Blackie's Pasture to Belvedere, Tiburon - Feb. 13, 2010

Walking Distance: 5.9 miles
Walking Time: 3 hrs., 40 min. (1:05 - 4:45 p.m.) includes stops for lunch, wine tasting, birdwatching
Start and End Point: Blackie's Pasture parking lot, Tiburon, CA

A lovely, sunny afternoon for a walk. Bits of fog were gone by the time we arrived in Tiburon. Thank you to Nanette and Judy for joining me. From Blackie's Pasture (parking lot) we followed the shoreline path, and walked out to the end of the Belvedere spur trail (purple line on map). We then walked into downtown Tiburon via San Rafael Avenue, and stopped for a brief wine tasting and lunch on Main Street. We enjoyed watching a Western (or Clark's) grebe mating dance and dash across the water. These are the Olympic synchronized swimmers of the bird world. After lunch, we walked out as far as Shoreline Park, just past the Ferry stop, where we spotted some pelicans, more grebes,  and other birds, then headed back (NW) along Tiburon Blvd., then cut over to the beach and walked along beach and trail back to the car.

Wildlife Sightings:
1 great egret; 2 snowy egrets; 3 crows; 33 coots; 35 Western grebes, 3 other grebes/divers (Clark's Grebe, smaller grebe); 1 white butterfly; 38 ducks (including 3 buffleheads, some ruddy and other ducks); 30 sea gulls; 15 sanderlings; 5 brown pelicans; 18 unidentified brownish shorebirds including a group of tiny sandpipers and a long-billed curlew; and 1 willet.