This is another bird post.  I’ll warn you up front.  I feel that I have shown amazing restraint so far, but enough is enough.  Let the birds fly!

Crissy Field is a park in San Francisco, near the Golden Gate Bridge.  Last Thursday, when I visited it, there were beaucoup dog walkers, including more than a few professionals with their packs of straining hounds.  The wolf packs were only dwarfed by the packs of school children field tripping the park.  Kids and dogs, why would any self-respecting bird put up with it?

Crissy Field was originally an airfield, part of the Presidio.   It went on to serve San Francisco until 1974.  Its closure left San Francisco as the only county in California without an airport.  SFO is located in San Mateo County.

Our first bird for today is the Great Cormorant, pictured above and in today’s header.  These pictures were taken just east of Crissy Field in Fisherman’s Wharf.  The oil slick in today’s header didn’t seem to bother the cormorants.

This Snowy Egret (black bill, yellow feet) shows just a hint of its yellow feet.  The Crissy Field banner above portrays a Great White Egret (yellow bill, black feet).  This egret looks like it is already in its breeding plumage.  This wasn’t the only bird that I saw that was already displaying breeding plumage though.  I guess the city that spawned the summer of love hasn’t lost its touch.

This pair of Western Grebes were just a small part of the flotilla of their kind that was floating of the eastern side of the Golden Gate Bridge.  This post covers only a fraction of the species that I saw and photographed in California.  There will be more to come, but I’ll try to space them out for you not yet birders.

This Savannah Sparrow is today’s final offering.  He sits there regally upon his bush.  It is rare for such small birds to sit so still and so close that I can get so good a photograph of them.  I love his toothpicks for legs.

I would like to make amends for not mentioning Jane’s birthday.  It was on Saturday.  Happy Birthday, Jane!  With all the hubbub of travel it kind of slipped by me.  Anne has a great birthday card for you, I’m looking at it right now. 😳