Great Horned Owl in his pine tree near the top of Strawberry Hill, inside Stow Lake’s circle, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.  My daughter, Julie, asked “Do you want to see the Great Horned Owls in Golden Gate Park?” 

It was a rhetorical question, of course.  Nearly twenty-five years ago she showed me the first owls I had seen in the park.  Then the park workers started using poison on the small mammals, taking out the owls along with the rats and ground squirrels.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stow Lake Parade. The rapid increase in Canada Goose population is clear.  I am so old I remember back a few years when Canada Geese were unusual anywhere in Golden Gate Park, even in San Francisco generally.  During the 1998 San Francisco Big Year contest I did nbot manage to find a Canada Goose until January 25th.  They were at Pier 98.  Now it would be nearly impossible to spend a full day birding SF without encountering the CAGO in several spots.

Steller’s Jay.  “I am curious blue.”

 

 

 

 

Pied-billed Grebe adult motors through the nutrient-rich (isn’t that polite?) waters of Stow Lake.

 

Location:     Golden Gate Park
Observation date:     8/4/09
Number of species:     20

Canada Goose (Large)     60
Mallard (Domestic type)     75
Pied-billed Grebe     1
Red-tailed Hawk (Western)     1
American Coot     2
Western Gull     80
Rock Pigeon     45
Great Horned Owl     1
Anna’s Hummingbird     6
Steller’s Jay     2
Western Scrub-Jay (Coastal)     1
Common Raven     4
Chestnut-backed Chickadee     6
Bushtit     15
Pygmy Nuthatch     12
American Robin     1
California Towhee     1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     1
Brewer’s Blackbird     25
House Sparrow     8