May 1 - FINALLY the news I have been anxiously awaiting and two weeks overdue! Grandbaby #3 arrived healthy and Mom Ashley is fine also. Dad Jason sent me the text so he must be OK!! I am so relieved to hear that Avery Marie is born finally and Ashley almost did hold out for me, I will be home in six days!! Love you guys to the Moon and I am missing the first days and the first cuddling of Avery at the hospital! I will see you all on Saturday morning at your house - Early!!!
On the birding front today we had a great day with our birdingpal Julio. Every day is great on this trip. This area is south of SF and it is Silicon valley. There are blocks of Apple Buildings and Google and many many others. There are also two great park systems, Steven's Creek Parks and Ed Levin Parks and Alison Marina Park (Salt Flats).
We started our day at the Edgewood Park and Ride about 1/2 hour from our motel in Pacifica. As I write this the surf is pounding hard and the tide is coming in very loud. It is booming every few seconds. The rising waters are about 50 feet away and this evening when we got back, Connie and I went down to watch the tide come in. I could do this for hours, trying to figure out which wave is going to be big or not. While we were there two young sweet things were drenched with a rogue wave about 25 feet from us. It is really wonderful to walk a minute through our parking lot and have the ocean right there. Our room is ocean front.
We met up with Julio and off we went to Steven' Creek Park System. We stopped at the Perchetti Winery for the birds and NOT the wine, it was only 8 am! We had a lifer here, the White-tailed Kite, which is a delicate looking almost all white Kite. We thought we had seen this bird in Southern California and decided today we did not see this bird earlier but a larger white bird that flew very fast and now is a "mystery bird". White birds are special and the White-tailed Kite is very pretty and fast. According to Julio, when they find something interesting in the air, the Kite will hover like a Northern Harrier.
In the Ed Levin Park System we saw hang glyders up in the sky like a kettle of hawks and Connie and I watched some of the hang gliders land. Today was sunny and it was in the 80s. As for the birds, we had Hooded Oriole and Bullocks and Western Bluebirds and others. The park was busy but not packed lots of families out for a BBQ picnic in the afternoon. We visited the Audubon Ranch and watched and took photos of birds at the nearby feeders and then we walked the ranch part looking for the California Quail. We were not lucky to see the Quail.
We stopped at a golf course for lunch with Julio and we all enjoyed our lunch. I had a huge Chicken Quesadilla which I finished for supper. The girls had food from the Organic Store Grocery hot buffet which they said was really tasty.We did more of the Ed Levin Parks and then went on to the Alviso Marina Park which is a no longer used salt flats where salt was obtained from the salt water. These are huge levies with pools as far as the eye can see. The above photo was taken there. We are smiling because we had viewed a rare bird from Asia the LITTLE STINT. This is a very grey sandpiper sized bird that has been at this salt flat for the last four or five days. Julio mentioned it and we were grateful for him to take us there. Julio is an enjoyable and knowledgeable birder. By 6 pm it was time to bid Julio farewell and we appreciated his day with us a lot. It was a full 12 hour day.
We returned to Pacifica via Half Moon Bay again and there was no traffic in our direction this time and all the traffic which was probably the tourists here for the weekend, was bumper to bumper in the one lane in the opposite direction to us. The girls picked up supper and I had most of my Quesadilla left from lunch which was still very good with salsa, sour cream and guacamole sauce. We made it back to our motel with our take out food and then we watched the water for a while.
We re-arranged our schedule and decided to spend tomorrow night in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco so Connie can see some of the SF sights. Both Jane and I have spent time in SF before and we enjoyed it a lot. So we told Connie no cat naps on the road tomorrow traveling into SF as she may miss something!! Connie missed the Hollywood sign the first time we went through LA and Friday she finally saw the Hollywood side in the high hills around downtown LA the third time we were going through LA. We are birding first thing in the morning in SF. We are not far from SF here in Pacifica, only about 1/2 hour. We want to visit Muir Woods first thing once they open at 8 am as this location is our best chance for Pacific Wren according to Julio. In the afternoon we will do a tour or two, visit the SF Botanical Gardens to bird and then do the Piers and the tourist hot spots.
So another great day just like all the others. We are happy to see the same birds frequently as this reinforces our knowledge. The constant sound of the surf is making me sleepy and I am still very excited thinking about the baby born this evening, so I don't know if I will sleep or not; probably not.... This is our second and last night in the Sea Breeze Motel/dump. You get what you pay for and this was our most expensive room so far on the trip. We ended up in an adjacent beach town, next to the resort of Half Moon Bay. I am thrilled we were beside the ocean at least for two nights just the same.
