKER called to the east. But we were really hoping for some raptors. 10 or 15 minutes would go by without a new bird but enough stuff kept trickling in that we decided to wait and see. Sure enough, with a little patience, a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK came over. There had been a major flight of these the previous day, and we knew if we waited long enough one would appear. What we did not expect was a NORTHERN HARRIER to fly by to the south of us, a rare bird in the city in spring and a very unexpected and exciting big day score! We ran down to the bluff one more time to look for the continuing Long-tailed Duck but couldn't find it. However, we did find a single PIGEON GUILLEMOT. Things were looking up. Could the mystical 150 record be within shot today??
We jetted off to pick up the last few presidio residents. But first a detour to Crissy Field. Crissy had a number of targets, but not all would prove easy. However, reaching the lagoon we quickly added HORNED GREBE, a bird missed in March, BUFFLEHEAD, SNOWY EGRET and MEW GULL. On the shore of the lagoon, a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT called away. Nearby a few ROCK PIGEONS circled around. We looked out into the channel and along the beaches for Ring-billed Gull. No dice. Huh. The beaches were starting to get crowded but still...they should be around. We decided to check the Yacht Club Harbor and the Wave Organ for ringers. Sometimes they're around there. No dice. Errr. We swung by the palace of fine arts lagoon. No gulls. Gulls in general seem to have seriously cleared out early this year. Humbled, we decided to switch our tack to landbirds. The previous day I'd scattered a bunch of seed hoping the White-throated Sparrows would come back to Simonds. Since my feeders dried up in Fall they've been just absent. So, rolling up to simonds I didn't know what to expect. But when I wanted to the feeder, a very dark melospiza kicked up. Shortly after, two WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS started calling and then popped into view! Alright! A GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, one of few today, also appeared. We were cleaning up. But we still needed a couple landbirds.
We dropped down into Tennessee Hollow. Hutton's Vireos is one of the most local and enigmatic landbirds in the city for these big day efforts, and we missed them last March. Fortunately, I had a territory staked out. So we wandered over and poked around. No vireo. We found a nice mixed flock in the region, which hosted our only HERMIT THRUSHES of the day. Jonah and I split up by a couple hundred feet. Then I heard him yelling. "COOPER'S HAWK!" I looked up to see the coop making lazy circles above us. Awesome. Both accipiters is far from a guarantee in SF! Shortly after, the HUTTON'S VIREO sounded off. Things were working out. We went to a particularly juicy corner of the region to finish off. I was keen on finding a Kinglet. Sure enough a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET was flitting about in a low willow. Game on!
We headed back to Fort Scott. We thought maybe later in the morning there would be more flight, but did not seem to detect any. We briefly swung by the battery again, hoping a Martin or Vaux's or something may strafe by, but were ultimately disappointed. We left the Presidio at 11am with 110 species.
Leaving the Presidio, we headed straight for Stow Lake. We learned in March that Golden Gate Park on these hot days is an absolute hellhole and the less time spent there the better. Fortunately, we knew what to do. We made a couple stops on the way to the east end of the lake picking up RING-NECKED DUCK and there, at the east end of the lake, as hoped, was a female HOODED MERGANSER. Time to leave Golden Gate Park for the day. Good feeling. We headed south.
As we were heading south I realized we were passing the parula stakeout. So we decided to detour west and check that thing out. Within minutes of rolling up, the NORTHERN PARULA appeared in the same oak we saw it in March. We headed off to Pine Lake. Thanks to a tip from Dom, we knew where to find our target here. We walked up the hill and the territorial HOUSE WREN was singing away.
We headed west to Ocean Beach. Speaking of hellholes, the view from the south end looked like a "where's waldo?" image. There were likely upwards of 1000 people on the beach today, and bird numbers reflected it. We scanned to the south to see if any Bank Swallows were back on territory. Didn't look like it. But we decided to wait. There had been up to 8 godwits here lately and this was our only likely shot, so we might as well wait around. Offshore, a smattering of murres and loons streamed by but numbers were very low and the water was hazy and dead. But, after 20 minutes of waiting, a diversity pack of 4 shorebirds flew by: a Whimbrel, a LONG-BILLED CURLEW, and 2 MARBLED GODWITS. Good enough for me!
