Harding Park restoration site at Lake Merced in San Francisco

On Saturday, I was at the Golden Gate Audubon restoration day at Harding Park, which is on the golf course at Lake Merced in San Francisco and part of the Natural Areas Program. While there pulling weeds with 31 volunteers, I spotted the wintering OSPREY skimming the lake and fishing in their distinctive way. I had not seen an osprey before at Lake Merced so it was quite a treat. The osprey had a brief encounter with a red-tailed hawk just as we were loading up the tools and calling it a day.

Just walking back and forth across the bridge I also saw -

• Western grebes
• Pied-billed grebe
• Ruddy ducks
• Double-crested cormorants
  
• California towhee
• White-crowned sparrows
• Scrubjay
  

Many more birds out on the lake, but I was busy pulling weeds and didn't get to look for too long.