Saturday 19 September 2015

America 16.8.15

Greenland!
 
Brown Pelican
 
Western Gull
 
Sea-Lions
 
San Francisco
 
As I was turning 40 this year a plan was hatched to do a big holiday to celebrate it. After just over 2 hours in the shop it was booked and the West coast of USA was waiting for us. The day arrived and off to Heathrow for our 10 hour flight. It didn't start off to good as the flight was delayed by 90 minutes and once we were on the plane I realised that the backs of the headrests didn't have a small TV on them. According to United Airlines the way forward now is to make passengers use their own devices (phones/tablets) to watch films! The tannoy announcement when we were waiting to set off told us that we needed to download the UA app which I just managed to do before I had to switch to airplane mode. It then took me 4 hours to finally connect to the planes Wifi and another hour to get a film downloaded to watch. During the 90 minute film it cut out 5 times and then to add insult to injury 15 minutes before the end of the film my phone battery died! Could I then charge my phone on the plane? Could I Fuck!! Should UA ever read this section of the blog then please re-think your ideas as they are shite. Rant over!

Anyway! Due to the delayed start we arrived just after 3pm and once in the hotel and our bags had been dropped off we headed out for some dinner and to explore what San Francisco has to offer. We caught one of the famous trams up to Pier 39 and almost straight away scored with my first lifer of the trip when the first of around 80+ BROWN PELICAN flying just offshore. The next lifer was even more numerous with over 100 WESTERN GULL dotted all over. 4 American Crow and a few Barn Swallow were noted as was a single Double-Crested Cormorant perched up next to the famous Sea-Lions. The last lifer of the day was a single BREWER'S BLACKBIRD feeding on a roadside verge.




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