Natural History Wanderings

Today I visited Heron’s Head Park in S. F. for the first time. Heron’s Head Park is a 24 acre park located in the Southern Waterfront of San Francisco. Thepeninsular park is home to Salt Marsh and Upland restoration.  It is an excellent birding area as you are able to see many shorebirds up close.  Highlights were the Black Oystercatcher, Surf Scoter and Common Merganser. A brief history of the area from the S.F. Port Dept.:

Heron’s Head Park was born in the early 1970s, when the Port began filling the bay to construct what was to be the Pier 98 shipping terminal. The terminal construction never materialized, and the peninsula remained undeveloped. Over years of settlement and exposure to the tides, a salt marsh emerged, attracting shorebirds, waterfowl and aquatic wildlife. In the late 1990s, with funding from the City and County of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Port, the California Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Bay Trail Project, the Port undertook a major renovation of Pier 98. The project enhanced and expanded the marsh by removing over 5,000 tons of concrete, asphalt, metal and other debris, created a tidal channel to improve circulation, and constructed upland trails, picnic and bird-viewing areas and a fishing pier. In 1999, the former Pier 98 officially reopened to the public as Heron’s Head Park, named for its resemblance – when viewed from the air – to one of its residents: the Great Blue Heron. Heron’s Head Park is now used for education and recreation by thousands of walkers, bird-watchers, students, and visitors from around the City and the Greater Bay area, and more than 100 bird species each year.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

To see a bird list for today click read more

Bird List for Heron’s Head Park

San Francisco, US-CA  Jan 29, 2012 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

27 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  X
American Wigeon  X
Greater/Lesser Scaup  X
Bufflehead  X
Common Merganser  1     had white chin and neck. photo available
Pied-billed Grebe  X
Horned Grebe  X
Snowy Egret  X
American Coot  X
Black-bellied Plover  X
Black Oystercatcher  X
American Avocet  X
Greater Yellowlegs  X
Whimbrel  X
Long-billed Curlew  X
Marbled Godwit  X
Least Sandpiper  X
Dunlin  X
Mew Gull  X
Western Gull  X
California Gull  X
Rock Pigeon  X
American Crow  X
Common Raven  X
Tree Swallow  X
Northern Mockingbird  X
White-crowned Sparrow  X
Brewer’s Blackbird  X

A Field Guide to 100 Birds of Heron’s Head is available on-line.