We briefly stopped by the boathouse in Lake Merced, following up on a tip from Dom to look for Kingfisher there. We scanned the snags but couldn't find one. However, the continuing YELLOW WARBLER was just west of the boathouse. We scanned both lakes for Eared Grebe but couldn't find any. Bother. We drove down towards the Concrete Bridge. Near gun club marsh, right offshore, was an EARED GREBE. Good stuff.
It was now 12:30 and we had a rather major dilemma. In a normal instance, I would have liked to finish off the west side, checking Sutro and Lands End, look for the Blackburnian Warbler, go to Lafayette Park, and maybe check a hill on our way to the bayshore. But the tides were terrible. The only proper low today was at 8am and an over-6' high tide was approaching at 3:30, and the tide would not drop below 4' until after sunset. I knew how screwed you can be at too high of a tide at the bayshore, and decided to opt for heading to the bayshore while we were close to there down by Lake Merced. While not optimal for the west side, it seemed like the best way to not miss 5 easy birds on the bayshore.
Arriving at the bayshore south of Yosemite Slough at 1:15 we went about it the same way I had with Emmett in March. We first ran up to the mudflats at Yosemite Slough and Double Rock. On our way out we kicked up a LINCOLN'S SPARROW. By Double Rock was the first major new flush of birds for the day: both LESSER and GREATER SCAUP were loafing offshore in the Bay, several FORSTER'S TERNS loafed among the caspians, an AMERICAN WIGEON swam around the shoreline near an AMERICAN AVOCET, and a GREATER YELLOWLEGS and several BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS loafed nearby. On Double Rock proper a SPOTTED SANDPIPER bobbed away. A Marbled Godwit was along the far shoreline, and we walked toward the slough proper, picking up WESTERN SANDPIPER and DUNLIN. We searched hard for Semipalmated Plover but there were just none around. Alas. Walking back towards Candlestick we found a singing SAVANNAH SPARROW. We'd now found the major flush of new birds from the bayshore, and we would be picking up ones and twos for the rest of the day.
We scoured the Candlestick area for the next nearly 30 minutes for Western Meadowlark but just couldn't find any, but did turn up some more Lincoln's and Golden-crowned Sparrows. Continuing to Yosemite Slough north we found a single BLACK-NECKED STILT in the Community Garden Pond, and ran around for another 10 minutes for meadowlarks with no success. Surely there must be a flock somewhere?? We made a quick stop at Hillpoint Park overlooking the shipyard, and quickly scored the OSPREY on its nest. From near there we could overlook the whole greater Heron's Head/India Basin region and scanned. We had not seen a Great Egret at Yosemite Slough, and were starting to get concerned. The record big day from 2021 missed Great Egret, which I thought was crazy, but it seems they genuinely just thin out by April. We couldn't see anything new from the overlook, so we headed north.
We were hot and tired, and the 3am wakeup was getting to us. Fruitlessly walking fields for meadowlarks had somewhat sapped our morale, and the bayshore in general had come out with more misses than scores. But, we headed up to Pier 94 to test our luck. I wanted to try for the Tropical Kingbird that was still hanging around. We sat at the edge of the enclosure it normally likes. Nothing. We waited. Nothing. Then, a kingbird appeared. But is it just a western? It looked odd. We got the scope out and sure enough, the TROPICAL KINGBIRD was there on the edge of the fence. Moments later, one of the likely nesting AMERICAN KESTRELS bombed by. We were back on track! Feeling a little more motivated we decided to enter the saltmarsh restoration region and run around and hope to kick up a Meadowlark and check the little rock flats nearby. Well you can figure how that went. But, when on a big day it is extremely important to scan the *entire* shoreline. "Did you do that?" I asked Jonah. Cuz I did! And there's nothing!! LETS JAM!!!
