Monday, May 9, 2011

Middle Harbor, Oakland - May 5, '11

Walking Distance: 6.4 mi. (estimate)
Walking Time: 2 hrs, 31 min. (4:06 p.m. - 6:37 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot, near old site of "Building 122"; Oakland, CA

Today I enjoyed walking around the Oakland harbor, views of the San Francisco skyline, and the large cargo ship operations in the Port of Oakland (at the safe distance).

From the parking lot, I walked toward the water, through a small, lawn-covered area and a walkway  along the water. Geese and their goslings were romping around in this area.

Once I reached the walkway along the Bay, I continued north on this path. I passed a playground area, in Portview Park, and turned around at the trail's end just past the fishing pier area, when I could walk no further (due to a chain link fence). Also, near the playground was a small building advertising a room with a view upstairs, but, unfortunately this building was closed by the time I walked by, and all prospective patrons had to view was a painted silhouette of a man waving from a window. Ahoy, matey, maybe next time.

I then headed south to the other end of the Harbor, and when I reached this old ferry point location, I also walked through the building dedicated to a local figure who helped establish parks in the Oakland area. This end was also the best place to view and take photographs of a large cargo ship, loaded with stacks of metal shipping containers and the huge cranes there to service these ships.

Random observation for the day: At one point a had a ladybug hitchhiker that landed about where my watch would have been on my arm/wrist -- had I been wearing a watch. The ladybug stayed with me for quite a awhile.

Wildlife Sightings:
3 pigeons; 1 ladybug; 7 swallows; 41 Canada geese (includes 19 goslings); 7 terns; 40 sea gulls; 4 doves; 95 ducks (includes 5 ducklings); 31 Western/Clark's grebes; 14 little brown jobs (LBJs); 137 unidentified brownish shorebirds (small and medium sized UBBs); 8 killdeer; 6 cormorants; 9 American Avocets; 1 starling;  5 brown pelicans; 1 blur in the bushes (BIB)













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