Black Rail, Alviso Marina County Park, CA, August, 2018

Another business trip to the San Francisco Bay Area meant another opportunity for adding a statebird or two to my CA list.  As with most of my trips, my birding time is limited to short treks after work, so targets need to be pretty close nearby.  With that limitation, and given that I’ve birded in the area quite a bit, my possibilities are usually pretty limited.  In fact, there were no possible statebirds at all on my last couple trips to the Bay Area.

Prior to this trip I set up an eBird Needs Alert for CA, and after wading through the numerous sightings of uncountable Egyptian Goose, Indian Peafowl, and many Parrot species, I eventually found a number of recent reports of Black Rails in Santa Clara County.  Black Rails have popped up on several of my previous CA Needs Alerts, but they were never close enough to be able to give them a try.  However, this time they were being seen at Alviso Marina County Park which is just 40 minutes from work, so definitely within striking distance.  I had my target.

Now it was time to do my detailed detective work.  Up to 5 Black Rails were being heard and seen (!) daily at this small park.  Many of the reports mentioned that the Rails were giving a growl call which I was unfamiliar with.  But that was one of the calls included in my iBird Pro app, so I was able to study this less typical call.  As for location, they were most often at the end of the shortest boardwalk “next to the Gatorade bottle”.  I found a map of the park on-line, and quickly found the location of the boardwalk, and a couple photos showed birds next to a Gatorade bottle that had been tossed into the marsh.  So I had a good handle on where to look and listen.  However most reports were in the early morning, and I wouldn’t be free to try for them until after work, so I was a bit worried whether the time of day would reduce my chances.  Nevertheless, I felt well-prepared to give this tiny, secretive bird a try.

Work was over right on time on my last day of the trip, and I headed south toward Alviso Marina County Park.  Luckily most of the rush hour traffic was heading the other direction, so I made it to the park pretty quickly.  I made my way to the short boardwalk, walked to the end, and spotted the Gatorade bottle down below. 

I had the right location, now I just needed the birds to cooperate.  I waited at least 15 minutes hearing no calls, nor seeing any activity in the marsh down below.  Did I need to be there in the early morning?  Then finally I heard a Black Rail giving its growl call off to the left.  Then a second bird joined in.  Eventually the calls were closer, seemingly right below me.  Then I started to hear a different call sounding like “keek keek keek”, similar to the cadence of the “kic kee doo” call, but all on one pitch.  And then I spotted a brief glimpse of a bird a few inches away from the infamous Gatorade bottle.

I was able to get this recording of the “keek keek keek” call on my iPhone.

CA was my 9th state for Black Rail, and the 4th time I’ve seen this elusive species (see my statebird map below).

With a couple hours of light remaining, my attention turned to a second possible target – Semipalmated Sandpiper.  One had been seen the last couple of days at Yosemite Slough, a restored wetlands on the waterfront in San Francisco.  I hadn’t brought my scope with me, but I thought maybe I could arrive at the right location, find other birders with scopes, and get views of the bird through their optics.  And since my hotel that night was close to the airport a short distance from Yosemite Slough, I figured it was worth a try. 

After a not-so-bad rush hour drive I exited Route 101 in San Francisco and started winding my way through the city on surface streets to get to the waterfront.  On GoogleMaps I could see 3 possible access points to the Slough – at the ends of Wallace, Van Dyke, or Griffith Streets.  But as I got closer to the area I left suburban neighborhoods and soon entered a really rough-looking industrial area.  I went right on by Wallace and Van Dyke Streets not wanting to stop even if there was access.  And at the end of Griffith Street I found a closed gate and chain link fence with a no trespassing sign.  That’s probably a good thing because even if I did find access there and left my car to go birding I’m not sure it would have been in 1 piece when I returned.  I quickly turned my car around and left the area, with no regrets.  There must be safe access to this spot from somewhere.  As it turns out the last sighting of the Semi Sand was the day before I was there so I probably didn’t miss it that day after all.

As I made my way to the hotel I reflected on that evening’s birding adventures - although I was happy to have added a new statebird to my CA list, bringing my total to 392, I was even happier to have returned from the San Francisco waterfront unscathed.