Nature Where I Live: San Francisco: Heron's Head Park

Black Oystercatcher Hunting at Heron's Head Park

I've been wondering whether I'd find any black oystercatchers this time of year at Heron's Head, and they eluded me at first.

When I arrived I rode over to India Basin where I saw just a few birds, pretty much all of which were too far away to photograph. There was a long-billed curlew resting near shore, but I knew I'd spook him if I tried to move closer, so I figured I'd let the poor guy rest.

On the way back to Heron's Head I stopped to photograph a cormorant standing on a rock and warming its wings. It hadn't been there when I'd passed by just a few minutes before. While I was observing the cormorant and a couple of egrets, a harbor seal surfaced. At the time I assumed it was a sea lion since I'd never seen a harbor seal in San Francisco before, and I wondered how a pinniped got into that small body of water (see below).

The red X on the left is where the harbor seal was.

Riding out to the tip of the heron's head, I saw one lonely willet the whole way, but I saw the oystercatchers when I turned around to head back. If I had to pick a favorite shorebird, the black oystercatcher would be it. They are colorful, unusual-looking, intelligent, and not terribly shy, making them easy to photograph.

Later on, as I was about to leave, I noticed a fledgling brown-headed cowbird begging food from its "parent," a white-crowned sparrow. After making a couple of photos I tucked the camera gear back in my bike bags and started to pedal away when I realized the bike was handling funny. The front tire was almost flat. I'd had to ride through two pretty bad broken-glass areas on the way down, so I wasn't too surprised. I installed a fresh inner tube and got the tire inflated to an unknown but rideable pressure (which turned out to be about 30-35 psi).

I rode along the bay from Heron's Head to Ft. Mason and on to Crissy Field Marsh where I wondered if the long-billed curlew was the same one I photographed about a week ago. It was just resting this time, and I wouldn't even have gotten my camera out if I hadn't seen something more interesting: a cliff swallow gathering mud for its nest. I keep the 180-600mm lens in a case in one bike bag and the Z8/1.4X in another case in the other bag. Soon after I got them put together, the cliff swallow returned for more mud, giving me a great view.

Double-crested Cormorant

Creature from the Heron's Head Lagoon

It stayed underwater a long time after diving, finally surfacing again on the farther side of the lagoon.

It was nice to be on the sunny side of the fog for a change.

Foraging Willet

Black Oystercatcher With A Prize

Brown Pelican Fly-by (Composite)

Willet & Its Shadow

Preparing to Launch

Strolling Along the Water's Edge

The willet caught this weird creature.

It appeared to have the shell of a crustacean, but it didn't look like a crab to me.

I love the oystercatcher's call, which it's making here.

It was the longer, trilling call (like the 11-second recording here).

The oystercatcher opened up the little clam pretty quickly and soon extracted the good parts.

I often see these birds in pairs. If I were to guess, I'd say the male is the one in front since it's a bit smaller and has a less stout bill. The one in back also had some dark flecks on its yellow iris, which supposedly is another sex marker.

Willet at Rest

Another lone willet was resting in the pickleweed marsh on the south side of the trail. A couple of black-necked stilts hung out on the sandbar farther south, never close enough to photograph.