walk on the "beach"

This afternoon we three went for a walk along the bay shore. Since our daughter came back from camp, she has been interested in looking at birds out the back window of the house. We took our (small) binoculars, this birds-of-the-Bay-Area card we've had for years, and the camera.


There wasn't really a beach. There was this section of mud with a sea gull at the water's edge.


Most of the trail was a muddy path with shells through the shore plants. These plants went usually went to the water's edge.


Looking back from that point, two radio transmission towers can be seen in the distance. To the right is drier and has a shrub that smells like anise, something related to dill.


There were some driftwood logs that looked like old supports for a pier or something that provided places to sit and watch the birds and figure out which ones we were seeing. We identified western grebes, sea gulls (easy), brown pelicans, plovers, and there were a few ducks that were too far away to get a good look.


The above picture has two adult plovers. They are gray with white undersides and black beaks.


In one area we stopped, there was sand with a bunch of different foot prints. Our daughter is pointing to some small prints that we think are from a mouse. The print to the right of her finger is probably from a raccoon. The other ones are of course from birds.


The area is the landing approach path for SFO, so planes were flying overhead headed that way. High enough not to be a nuisance, but loud enough that we knew when they went over.