Using the Landmarks

Yesterday was my first official day participating in the hawkwatch research. The fog lifted early and we  were actually able to see pretty clearly. We counted a total of 88 raptors, which in the dataset gets recorded as 22.98 hawks per hour, something I will explain when I have a better understanding of it myself. We identified four different species, the highlight of which were two distant juvenile Northern harriers. My excitement and celebration at spotting and identifying these unique birds was worthy of something the rest of the team deemed "Danny's harrier dance."

Hawkwatchers hawkwatching.

The hawkwatch research is pretty structured, Hawk Hill being divided into four quadrants, each being watched by a group of people. Typically, we rotate each hour so no one tires of staring at the same quadrant for too long. Once a bird is spotted in your quadrant, it is important to notify the other observers, so we can work together to identify the bird's species. Describing the location of the bird can be tricky, and over the years, the hawkwatchers have learned to use the natural landmarks to assist. Some of these landmarks are pretty obvious:

We call this "the bridge" but also often refer to "North tower" or "South tower"

Acatraz is another pretty obvious landmark.

There are some buildings around the Marin Headlands that also make for some good landmarks:

The GGRO office is located in the buildings on the right, called "Fort Cronkhite" because of some military history.

The horse pastures are on the left and rifle range on the right (I walk/bike past these every day on my way to the office). Yesterday, I watched four turkey vultures and bobcat hanging out in the rifle range during an otherwise slower hour in the West quadrant.

Point Bonita lighthouse, located funnily enough on Point Bonita.

Despite these obvious landmarks, most of what surrounds Hawk Hill is, well, other hills. Thus, some creativity has come into play as people have come up for clever names to differentiate all of the hills and vegetation. Here are some of my favorites:

The "Steer's Head" - pretty self-explanatory. 

The "Bunny" - also pretty self-explanatory.

This one is "Elvis. His legs are the two ridges coming towards the photo, the arms are the long ridge going across the middle, and Elvis' head is in profile in the upper center of the photo. See it?

For all the science nerds out there, this little patch of grass is simply called the "Petri dish."

The "lobster." The claws are coming towards the photograph, body pointing back to the upper-right corner.

Apparently, one way to have a true GGRO legacy is to coin a term that gets used as a landmark identification tool for years to come. I have another new goal for my time in California. :)

BONUS: Today, during a rather slow banding day, a group of California quails all ran into one of our nets. Families of these birds are seen running around the Marin Headlands, including in my front yard. They're pretty cute, if perhaps a bit dumb. I enjoyed getting a chance to see them up-close in the hand today.