BIRTHDAY BIRDING

 
I took Friday off work to celebrate my birthday with Natsuko, and of course sneak in some more birding ;)

I spent the afternoon at the Corte Madera Marsh again and added a few new species to the list.  At sunset I waited outside in our backyard hoping to spot an owl.  And believe it or not, I actually ended up spotting one !  However, it was too dark to tell what type it was.  So unfortunately it's an unconfirmed sighting.  I'm guessing it was a Great Horned Owl.  An amazing experience though.  As soon as the sun dropped I could hear the owl calling.  Not long after I heard it, it flew right above me.  But at that point the light was gone from the sky, so all I could really see was a dark silhouette.  I think it's going to be even more exciting when I finally get a confirmed Owl sighting now.

As a side note, I ended up adding an American Kestrel to my list while I was waiting to see an owl.  I watched it catch some sort of rodent and eat it on top of the quarry ridge.  I thought it was a Sparrow Hawk, until I looked it up and realized the term "Sparrow Hawk" is used to define a number of smaller hawks.

Saturday we headed back to the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and then out to Limantour Beach (for the first time).  I added a White-Tailed Kite to the list at Limantour.

On another side note, I am now the proud owner of a canon rebel T3i !  So hopefully the quality of photos on this blog will improve.  The photo of the Herring gull above was taken at Limantour Beach.

Overall a very successful birding weekend that has put my total so far at 41 species.