On Mar 5, 2021, at 9:56 AM, Brian Fitch <fogeggs@...> wrote:



I just spent some quality time with what's likely the former Manor House/Buena Vista sapsucker that I discovered in late 2020.  I walked up to Corona before 8, as both previous sightings were during that hour.  I hung out for a while in the dirt patch, which is accessed off of 15th, by a narrow walkway west of the tennis courts, then hiked up the very poorly executed trail that meanders up the steep hillside.  After more than an hour, I finally sat down on a log which is not far below the upper end of trail, where you have an excellent view of the mostly conifererous grove, and just after 9, the Yellow-bellied flew in from the west and landed in a cypress.  It did a little quiet pecking in this and a few other trees, including the big, dead, multi-branched pine, made several fly-catching sorties, and eventually dove down over the dirt patch and into the first yard west of the tennis courts.  A large fruit-bearing tree there has many sapsucker wells which can be seen from the dirt patch, but visibility was impossible from the hill, and I left around 9:15.  The bird was utterly silent, even as it pecked, flew, and snapped at flying insects.

Brian Fitch

On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 8:09 AM Rachel Lawrence <Rachelalawrence@...> wrote:

Refound yesterday by Rob Cullison continues in dead pine viewable east of dirt patch at end of dog park , Corona Heights. Likely same bird as in Buena Vista you can see the trees in Manor Park from here 

What a cool sighting! I agree with Peter. Several sf birders watched a thresher shark breaching repeatedly at Baker Beach a couple years ago. This was the first ever Inaturalist record for the species for the city. This is a species I see quite often and sometimes hook while Salmon Fishing, sometimes almost hitting the kayak. The one we saw at Baker Beach with small but they can get up to over 1000 pounds I believe.Their massive tail is not always obvious as they jump. 

On Mar 4, 2021, at 3:58 PM, Peter Pyle <ppyle@...> wrote:

Hi Brian -

I would guess (tentatively) either thresher shark or white shark based on your description of size and behavior. No other sharks around here typically jump out of the water and many are not gray dorsally. March is the month in which young white sharks (10-12') start practicing preying on mammals and this sort of behavior (often misses) toward just about anything on the surface is expected. Prior to this age they feed on fish. Thresher usually is more of a warm-water species and I've mostly seen them jump in fall rather than spring (and especially might not expect this in a cold-ocean spring such as this one). 10-12' would also be quite large for a thresher. So my leaning would be toward a white shark.

Peter

At 02:03 PM 3/4/2021, Brian Fitch wrote:

A motley gray Northern Fulmar flew quite close to the Sutro Baths terrace this morning, the only bird species of note among an exciting set of other oceanic animals.

Bottlenosed Dolphins started the show, at least six of them swam past heading into the Gate around 7:15.  What appeared to be the same group returned around 9, and spent some time fishing between me and North Rock. A single distant spout was likely my first Gray Whale of the year, a number of Harbor Porpoise were scattered about, and only one sea lion passed by.

The highlight was my first ever shark species seen from land in the city.  I was scope scanning a feeding frenzy of gulls and cormorants when I caught a brief but perfect profile view of a shark lunging out of the water at a diagonal.  I could see the angular open jaws, the flat head, and the relatively high triangular dorsal fin, but nothing behind that.  It appeared to be completely steel gray as far as I could tell at distance, and judging from a nearby Harbor Porpoise and the birds, it was between 10-12 feet in length.  I've been looking on-line at different species known to dwell in our waters, but there are several that could match up, and I doubt that I'll be able to ID it exactly.

Brian Fitch

A motley gray Northern Fulmar flew quite close to the Sutro Baths terrace this morning, the only bird species of note among an exciting set of other oceanic animals.

Bottlenosed Dolphins started the show, at least six of them swam past heading into the Gate around 7:15. What appeared to be the same group returned around 9, and spent some time fishing between me and North Rock. A single distant spout was likely my first Gray Whale of the year, a number of Harbor Porpoise were scattered about, and only one sea lion passed by.

The highlight was my first ever shark species seen from land in the city. I was scope scanning a feeding frenzy of gulls and cormorants when I caught a brief but perfect profile view of a shark lunging out of the water at a diagonal. I could see the angular open jaws, the flat head, and the relatively high triangular dorsal fin, but nothing behind that. It appeared to be completely steel gray as far as I could tell at distance, and judging from a nearby Harbor Porpoise and the birds, it was between 10-12 feet in length. I've been looking on-line at different species known to dwell in our waters, but there are several that could match up, and I doubt that I'll be able to ID it exactly.

Brian Fitch

On Mar 1, 2021, at 19:20, John Facchini <john.facchini@...> wrote:



Hello Dominik,

I followed up on Ken's post and saw a vireo that was mostly gray and had clear (but not very bold) white spectacles - the bill eliminated kinglets and warblers.  I only saw one and didn't hear any vocalizations.  I was focused on making sure I got a clear look at the spectacles and didn't get much of a view of the underside of the bird.  I was comfortable with a cassin's vireo ID.  Your post makes this seem like either an exceptional sighting or a mistaken ID.  I don't mean to ruffle any feathers and am ok removing my sighting from ebird if you would like me to. 

Regards, 

John Facchini

On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 2:10 PM Dominik Mosur <dominikmosur@...> wrote:

With all due respect to those posting: Regarding these reports of multiple Cassin’s Vireos from multiple locations , please note that over many decades now a typical arrival

Date for Cassins Vireo in SF is around the first days of April. A few exceptionally early birds have been noted by the third week of March.

Cassin’s vireos winter in Mexico. There’s typically a pulse of migrants noted in SoCal before we start seeing them up here.

Good birding,

Dominik

On Mar 1, 2021, at 10:40, Ken Moy <ken.moy62@...> wrote:



Hi all, 2 Cassin's vireos (1 seen, 2 heard) on Oak Woodlands on the wooden box steps leading to Stanyan and Fulton.

Good birding.

Ken Moy

On Mar 1, 2021, at 10:40, Ken Moy <ken.moy62@...> wrote:



Hi all, 2 Cassin's vireos (1 seen, 2 heard) on Oak Woodlands on the wooden box steps leading to Stanyan and Fulton.

Good birding.

Ken Moy