When a nonbirding trip takes us to a place where we could see some interesting birds, we try to allow the needed time. Local parks come to mind first. San Francisco is a large and busy city, but Golden Gate Park is one of the best city parks in North America.

On a visit to our son, he planned a day at the park with our interests in mind. His choice was perfect. When looking for birds, head for areas they frequent. Vast expanses of green lawn where people love to picnic and play games isn’t what we look for.

Golden Gate Park’s Arboretum and Botanical Gardens are perfect for a day of birding and visiting. Even San Francisco’s shy July sun smiled on us. Along with endless trees, shrubs and flowers, the garden’s different habitat types assured us of seeing some good birds.

While we strolled through the park’s entrance, a familiar cry was heard. A young red-tailed hawk landed in a large tree. The bare limb it was perched on jutted right over the path that we and other visitors were standing on. That young hawk had an appreciative audience.

For the next five hours, there were red-tailed hawks wherever we walked. It seemed that a pair of adults were putting their offspring through flight training. When the birds were silhouetted against the clear blue sky, it was easy to separate the young birds from the adults because they had white in their tails instead of red.

As we hiked to the top of a steep hill where a large, man-made waterfall tumbles to the lake below, three red-tails flew over the treetops screeching with excitement. These youngsters were obviously newly out of the nest. When they closed up their wings and rocketed off the top of the small mountain, you could imagine the “elevator drop” feeling in their stomachs.

The natural brushy areas we wandered through were perfect habitat for birds like the California quail, common bushtits, juncos, song sparrows and towhees. The towhees we spotted weren’t our familiar spotted towhee. It had been many years since we had seen a California towhee. Back then it was known as the brown towhee. Later, this bird was split into two separate species, the California and the canyon towhees.

Hummingbirds were everywhere in the park. They would be zipping by, chasing each other and making it clear that many of them were young birds. Where some of the plants were dripping with the tubular flowers hummingbirds love, they were constantly arguing with one another. Binoculars weren’t needed, as they were often only an arm’s length away.

Anna’s hummingbirds were abundant, but another hummer was my favorite bird for the day. Allen’s hummingbird is pretty much restricted in its range to coastal California. Sightings in other areas, including Oregon and Washington, are rare. It is almost identical to the rufous, but the adult male always has a green back. We enjoyed several looks at the Allen’s, and one male was outstanding. It stayed in the spot where we first saw it and even sat still so we could study its plumage. It seemed almost as curious about us as we were about it.

Our visit to San Francisco wasn’t a birding trip, but for one day we enjoyed some time in the sun and some birding in a special park’s wonderful garden.

Write to Joan Carson, PO Box 217, Poulsbo, WA 98370. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a reply.