On the way to the park

A few shots from a trip to the city to see the SF Giants play the Washington Nationals on 15 August 2012.

 

Common Murre (Uria aalge) — likely an adult male parent (below) with juvenile (above).  The male takes care of the juvenile at sea for 1-2 months.  This photo was taken between Alcatraz Island and San Francisco.

 

We were excited to see a few of the boats that will be racing in the America's Cup World Series regatta next week.  Here's one heading out near the Bay Bridge. 

 

Also taking advantage of the wind today, this accipiter was circling above AT&T Park just before the game started.  (Accipiters are a group of hawks with relatively short rounded wings and long tails.)  I don't get much practice identifying accipiters at Bodega Head.  Both Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks occur there (I've seen more Cooper's than Sharp-shinned), but they're only occasional.  

The individual in the photo above had me leaning in one direction or the other at different times (Sharp-shinned vs. Cooper's), so I'm reluctant to offer a definite i.d.  Let me know if you have thoughts about it!

Here's one more photo of the same bird.