Hard to believe this trip is going to end soon, better not think of it, but by Friday I will be anxious to see and hold and talk to Avery Marie.
Here are some lovely sightings from today. American Avocet,
Black Phoebe and Western Kingbird
On the birding front today we had a great day with our birdingpal Julio. Every day is great on this trip. This area is south of SF and it is Silicon valley. There are blocks of Apple Buildings and Google and many many others. There are also two great park systems, Steven's Creek Parks and Ed Levin Parks and Alison Marina Park (Salt Flats).
We started our day at the Edgewood Park and Ride about 1/2 hour from our motel in Pacifica. As I write this the surf is pounding hard and the tide is coming in very loud. It is booming every few seconds. The rising waters are about 50 feet away and this evening when we got back, Connie and I went down to watch the tide come in. I could do this for hours, trying to figure out which wave is going to be big or not. While we were there two young sweet things were drenched with a rogue wave about 25 feet from us. It is really wonderful to walk a minute through our parking lot and have the ocean right there. Our room is ocean front.
We met up with Julio and off we went to Steven' Creek Park System. We stopped at the Perchetti Winery for the birds and NOT the wine, it was only 8 am! We had a lifer here, the White-tailed Kite, which is a delicate looking almost all white Kite. We thought we had seen this bird in Southern California and decided today we did not see this bird earlier but a larger white bird that flew very fast and now is a "mystery bird". White birds are special and the White-tailed Kite is very pretty and fast. According to Julio, when they find something interesting in the air, the Kite will hover like a Northern Harrier.
In the Ed Levin Park System we saw hang glyders up in the sky like a kettle of hawks and Connie and I watched some of the hang gliders land. Today was sunny and it was in the 80s. As for the birds, we had Hooded Oriole and Bullocks and Western Bluebirds and others. The park was busy but not packed lots of families out for a BBQ picnic in the afternoon. We visited the Audubon Ranch and watched and took photos of birds at the nearby feeders and then we walked the ranch part looking for the California Quail. We were not lucky to see the Quail.
We stopped at a golf course for lunch with Julio and we all enjoyed our lunch. I had a huge Chicken Quesadilla which I finished for supper. The girls had food from the Organic Store Grocery hot buffet which they said was really tasty.We did more of the Ed Levin Parks and then went on to the Alviso Marina Park which is a no longer used salt flats where salt was obtained from the salt water. These are huge levies with pools as far as the eye can see. The above photo was taken there. We are smiling because we had viewed a rare bird from Asia the LITTLE STINT. This is a very grey sandpiper sized bird that has been at this salt flat for the last four or five days. Julio mentioned it and we were grateful for him to take us there. Julio is an enjoyable and knowledgeable birder. By 6 pm it was time to bid Julio farewell and we appreciated his day with us a lot. It was a full 12 hour day.
We returned to Pacifica via Half Moon Bay again and there was no traffic in our direction this time and all the traffic which was probably the tourists here for the weekend, was bumper to bumper in the one lane in the opposite direction to us. The girls picked up supper and I had most of my Quesadilla left from lunch which was still very good with salsa, sour cream and guacamole sauce. We made it back to our motel with our take out food and then we watched the water for a while.
We re-arranged our schedule and decided to spend tomorrow night in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco so Connie can see some of the SF sights. Both Jane and I have spent time in SF before and we enjoyed it a lot. So we told Connie no cat naps on the road tomorrow traveling into SF as she may miss something!! Connie missed the Hollywood sign the first time we went through LA and Friday she finally saw the Hollywood side in the high hills around downtown LA the third time we were going through LA. We are birding first thing in the morning in SF. We are not far from SF here in Pacifica, only about 1/2 hour. We want to visit Muir Woods first thing once they open at 8 am as this location is our best chance for Pacific Wren according to Julio. In the afternoon we will do a tour or two, visit the SF Botanical Gardens to bird and then do the Piers and the tourist hot spots.
So another great day just like all the others. We are happy to see the same birds frequently as this reinforces our knowledge. The constant sound of the surf is making me sleepy and I am still very excited thinking about the baby born this evening, so I don't know if I will sleep or not; probably not.... This is our second and last night in the Sea Breeze Motel/dump. You get what you pay for and this was our most expensive room so far on the trip. We ended up in an adjacent beach town, next to the resort of Half Moon Bay. I am thrilled we were beside the ocean at least for two nights just the same.
Hard to believe this trip is going to end soon, better not think of it, but by Friday I will be anxious to see and hold and talk to Avery Marie.
Here are some lovely sightings from today. American Avocet,
Black Phoebe and Western Kingbird
Congratulations Grandma!
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