Saturday morning, April 1, 2023, was clear and sunny as people arrived from varied neighborhoods along the Point San Pedro Road Corridor for the Wetlands Committee’s “Birds of Our Local Wetlands” field trip. Rusty Scalf was our tour leader. Rusty has decades of experience educating and leading birding tours at Golden Gate Audubon, as well as having a very sharp eye for spotting birds.
The group started at Loch Lomond Marina, heading out along the Breakwater Access Trail (newly re-opened that very day!). Rusty pointed out and talked about different birds as we passed them. Some of the highlights were, a Horned Grebe with orange breeding plumage; a Green Heron, generally a solitary bird not commonly seen; and a Belted Kingfisher who perched in a tuft of grass on top of one of the harbor pilings. Rusty set up his scope along the way so that everyone could get a closer look at some of the birds. Out in the bay, many types of ducks were swimming and diving: Buffleheads, American Wigeons, and Greater Scaups, to mention a few. Rusty had a lot to share about all of them.
Everyone then continued over to Beach Drive. Here we were treated to a magnificent Great Egret who flew over our heads before alighting in the Beach Drive Wetlands. A mother Mallard duck wove in and out of the grasses with her new ducklings, and high in a tree, a Red-shouldered Hawk kept watch. Rusty told us many fascinating facts about all the birds we saw. All in all it was a day full of fun, discoveries, and surprises –all in our local wetlands! A big thank you to Rusty Scalf for making this possible.
Report by Wetlands Committee Chair Winifred Dajani.
Photos by Coalition Co-President Bonnie Marmor.
