Birding at Rodeo Lagoon (Marin Headlands, CA)

Today was the first field trip in the fall semester of the continuing Field Ornithology class I’m taking, and it was a bang-up day, even with somewhat soggy weather. Unlike the first semester, when I left my camera at home so I could focus on learning, I decided to bring it along today, in case anything interesting turned up.

I got to Marin Headlands a bit early, so decided to take the scenic route up and over Hawk Hill. The views were lovely as always, and I saw several dozen California Quail scurrying across the road. It was heavily overcast and a bit misty, but Saturday’s rains were forecast to be gone today, and it was a moderately humid 60 degrees out.

Abandoned military buildings at the Marin Headlands

When I pulled into the Marin Headlands Visitor’s Center parking lot, several folks from class were looking intently at the far (west) end of Rodeo Lagoon. I hurried over and was treated to a rather amazing sight. Several Brown Pelicans were swimming in the lagoon (according to Joe, our ornithology instructor, they like to bathe in fresh water to get the salt off of themselves) and approaching, like little Jaws, were a pack of River Otters, the round bumps of their heads barely visible above the water. The pelicans flew off a few times as the otters neared, but *bam* one pelican was taken down by the otters, who proceeded to methodically eat it!

 
The lower pelican is a goner….

Apparently this particular pack of otters has learned how to take Brown Pelicans by grabbing them from below, submarine-style, then dragging them under by the neck. There were easily 8 otters in the lagoon, possibly more, and someone commented that there are at least two generations of river otter here that have acquired the pelican-hunting skill. Pretty amazing to see, as I never thought of otters as anything but fish-eaters!

Yellow Warbler

Our group assembled and, after admiring a 2-point White-tailed Deer buck and some overhead Vaux’s Swifts, we headed west down a trail along the south side of the lagoon. A Wrentit (LIFER!) briefly showed itself in the bushes, but couldn’t be re-found. Across the lagoon someone, somehow, found a Pectoral Sandpiper (LIFER!), and everyone got good looks at it, as it wasn’t moving around much. Just above it, a bobcat skulked around before darting under a bridge and disappearing – this was already turning out to be quite a good day for wildlife viewing, despite the iffy weather!

On a mud bar, several Double-crested Cormorants dried their wings, and a Spotted Sandpiper briefly made an appearance. Someone with very sharp eyes then found a Wilson’s Snipe (LIFER!), and after much squinting through scopes, we all got to see it. It was asleep/resting, however, and I didn’t get to see its distinctive bill.

 
Blackpoll Warbler

As we watched several Yellow Warblers and a Wilson’s Warbler feeding and darting about, Robbie spied a Blackpoll Warbler (LIFER!), a rare bird in these parts. I spent some time trying to track it as it moved about, and finally managed to get a few semi-OK photos of it (at least you can tell what it is). It started to rain gently (so much for forecasts), and we made our way back to the parking lot.

 
Common Terns

From here we caravaned to the mouth of Rodeo Lagoon to see what was a’wing there. Turns out there was plenty! On the beach side, two Common Terns (LIFER!) hung around, accompanied by a Black-bellied Plover and several Killdeer. We watched them as they took off and foraged in the lagoon, plunging and occasionally coming up with something. Despite their name, Common Terns are not particularly common at all in the bay area.

 
Common Yellowthroats

A pair of Common Yellowthroats, one male, one female, also gave us nice views, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow was found on the shoreline too. Rounding out the warblers for the day, a Yellow-rumped Warbler was by the picnic benches, along with White-crowned Sparrows, a House Finch, California Towhee, and the usual picnic-area birds (Western Scrub-Jay, Brewer’s Blackbird, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, and a very tatty-looking Brown-headed Cowbird). A group of 30 or so Red-necked Phalaropes in the lagoon provided good viewing as well.

 
Pectoral Sandpiper

Next we drove to the shore near where we’d seen the Pectoral Sandpiper, and got excellent looks at it from this vantage point, along with some pelican bones and several River Otters. In the treetops, someone thought they’d spotted a Merlin, but it took off, chasing a Red-shouldered Hawk, and showed itself to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk instead.

 
Our birding group

To finish our outing, we drove once more, this time to the north end of Point Bonita, hoping to get some more shorebird action on the near-shore rocks. There were Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants and Brown Pelicans galore (more food for the otters, I guess!), and a Black Oystercatcher, but little else. It started to rain more heavily now, so at 11:50, Joe called it a day.

 
Looking north at Rodeo Beach and Fort Cronkhite

This was a great outing, with 5 life birds for me, and despite the photo-hostile weather, I got a few decent photographs too. It’s always nice going out with larger groups (there were nearly 20 of us), especially when many of them are very experienced birdwatchers, and I look forward to the next trip!

Birds seen (49 species):
– American Crow
– American Goldfinch
– Barn Swallow
– Black Oystercatcher
– Black Phoebe
– Black-bellied Plover
* Blackpoll Warbler
– Brandt’s Cormorant
– Brewer’s Blackbird
– Brown Pelican
– Brown-headed Cowbird
– California Towhee
– California Quail
– Chestnut-backed Chickadee
– Common Raven
* Common Tern
– Common Yellowthroat
– Double-crested Cormorant
– European Starling
– Great Blue Heron
– Heermann’s Gull
– House Finch
– Killdeer
+ Least Sandpiper
+ Lincoln’s Sparrow
– Mallard
– Marbled Godwit
– Marsh Wren
* Pectoral Sandpiper
– Pelagic Cormorant
– Red-necked Phalarope
– Red-shouldered Hawk
– Red-tailed Hawk
– Red-winged Blackbird
– Savannah Sparrow
– Sharp-shinned Hawk
– Song Sparrow
– Spotted Sandpiper
– Turkey Vulture
– Vaux’s Swift
– Western Grebe
– Western Gull
– Western Scrub-Jay
– White-crowned Sparrow
* Wilson’s Snipe
– Wilson’s Warbler
* Wrentit
– Yellow Warbler
– Yellow-rumped Warbler

* = life bird, + = year bird

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