Date: 2/11/26 6:58 am From: Daniel Scali via groups.io <daniel.s.scali...> Subject: [SFBirds] Atlassing the Approaching Spring in SF
Hello All,
San Francisco’s breeding activity is picking up. I highly encourage
everyone who reads SFBirds to join the California Breeding Bird Atlas
effort. We’re all learning how to do this – we have five years to get it
right. Sign up here: https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/home, read some
brief tutorials, and get your Community Science on.
A few interesting observations since the atlas started:
A female Anna's in the backyard visiting my less than one-year-old
California Golden Rod to grab a tiny piece of seed fluff, zooming off to
pad a nearby nest I have yet to find.
Black Phoebes inspecting their annual nursery, hidden ledge corners of the
portico at Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park.
A Pied-billed Pair yesterday eve in the rain in the same Blue Heron Lake
Willow patch as last spring. One bird was roosting on the in progress
vegetation mat nest, the other floating beside. A large, fresh, green,
yellow Iris leaf laid over the top.
Then, my favorite so far. A morning Battle Royale in the newly pruned
Sycamores of the Music Concourse. This was as close to a WWE tag team match
as I’ve seen. There was a pair of Western Bluebirds perched on a snag
looking intently at a half-dollar-sized opening. A pair of Tree Swallows
was in a neighboring tree. The bluebirds would stick their heads into the
hole for a split second, but then brace for an attack. Many fights ensued
with one of the tree swallows tangling mostly with the male weeblu. They’d
meet in the air, death spiral toward the ground while pecking at each
other, and mostly the bluebird seemed to pin the swallow before both would
retreat. Yet the swallows never gave up, and after they launched a double
attack, the bluebirds had had enough and departed.
