Date: 4/3/26 10:00 am From: Dominik Mosur via groups.io <dominikmosur...> Subject: [SFBirds] Breeding Bird Atlas update/pointers and some misc. observations
Happy Spring SFBirders,
I wanted to take a few moments of your time to share some news on the Atlas
effort so far and give some helpful pointers to those conducting the field
work.
To start, a bit of raw data. So far through April 1st - San Francisco City
and County is 15th in total species confirmed with *48 and 7th with *1627
observer hours logged out of 58 counties. This is especially remarkable
that SF is the smallest county by far , approximately 1/9th the size of
San Mateo.
Here is a list of the species confirmed in the most blocks so far:
Anna's Hummingbird (9)
American Crow
Common Raven
House Finch
White-crowned Sparrow (8)
Red-tailed Hawk
Bushtit
European Starling (7)
Dark-eyed Junco (6)
Mourning Dove
Great-horned Owl (5)
Red-shouldered Hawk
House Sparrow
Song Sparrow
American Robin (4)
I also wanted to address some issues that have come up for atlas
participants.
First is the importance of placing your breeding bird observations in the
correct blocks. A number of our larger frequently visited areas fall into
two blocks.
These are:
Golden Gate Park
Presidio
Lake Merced
Land's End
Additionally quite a few frequently visited Hotspots do as well including:
Corona Heights Park
Golden Gate Heights Park
Twin Peaks
Heron's Head
Pier 94
Sunset Reservoir
West Sunset Playground
Lafayette Park
Marina Green
Sunset Dunes Park
Sunset Blvd. Greenbelt
Laguna Honda
East Wash
Lincoln Park Golf Course
and the outlier Alta Plaza Park which lies in 4 blocks(!)
Here is the prescribed method for dealing with atlasing efforts that
involve covering multiple blocks:
"When you prepare to go out atlasing, keep in mind that you may cross over
block boundaries while in the field. It may help to look at the block map
before you head in the field so you have some idea of boundaries and if you
will need to create multiple checklists. You can also figure this out in
the field if you use the mobile app, but you need to stop and check your
location on the map. You’ll also need to be aware of the location of
breeding birds because they could be in a different block from where you
are located.
How to use eBird hotspots
If you are birding at an existing eBird hotspot that spans multiple
blocks, create
separate personal location checklists for each block where you bird. If you
plan to return to the area, it may be helpful to include the name of the
block when you name the new personal location. For example, if you are
atlasing along Bolinas Lagoon, which spans 4 blocks, you would not want to
use the general “Bolinas Lagoon” hotspot when atlasing near the inlet,
because the general hotspot is not located in the same block. You could
create a personal location or use a more localized hotspot that is located
in the proper block.
What to do when you see or hear a bird in an adjacent block
When you are located in one block and detect a breeding bird in a
neighboring block, you need to make sure the breeding code is assigned to
the correct block. Here’s how:
1. Record all species you observe while conducting your current eBird
checklist.
2. Record breeding codes on your current checklist only for species with
evidence of breeding *in the block where you are located. *
3. Create a separate incidental checklist for the neighboring block,
record the species, count, and breeding code for breeding observations in
the neighboring block.
The birds will be counted twice on separate checklists, but this is ok. It
won’t mess up anything with effort or eBird statistics because the second
checklist is incidental."
Another issue I've discussed with some observers recently involves
correctly interpreting behavior. A number of species exhibit
courtship behavior that can appear at a glance to be a juvenile bird
begging from a parent but is actually pair bonding involving one bird
feeding another. The bird being fed will exhibit juvenile like mannerism :
bowing down, rapid wing flapping and opening the bill all accompanied by
begging calls. I've recently observed this in Pygmy Nuthatches and
Chestnut-backed Chickadees as well as Oak Titmouse (outside of SF). In the
past I've seen this behavior as well in Western Bluebirds and others. If
you observe what looks like begging behavior be sure to closely study the
bird begging to see if you can note other marks of a juvenile, remains of
juvenile down (often retained longest on the head/mantle), brightly colored
gape flanges (at the base of the bill), not fully grown out feathers
(short-tailed appearance) etc.
The other thing to look out for involves cavity nesters and
differentiating between codes : N - visiting probable nest site, B - nest
building in woodpeckers/wrens (and nuthatches) and NB - nest building by
secondary cavity nesters. For example: you observe a Tree Swallow/or
Western Bluebird repeatedly perching at the entrance to a cavity and even
entering it. This would be coded as N - probable. NB - a confirmation code
can be used once actual nesting material is observed being carried into the
cavity.
With cavity makers like woodpeckers and nuthatches observing a bird working
on a cavity merits a probable code B as these species make and use roosting
cavities. Confirmation of their breeding requires additional observation
showing behavior like carrying in food (CF), removing Fecal Sacs (FS) or
hearing begging juveniles inside the nest (NY)
Finally I would like to conclude this Atlas update by shouting out some of
our All-star participants who are leading the pack with -
total species confirmed:
Daniel Scali (15), Anna Klafter/Megan Jankowski (13), Eddie Bartley/Theresa
Calpotura(12). David Assmann/Travis Smith(11)
and blocks with confirmed species:
Eddie Bartley/Theresa Calpotura/Noreen Weeden (7), Anna Klafter/Liam
Murphy/Jenna Magee (5), Daniel Scali/Megan Jankowski/Travis Smith/Danny
Grossman/Conor Schmidt/Richard Bradus/Rich Chambers (4)
In other news :
Spring migrants have been arriving ahead of schedule so far with notables
on Corona Hill on Tue. 3/31 - Chipping Sparrow and Bullock's Oriole. A not
so highlight was watching a Scrub Jay predate a Bushtit nest joining three
Anna's and one Allen's Hummingbird nests that befell the same fate in
recent weeks. A Steller's Jay appeared to pluck a newly hatched European
Starling from a cavity on Tuesday.
And on a City-wide scale happy to report first of the year breeding
confirmations of nesting by Barn Owl in Golden Gate Park and Brewer's
Blackbirds behind the Ortega Library at West Sunset Playground (outside of
the block in which the pin for the hotspot is sited so be sure to create a
separate location for this)
Thank you to all of you participating in the atlas, and for the rest get
with the program! If you have questions please shoot me a line off list.
