Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, California - May 28, 2008

 May 28
We rose fairly early and had a light breakfast at Bruce's. While we sat there eating breakfast I managed to do a little backyard bird watching and added 2 more birds to my lifelist: Oak Titmouse and Anna's Hummingbird. After breakfast we were out the door for a big day of sightseeing. 

Our first stop was Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We had great views and really good visibility, Bruce even stated it was better than usual as we could see the Farallon Islands off in the distance. Bruce brought his spotting scope along and we got decent looks at some harbor seals and as usual I had my binoculars along and added a few more birds to my life list: Wrentit, Brant's Cormorant, and Western Gull. We could also see Alcatraz and Angel Island from our vantage point...we tried to get tickets to Alcatraz, but that just didn't work out.

If you look real close you can see the harbor seals and the cormorants.

Emily was cold. If we'd had a better camera I would've tried to get this shot with Alcatraz in the background.

After our stop there we headed over to another national park, Muir Woods National Monument. Once I got the car parked and joined the group at the entrance we were greeted to a fawn crossing the walkway trying to get back to its mother that was waiting on the other side.

I have to say this place is truly amazing. If you are even remotely close (500 miles or less), you should definitely check this place out, absolutely beautiful. I was amazed at how quiet it was there given the number of people there and its proximity to the Bay Area.

Before we got out on the trail, Bruce made a request to keep a lookout for a barred owl. He'd stopped at the visitor center and inquired and was told where to go wait. We got there and he decided to sit for a while, as it was my first time there I decided I wanted to carry on, but I would still keep my eyes peeled. As Bonnie, the girls and I were walking and had lost sight of Bruce we heard a loud noise up in the canopy and looked up to see the barred owl being chased and harrassed by 3 robins. Bruce was nowhere to be seen. We all stood there and watched it for about 10 minutes, then it was decided that I go back and fetch Bruce, but luckily he'd heard the racket too and was already heading that way. So I added barred owl to my life list along with winter wren.

This deer was quite content to just lay there and let everyone that passed get a picture.

Once we'd made it around the main trail we headed back to the visitor center/gift shop for everyone to take the necessary breaks and to pop in to the gift shop for a souvenior and the mandatory magnet. There were numerous sightings of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore while we took our respective turns at the rest rooms. What a great start to the day.

Once we'd finished up and got loaded back in the car we were off for Point Reyes National Seashore. Along the way Bruce and I saw a few birds and pulled off to look over a few of the marshes that dotted the roadside. In the process I added Clark's Grebe to my life list (yet another emerging theme). We drove a little while until we were at the town of Olema, CA. There we had lunch at The Farmhouse Restaurant. Bruce and Bonnie enjoyed fried oyster sandwiches and as I don't do seafod I decided to devour some roasted pork chile verde with black beans and rice and the fresh torilla chips that came with it. Pretty good lunch to fuel us up for the hours ahead. We got to the main entrance around 3 pm and drove around the area for about 3 hours. Along the winding roads we stopped to view wildlife at various points.

From this lookout I added common murre and pigeon guillemot to my life list.

Elephant Seal Overlook. Oddly enough we saw elephant seals here. They were on the shore to the left and for a really good view you needed a scope.

We saw tule elk grazing, male elephant seals sizing each other up and a variety of birds...I got a much better look at a surf scoter than I had the last time one turned up in Oklahoma and also added Common Murre and Pigeon Guillemot to the ever growing life list. We got back to Bruce's place and by that time we were pretty well wore out, so we had some pot roast that Juliet had made, quite yummy. After dinner we sat around and talked and then it was off to bed.