Marin Headlands San Francisco
Hiking and Bird Watching
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Preethi and Julia rugged up against the morning cold.
Julia and I picked up Preethi on Sunday so we could drive to the
Marin Headlands for some raptor spotting and hiking.
The weather was dreary in the
morning, as you can see from the sky in this shot of Preethi and Julia, but
it did clear up in the afternoon. Still San Francisco always seems gorgeous
no matter what the weather is doing.
In this photo we captured a Turkey Vulture in full
glide.
This is the time of year when many different species of
raptors or birds of prey migrate south for better feeding grounds. Because
these birds do not like to fly over water, but do like to follow the
coastline on their trek south, the Marin Headlands becomes a great vantage
point to view these magnificent birds. The
reason the Marin Headland is a special spot is because it is bracketed by
the Pacific Ocean on the west side and the San Pablo Bay on the east side
funneling the birds onto the narrow headlands.
It got warmer in the afternoon.
It was quite funny how we got this and several other
photos of this raptor in flight. We had walked up to Hawk Hill which is
where all of the very enthusiastic bird watchers and ornithologists gathered
to view the migrations. We
saw a few birds in the distance but were not very impressed. Then, as we
were walking down from Hawk Hill, we got these close up shots of the very
thing they were all looking for.
We took the car down to the beginning Costal Trail and we
headed out for a four hour hike up and down the beautiful Marin Headlands
hills. The weather did eventually clear up and we all had a great time
hiking.