We were back moving and in the beautiful air conditioning of the car. Next stop was Lafayette Park, and I was happy to have learned from the March effort where the Acorn Woodpeckers seem to normally hang out. We sprinted to the top of the hill and there, in all its glory, was a stunning ACORN WOODPECKER. Incredible. We decided to linger around a while to see if we might find an oriole or some other migrant. But time was of the essence, so we rolled on.
I picked up Caitlin in the Richmond at 4pm to finish off the day. I knew we couldn't count any bird she pointed out to us, and was hoping that wouldn't bite us! We rolled on to Lands End. We were just missing a single dumb passerine and I knew where to find it. We headed directly for the Grace's Warbler stakeout. I had scouted this site a week prior and while I could not find the Graces I found abundant siskins. Moments after we got out of the car we added a PINE SISKIN calling. Awesome. We looked around for a couple minutes for the Graces. Nada.
Heading on to the Cliff House we had one more easy west side bird in the bag. Surfbirds normally stick through mid April and they were seen just days ago. Rolling up, we were annoyed to find the main Cliff House viewpoint blocked off. Ugh. So we went to the south side. The vantage was fabulous. You could see the entire where's-waldo north end of the beach, most of the golden gate channel, and the close side of the rocks. We were ready. Scanning the rocks there were lots of shorebirds. I guess they roost there if the beach is the zoo. Looking at them however, I was surprised they were almost all Willets! Crazy. There were over 20. Only one Whimbrel among them. Not long after, several took flight, revealing a smaller bird among them: a SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER! Score! Things were going well again. But where were the Surfbirds? We scanned the rocks. Willets, Whimbrel, Dowitcher, Turnstones. Aaand...? I guess scan again. Willets, Whimbrel, Dowitcher, Turnstones. Huh. The Surfbirds must be on the other side of the rock. I guess we'll wait. Scanning the beach south there was a distant blurry apparent GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, and a closer and more definite one out in the channel. Chill. We waited. One of us would pick through the birds on the rock time and again while the other scanned the beach or channel. Still no surfbird. Then, out in the channel we saw a familiar shape arcing around a large tanker: a BROWN BOOBY!!!! Or Cocos Booby for those so inclined. We watched it fly around for over a minute before losing it behind the tanker. An amazing highlight, and certainly nothing I was expecting on this day! But still no Surfbird. Ugh. We jogged 5 minutes and relocated near the northern platform (where there was a big party type event happening) and could see some fresh part of the rocks. But no Surfbird....Drat. So, after looking for an hour, we abandoned project Surfbird, and moved on. You gotta know when to fold em.
Next we decided to mob back to Crissy. We still had five very real possibilities at this site and were not about to let that slide. As we passed quartermaster reach on the highway I noticed a massive long-looking egret. Uuuh. Jonah missed it. So we flew down the half mile of road to get back there and, sure enough, a GREAT EGRET! Awesome. Now on to looking for gulls. There were way fewer people than at 9:30am, and it felt that we may actually succeed. We gunned it for the wave organ to visit the farthest site first. There was a little mudflat with some gulls, but no ringers. Ugh. We worked west by the yacht club. Nada. It was now concerning again. We went by the west end of the lagoon. Couldn't see a ringer there. From there we gave Caitlin the scope to scan while we did the lovely activity of walking the field for meadowlarks. We walked the whole thing out and back over a half hour with nothing. Boo. Time to switch priorities. We started looking for snipe and scoured every possible square inch of the lagoons shoreline. None. Oh well. After an hour with no new birds, we decided it was time to bail to the south.
