Date: 6/10/26 7:27 am From: Daniel Scali via groups.io <daniel.s.scali...> Subject: [SFBirds] A Reason to Join the Atlas (ID adjacent)
Hello good people!
With the California Breeding Bird Atlas well underway, GGBA members and fans are producing a lot of good data. My Atlassing motivations fluctuate between wanting to document all breeding activity in an area and hoping to confirm breeding rarities. Naturally, attention to the former yields discoveries of the latter.
In SF, the already huge increase in local attention on breeding birds because of the Atlas has translated into tens of reports of apparent violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act via poorly timed vegetation work. The Act makes it illegal to “take” (kill) native birds, including eggs, without a permit. Tree work to support human safety is permitted. One violation I documented is of a SF Rec and Park (SFRPD) gardener weed whacking the lawn side of a hedge while a colony of Brewer’s Blackbirds delivered food to nests with young on the lake side of the same hedge. The SF GGBA Conservation Committee hopes to meet with RPD to inform leadership and put a stop to harmful (and illegal) practices. We plan to use eBird Atlas breeding maps to show RPD how easy it is to disrupt breeding birds, especially at any time from March to mid-July.
If you use eBird, you have likely already contributed to wide-ranging research. Participating in the Atlas can make a significant impact on birds right here right now.
Please join this effort and help add data points!!!
Here is everything you need to know to get started: https://ebird.org/ atlascalifornia/about/start ( https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/about/start )
And if you can take photos or video of violations, we are collecting those to bolster our case. Please send documentation of destructive SF vegetation work to me at <dscali...> Let’s leave no probable habitat undocumented throughout the three GGBA counties.
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Optimistically,
Dan Scali
*This map* (eBird Species Map screenshot) *shows* *every location in 2026 where someone submitted an Atlas eBird list with breeding evidence of Dark-eyed Juncos. A good visual of their ubiquity, yet a single pin could be a large Hotspot, with several nesting pairs seen and only one data point to show it. In other words, there's a lot more breeding going on than even this shows.*
C = Confirmed (anything from carrying nesting material to seeing recent fledglings) and R = Probable (pairs, courtship, etc.)
