My mantra as soon as I saw a bird was "every bird could be a life bird". Of course, that's probably the right way to approach all birding, but as the first time I'd done any deliberate bird identification on the west coast, it was especially true.
Many of the birds I saw at Shoreline Park were not life birds, but a few were. Here is some of what I saw.
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| Snowy egret |
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| Lesser yellowlegs |
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| Semipalmated plover |
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| Cormorants (likely double-crested) |
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| I wanted this to be an American golden-plover, but most likely it is a black-bellied (a.k.a. grey) plover |
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| The white eye-stripe suggests golden, but it's not enough for me to be sure |
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| Black-bellied is the more-common and non-lifer choice |
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| Common raven |
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| Semipalmated plover |
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| American white pelican (second life-sighting) |
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| The first life bird - and one I might have missed if not for my mantra |
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| It looked and acted like a phoebe - because it is one - a black phoebe |
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| California gull (also identified by sound with assistance of Merlin) - another life bird |
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| Red-tailed hawk |
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| Red-tailed hawk |
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| Pied-billed grebe |
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| Pied-billed grebe |
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| Lesser scaup |
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| Least sandpipers |
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| Savannah sparrow |
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| Another life bird - American avocets |
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| I estimate about 300 flew by in the space of five to ten minutes |
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| House finch |
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| Brown-headed cowbirds in what I suspect is a California buckeye tree |
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| I've been spotted! |
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| Launch! |
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| Fly away! |
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| Some kind of seablite (suaeda) |
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| Pacific goldenthread |
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| California ground squirrel |
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| Just chillin' |
Not bad for a quick walk on a travel day.
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