Bridges to Lakes

The last two days have been a hurried run up the coast to get to Crater Lake in Oregon.  After the quick stop at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and dinner with a former college friend, we hurriedly called the hotel to let them know we would be checking in late, only to find out that our reservation was somehow lost.  So, after two hours of frantic calls with the hotel and with hotels.com we finally got a room in Sausalito at an amazing spot all for the price of a crap hotel.  Thank you Americas Best Inns for the mess up.  We had an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge from our hotel room and had breakfast next to a celebrity!

Golden Gate Bridge fromthe hotel room

Also, the hotel had an amazing little field in the behind our room where an early morning hike yielded some great birds.  Western Scrub Jay, Steller’s Jay and Song Sparrows were all noisily watching an American Kestrel perched on a fence post.  White-crowned Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, California Towhee, and a new life bird, Spotted Towhee all fed in and around the shrubs.  Amazing way to start the morning.  A quick drive to the GG Bridge overlook and we found a hawkwatch in progress.  The girls manning the station didn’t seem too knowledgeable but while there, Red-tailed Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk flew by. 

Spotted Towhee

Gray Jay

We made the long trek up toward Crater Lake and by 10:30 we were in the park and I was birding.  I know I should go through and list everything that I saw but I’ll keep it to the minimum (aka. Good stuff).  The first stop at an overlook I took off toward a picnic area and if as on queue two Gray Jays flitted around the little clearing I was in looking to see if I had anything interesting.

Mountain Chickadee

Another stop at a higher elevation was almost over run with Red-breasted Nuthatches and another life bird, the Mountain Chickadee.  These birds were both perching in a stand of trees and flying out flycatching above the road.  It was really a fantastic sight.  Once we got rolling almost every overlook we stopped at had at least one Clarks Nutcracker looking to see what the tourists might have dropped.  The Clark’s Nutcracker isn’t a legitimate life bird but these were the first I’d seen since I started to actually bird.

Clark's Nutcracker

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Other spectacular views included Peregrine Falcons flying over the lake, two immature Northern Harriers performing some areal skirmishes, and my first Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler.  While sitting on a bench on a path down to the lakes shore I saw a sparrow pop out of a low shrub real quick and my quick glance was backed up by the photos of a Golden-crowned Sparrow.  Not a bad way to round out the day. 

Winter Wren

Crater Lake