Hi All,

Today I birded around Western San Francisco, primarily the southwest
part, joined for the majority by Cédric Duhalde. Conditions were mostly
overcast (getting a little foggier at times) with light SW winds and
mild to cool temps. In the past week or two the birding has really
transitioned to feeling more like Fall to more like Winter, with a large
exodus of Yellow, Wilson's, and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Warbling
Vireos, Western Tanagers being replaced by swarms of Townsend's Warblers
and Sparrows and increased numbers of Yellow-rumps (though not nearly at
the numbers they'll be in a couple months). Nonetheless, we managed to
eek out a few interesting birds among the winteresque swarms.

We started at Fort Funston hoping the interesting conditions would bring
in some wayward goodies. We covered a lot of regions I'd never checked
in the area before, including the section between the olympic club and
the beach. We ran into Peter Pyle who'd had the same idea as us but came
out similarly skunked. While goodies were nowhere to be found, a few
observations of interest were:
House Wren-3 was a nice count
Bewick's Wren-6
Purple Finch-18 were some of few birds actively on the move today
Savannah Sparrow-1 migrant on the golf course
Lincoln's Sparrow-2
Nashville Warbler-1
Common Yellowthroat-5 seemed like a nice migrant push in the scrub
Yellow Warbler-1

Full eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74588403


We then hit the South Lake Merced region, walking around the Golf Course
briefly then checking the Vista Grande Canal, willows along John Muir
Drive, briefly checking the Terry Duel Site and Brotherhood Gulch before
wrapping around to the penguin statue, willow trail, concrete bridge and
finally gun club marsh. We found more migrants here than at Funston,
with little flocks scattered through the region. Highlights here were:
PHILADELPHIA VIREO-1 at coordinates mentioned in previous post. A
relatively drab bird for this species. Sounds like others had success
with it later in the day, so hopefully it'll stick around a few more days
Warbling Vireo-2
MAGNOLIA WARBLER-1 at the edge of Gun Club Marsh was likely the same
bird Jonah found earlier this week
Yellow Warbler-2 exemplified their outward push recently
Hermit Warbler-1 at VG canal
Wilson's Warbler-1

Full eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74588560

At the golf course, a large sparrow flock contained 3 lincoln's and a
Spotted Towhee. At Brotherhood Gulch we were very surprised to find a
migrant MARSH WREN in the Willows (!), the only migrant of this species
I've seen in the city away from marshy habitats. Terry Duel was slow and
boring because it is in San Mateo county.

We briefly checked Pine Lake Park before splitting up, which held a
decent assortment of migrants but nothing unusual.

I proceeded north to Golden Gate Park where I spent a couple hours
toodling around the Botanical Garden. The area was very active despite
the late hour, and I managed to find a good number of mixed flocks
scattered around. Warbler diversity here was nice but still very clearly
down in terms of non-wintering birds. Highlights included:
Pacific-sloped Flycatcher-1
BEWICK'S WREN-1 was a complete surprise, and was just my second ever for
the park. Seen by the reservoir
Lincoln's Sparrow-1
TENNESSEE WARBLER-1 bird on the southwest side of the big meadow near
the entrance (just south of the dry fountain)
Orange-crowned Warbler-5 including one gray-headed bird
Nashville Warbler-1
Yellow Warbler-6

Full eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74588700

Finally, I stopped briefly at the Polo Fields where a couple of
White-fronted Geese and Two Cackling Geese have set up shop among the
Canadas. One of the cacklers is an Aluetian and the other is a very
confusing, small, pale bird. I'm not positive what subspecies it is but
it may turn out to be something interesting. Also a single Meadowlark
flew in at dusk.

Enjoy the last few weeks of FALL!

Logan