Fall migration is well under way here on the West Coast. August brought a steady trickle of common western species including this Western Tanager (left) at El Polin Springs in the Presidio.
I added some new birds to my San Francisco Bigby list including House Wren, Lark Sparrow, and White-breasted Nuthatch. I also added a few new species to the year list. First was an early migrant, or summering Black-and-White Warbler in the Presidio in mid-August. Then I added a Parasitic Jaegar dramatically swooping down on the flock of Elegant Terns on Ocean Beach. I made it out to Land's End to see one of the three (!) Eastern Kingbirds that showed up in San Francisco in August. I also rushed down to Lake Merced right after work to find a Solitary Sandpiper that was reported last week. When I arrived it was already in the air calling loudly and circling above the small beach north of the concrete bridge. I checked back in a few minutes and there it was on the beach. I tried to get a little closer and take a photo but it flew off and again circled above me. Unfortunately this time it didn't come back to the beach.
Yesterday I added my first new birds of September. There was a Willow Flycatcher at North Lake in Golden Gate Park and another at the Presidio Community Garden. At the Buffalo Paddock in Golden Gate Park I had close looks at a really cleanly marked Clay-colored Sparrow. No luck scanning the ocean for shearwaters or jaegers in the afternoon.
This morning I refound the Black-and-White Warbler in the Presidio at Kobbe and Upton. I haven't seen it, despite checking this same spot, for three weeks! It's really been hiding.
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