Date: 11/29/25 9:18 pm From: Marty Freeland via groups.io <martinf3...> Subject: [SFBirds] New Gray Catbird, Rufous Hummingbird, etc.
Hi all,
Lucas Stephenson and I birded west SF for most of the day today, covering some locations in Golden Gate Park as well as the Zoo and Pine Lake Park and vicinity. Highlights included a Gray Catbird, a Rufous Hummingbird, and a wintering Wilson's Warbler and three Nashville Warblers at various locations.
At the Arboretum we had a male Wilson's Warbler in the Moon Viewing Garden and a Nashville Warbler in bottlebrushes by the north gate, as well as a junco showing characteristics of the Slate-colored/Cassiar subspecies group on the lawn below the succulent garden. At Elk Glen Lake, we were surprised to hear the wing whirr of a male Selasphorus hummingbird. We were able to get views after some effort and confirm that it was a Rufous Hummingbird, with extensive orange and limited green mottling on the back. Allen's is virtually unknown from NorCal at this date and, although Rufous is quite rare, it is certainly the more expected of the two. We were distracted from trying to document the hummingbird when Lucas spotted a Gray Catbird! It was quite cooperative and put on a show for several minutes; this is the second this winter in the city. A male Northern Pintail was also at Elk Glen Lake and a female was at Middle Lake, and a flyover flock of 16 Greater White-fronted Geese passed Elk Glen. At North Lake, a Nashville Warbler was on the east side of the lake.
Fairly thorough coverage of the Zoo did not turn up anything rarer than gray-headed Orange-crowned Warblers, which were numerous throughout the day. We had them at almost every stop we made, including random ones like the Salvation Army Pinehurst Lodge area, and at several locations we had multiple; we also noted above-average numbers of lutescens Orange-crowns. At Pine Lake Park, another Nashville was near the southeastern corner of the lake and a Green Heron was in the reedbeds. In the early evening at Bercut, a single White-throated Sparrow was the only one we noted all day; this is lower than expected, as it seems to be a very good season for this species regionally. As always, photographs, location details, etc., are on eBird or will be shortly for all the above.
