Berkeley-Emeryville - Apr. 27, '11

Walking Distance: 7.6 mi. (estimate)
Walking Time: 3 hrs., 58 min. (1:41 - 5:39 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Unpaved parking lot, near University Ave. and I-80 Frontage Rd., Berkeley, CA

Today's walk started at the intersection of University Avenue and  Highway 80 frontage road, near the Seabreeze Market, on the Berkeley Marina side of the freeway. From here, we walked south on the bicycle/pedestrian paved (asphalt with small dirt strip on side) path toward Emeryville (shown as a red line on Bay Trail map).

We checked out every point (Point Emery), peninsula and public pier/dock on the way out to the Emeryville Marina Park and the end of the Bay Trail (red line on map), taking in views of the bay, some sculptures attached to old pier pilings (Emery Cove area), and the San Francisco skyline in the distance.

Sea gulls and crows were busy harvesting mussels, and then dropping them on hard surfaces, trying to extract lunch. Mussels are, I believe, out of season for people, but, not for the birds.

We passed several restaurants in Emeryville, on the way out to the Marina; this area offers a lot of food and drink options, in and among the office buildings, and what we're assuming were condos.

There were great views of the Bay out at Marina Park at the very end of the peninsula in Emeryville.

Thank you to Ashish for joining me for today's walk.

Wildlife:

1 turkey vulture; 81 unidentified brownish shorebirds; 44 sea gulls; 4 Canada geese; 6 crows; 3 cormorants; 4 ground squirrels + 1 tree squirrel; 25 ducks; 6 Western grebes; 4 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 willet; 3 pigeons; 1 snowy egret; 1 fabric kite; 1 black oystercatcher.