We headed south along sunset to Lake Merced, and realized we were passing *right* by the blackburnian spot. Couldn't hurt. So we popped out of the car for 3 minutes. Nothing. Oh well. We proceeded to the boathouse for kingfisher or maybe a swallow or Green Heron. We listened. Nothing. We scanned the snags. Nothing. Jonah peeled off to check the south lake while I staked out the kingfisher hunt. We convened and still nothing. We were driving out when we decided to stop one last time at a different angle. We waited for 5 minutes. Alas. We went to the concrete bridge to end. It was well after sunset and getting dark. We hadn't added a bird in two hours. Not the perfect way to end a big day. But we wanted to give Swallows and Green Heron one last shot. We got to the bridge. Not a swallow in sight. Ugh. We waited. We scanned the water. We looked up in the sky. Then, over the marsh wrens and people I heard a familiar sound. "WILSON'S SNIPE!!!" I looked all around and saw the bird, flying waaay up in the sky, making large circles and gaining altitude. It got way up in the sky then started heading north and up, and disappeared into the middle of a high cloud over a mile away from us. Amazing. What a way to end the day. Then, as a cherry on top, a pair of GREEN HERONS flew over the bridge heading south. Incredible.
The time had come to count up our total I was eager to see. We had had an unbelievable morning, a somewhat lull-ish midday, and a fairly strong ending. What would it add up too? After the counting was done, it looked like our total stood at 144. And it looked like two more were in the bag. But what to do besides nightbirds in the night? We were basically out of options. Hope for a semiplo on Ocean Beach or the Bayshore in the night? Look for Saw-whets in the Presidio?? Fat chance. 150 was out of the question. Well, let' get the two and go to sleep. First up poorwill.
We arrived at Mount Davidson before 8. We made the normal loop. No poorwill. 30 minutes ticked by. We busted out the thermal camera. No poorwill. Fog was starting to roll in. An hour ticked by. We made the loop again. Nothing?? They've got to be here! We went up to the top of the hill and looked. Nothing. Huh. It was after 9:30 and most restaurant options were going to close. It seems that they likely left. And with cold west winds and fog, no owls were calling up here. Ugh. We headed on.
After burritos in the mission we had to finish off the day in the Presidio. We went towards El Polin, the densest area of Great Horns in the Presidio in my experience. We stopped first by Tennessee Hollow. I made some hooting sounds, and almost immediately a GREAT HORNED OWL hooted in response. 145. The time was 10:50. We were spent.
It was a fantastic day with great company. The effort with Emmett and I in March seriously helped inform the overall route, strategy, and pace, learning that certain things like Hutton's Vireos are properly scarce and need prioritizing. We did quite well with regular SF species but did not go for all that many stakeout rarities, which can boost a total but can also sink serious time. I want to shout out the record-setting day set by Adrian Hinkle and Emmett Iverson back in 2021: https://groups.io/g/SFBirds/message/25464 and the old-time record of 149 set on April 16, 2007 by Hugh Cotter, Paul Saraceni, Alan Hopkins and Josiah Clark: https://groups.io/g/SFBirds/message/8653 And, regards to the old record, the city has changed immensely in the last 20 years, mostly for the better by big day standards. New habitat restoration and the colonization of native species back into our urban habitats since that time include Black-necked Stilt (since 2005), Acorn Woodpecker (since 2014), Nuttall's Woodpecker (mostly since 2007 or so), Northern Flicker (breeding since 2016), House Wren (breeding since 2020), Western Bluebird (breeding since 2002), Savannah Sparrow (breeding since 2009) along the with major expansion of several others like White-throated Swift and Northern Rough-winged Swallow, while we have lost birds like Quail and most of our Bank Swallows in that same time period.
And, like any big day, we had our misses: Ducks (no GW Teal, Gadwall, Shovelers or RB Mergs around SF right now), Pacific Loon (bad seawatch day), Surfbird (we gave it a full effort!), Semipalmated Plover (none in SF right now), Rb Gull (are the crissy birds really not there?? Checked twice), Bonaparte's Gull (bad seawatch day), Herring Gull (almost no gulls on the beach today), Kingfisher (tried twice), Meadowlark (tried for longer than I'd like to think about), migrants (many of these were on the hilltops, which we never got to on this day. We missed Vaux's Swift, Cassin's and Warbling Vireos, Bullock's Oriole, Chipping Sparrow, Western Tanager, BH Grosbeak) and wintering passerine stakeouts (like Nashville, Hermit and Blackburnian Warblers, Summer Tanager).
