Neptune Dr. - June 19, '11

Walking Distance: .7 mile

Walking Time: 30 min. (12:49 - 1:19 p.m.)

Start and End Point: One-way - started at (north) end of Neptune Drive and finished at El Torito Restaurant, San Leandro, CA

This walk on Neptune Drive (shown as double yellow lines on Bay Trail Map), started out in a sparsely populated area with a regional park (Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline Park), and some industrial/commercial  buildings, and gradually shaded into a very pleasant residential area on the way to the San Leandro Marina.

Thank you to Alec who dropped me off at the north end of Neptune Drive (near the entrance to Oyster Bay Regional Park) and who picked me up at the end of this short walk, near El Torito Restaurant, in San Leandro.

Wildlife Sightings:

88 sea gulls; 9 pigeons; 1 crow; 1 feral black cat (possibly same one, or one related to same one that I saw before near/in Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline Park)

T. Lema Golf Course - June 18, '11

Walking Distance: 7.34 miles
Walking Time: 3 hrs., 47 min. (3:30 - 7:17 p.m.)
Start and End Point: - One-way walk that started at San Leandro Marina area, and ended at W. Winton Ave., in Hayward, CA

This long walk (mostly solid red line trail on the Bay Trail map) started in the San Leandro Marina area, and took us out to a peninsula populated by ground squirrels and a Par Course (surrounding the Small Boat Lagoon), and then back, and south along the Tony Lema Golf Course. The walk was so long, and vertical, that I needed to include two different map segments (right).

Thank you to Alec for driving and for joining me on today's walk.

The Bay Trail continued along the baylands, past some interesting whale murals, and eventually we exited the trail in Hayward (Hayward Regional Shoreline Park) near W. Winton Ave. (We had a ride back to our car in San Leandro.)

Wildlife Sightings:
5 UBBs; 1 butterfly/moth; 2 balls; 1 ladybug; 1 duck; 7 crows; 1 blue jay; 3 snowy egrets, 1 great egret; 2 mockingbirds; 7 black-necked stilts; 9 American Avocets; 4 bumblebees; 51 sea gulls; 2 (fabric) kites; 30 pigeons; 25 ground squirrels; 4 terns; 27 starlings; 18 swallows + 38 (blue & orange with more cut wings) barn? swallows; 27 little brown jobs (LBJs); 3 blackbirds; 36 red-winged blackbirds; 12 Canada geese (all on golf course)

San Leandro Marina - June 17, '11

Walking Distance: 1.8 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 58 min. (10:48 - 11:46 a.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot, San Leandro Marina area, San Leandro, CA

Today's short walk around the San Leandro Marina found us heading southish, passing the El Torito restaurant (solid red line to dotted line on the Bay Trail Map) -- around to the curved end of a piece of land (solid gold line on map) forming the north end of the Marina. We then headed back in (East) around to out (West) again to end of a peninsula further south (gray dotted line to solid red line) forming the other edge of the marina - to a pocket park, where fishing was allowed in the area.

Thank you to Sunita for joining me for today's walk, for driving, and for subsequent chocolate field trip.

Wildlife Sightings:
79 sea gulls; 15 pigeons; 4 crows; 2 cormorants; 4 ducks; 2 terns; 2 swallows

Oyster Bay - June 2, '11

Walking Distance: 2 miles (estimate)

Walking Time: 1 hr., 8 min. (6:48 - 7:56 p.m.)
Start and End Point: parking area, by park entrance, end of Neptune (off Williams), San Leandro, CA

Some of the trails in Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline park had paved (asphalt) trails (shown as solid red line on Bay Trail map), and the rest of the trail was packed dirt (unpaved). The unpaved portion of the trail does not show up on the current Bay Trail map.

However, that may change in the future if there are further improvements made. In any case, the unpaved trail was fine for walking for me this evening. The ground was dry, and I made my way directly, past a large materials recycling/recovery facility (with lots of sea gulls flying overhead), to the Bill Lockyer Bay Trail bridge, where I'd left off on a previous walk -- where I'd crossed this bridge from the north side (Oakland Airport/Airport trail).

I then followed a paved (asphalt) trail (shown as a solid, red line on the Bay Trail map) around this ear or half-moon shaped, rounded outcropping of land -- with a small hill in the middle -- as it curved back to shore again.

I'm guessing the area's sculpted shape means the Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline park area was once a garbage dump or landfill area that has been reclaimed, and converted to a park area, like many shoreline parks in the Bay Area.

The upper part of the (solid red line) trail was a great area for aircraft fans of all ages to watch planes take off and land at Oakland Airport.

The last part of this walk offered views of the San Leandro shore to the south, including homes by the water,  El Torito restaurant, and a park area. And further walking led to paths up the hill and to picnic areas before reaching the parking lot again.

There were lots of swallows and smaller birds darting about before sundown, and other wading birds (egrets) in the area under the bridge, in the shallow water, mudflats and grasses area on the north side of this walk.

I saw one black (feral) cat in amongst the grasses that looked like it may have recently become homeless. I say recently, because this cat looked pretty healthy. My soapbox plea for the day: Please don't drop off unwanted pets or cats in the Baylands. It's a hard life for cats/pets and the nesting birds they may have to hunt for food there as well.

Wildlife:
89 sea gulls; 8 turkey vultures; 5 red-winged blackbirds; 31 little brown jobs (LBJs), 2 finches; 1 hawk; 21 swallows; 3 snowy egrets; 2 crows; 1 black cat (assume it was feral); 1 black beetle