9. Grant Park – Los Altos, CA (Apr 7)

Date: March 31st, 2020 – https://ebird.org/checklist/S66869211

Location: Grant Park – Los Altos, CA – 37.383, -122.114 – Elevation: 48m/157ft

Site Description: This week, I went birding at my local park, Grant Park, which is about a 15 minute walk away from my house. I spent 183 minutes (a little over 3 hours) walking 4.2 miles in a loop beginning from my house and following some tree-lined streets as I walked through the park, sitting on a bench at the park for a while, and continued home. The topography of this region is overall quite flat as most of the streets, including the park, are residential and within a suburb. The walk had many trees and bushes, but the park was where I was able to observe the highest number of birds. The park has lots of taller trees that are resting spots for soaring birds as well as some medium sized trees and lots of bushes, grass, and hedges. Previously, I have struggled with identifying birds as they are flying above because the lighting is not favorable to note their coloration and general morphology, but this time I felt it was easier to identify the birds I had seen on many occasions such as Turkey Vultures, Rock Pigeons, American Crows, and Common Ravens. This week I saw a slightly different variety of birds than I have been seeing since I have been home in Los Altos, which is likely because I spent the majority of my time at a park with many bird habitats as opposed to the car-lined streets near my home. I saw Mourning Doves, which I have seen in almost every eBird-tracked excursion for the last few weeks. I believe I am getting better at identifying this species because it  has a distinct body shape and behavior, plus I am not needing to differentiate it from other dove species such as the White-winged Dove or Eurasian-collared Dove. The Mourning Doves I have seen exhibit dark wing spots and a longer tail than most other birds I am observing. Upon researching more about dove species during this time of year, I discovered that sometimes Mourning Doves can be found in groups with other dove species,¹ so I will need to look closer at the flocks of doves I have been seeing to ensure that I am not assuming they are all the same variety of dove. As mentioned above, I was able to identify many bird species that were commonly seen on our pre-quarantine field trips such as the Rock Pigeon (12 individuals), Turkey Vulture (4), American Crow (5), and Common Raven (9). Like I observed last week, I saw more Anna’s Hummingbirds (2), but saw a variety of other hummingbird species more distantly that I was not able to certainly identify as either Anna’s or Allen’s. I saw multiple Red-winged Blackbirds, which I had not seen since being home. Initially I thought the Red-winged Blackbirds may have just been either Ravens or Crows, but because of their smaller size, I was prompted to look closer. I was then able to observe the red coloration on the tops of their wings (near the shoulder), though many identification sites claim that there should be a yellow color beside the red patch on the wings,² which I did not observe. Perhaps the birds were not in a position that I was able to properly see the coloration, or the yellow stripe is not as pronounced on these individuals as it is on some others in other regions. I was excited to see White-crowned Sparrows because the black and white coloration of their heads is very distinct and I could identify them very quickly. I also observed two California Towhees, which I had not seen in a very long time. Because Towhees are essentially large sparrows, I was able to identify the behavior and patterns of the Towhee almost immediately as similar to that of a sparrow. However, their beaks are larger and wider than most sparrow species and their color pattern is relatively matte brown and drab. As far as California Towhee are concerned, males look the same as females,³ which makes the individuals seen together easier to identify. I am finding it easier to identify birds based on their behaviors, particularly foraging behavior and flight patterns. Typically I am able to quickly note the behavior of the bird (or many birds seen together) and group them with some birds that I know well and exhibit similar behaviors. This makes it easy for me to categorize the individual into a general group such as sparrow, chickadee, swallow, kinglets, hawks, etc. Then, if I am able to take a second look, I can typically note the coloration pattern and body shape that helps me narrow in on a particular species. I hope in the coming weeks I can focus on identifying individual birds better by sounds and calls. I am also hoping to see some more diverse bird-types during this more heavily migratory time. A few species I hope I am able to spot include Cliff, Bank, and Barn Swallows as well as Flycatchers, American Robins, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. See images below for pictures of (1) A Mourning Dove, (2) White-winged Dove, (3) Eurasian-collared Dove (good for comparison), (4) Red-winged Blackbird – note the red AND yellow coloration atop the wings near the shoulders, and (5) California Towhee as well as views of the park where I spent most of my time birdwatching.

Species Account: White-crowned Sparrow – Zonotrichia leucophrys (Passeriformes > Passerellidae) The White-crowned Sparrow is relatively large compared to other sparrows, though it  maintains distinctive sparrow characteristics including a small bill and long tail. The head of the White-crowned Sparrow can sometimes be slightly peaked, but is often smooth and flat. The overall coloration of the bird is a drab pale-ash gray with sharp black and white stripes on the head near the crown and leading away from the eyes. The bill tends to be a yellow color but can sometimes appear a pale pink. White-crowned sparrows tend to be found near the ground and in low shrubbery near the edges of brushy habitat. Their behavior including hopping on the ground or on branches around waist level or below, though they can be found in the open ground with bushes and hedges nearby.⁴ A good place to look for White-crowned Sparrows is in places where somewhat thick brush (including bushes, trees, etc.) meet with open or grassy ground available for foraging. I saw three of these individuals on the open path that was lined with bushes. When people would walk by, the sparrows would hop or fly into the bushes, but when there were few people, they could even be seen venturing into the open grass field. This species is most often seen by spectators in the Winter and early Spring (so we may be seeing fewer of these individuals as we head further into the Springtime). As many bird species do, the White-crowned Sparrow has some regional differences in morphology. This that breed along the Pacific Coast (ones we are more accustomed to seeing) will exhibit very yellow bills and duller white head stripes whereas those that breed from Alaska to Hudson Bay will have more orange bills and white or gray lores. Individuals that breed east of the Hudson Bay and in the Rockies will have pink-is bills and black lores that are connected to their black head stripe. These distinctive morphological differences indicate that the mating of these birds is quite regionally specific and there is not much mixing between regions (otherwise we would observe more of a gradient of these characteristics rather than distinctive regional differences).⁴ A good method of identifying the White-crowned Sparrow from the White-throated Sparrow (though they are quite similar visually), is that the White-crowned variety has a bill that is always brighter than the White-throated. Importantly, immature individuals of this species are always browner and do not display the distinctive crown coloration, making the younger White-crowned Sparrows slightly more difficult to group appropriately.⁵ The diet of the White-crowned Sparrow consists of mostly seeds, other vegetable matter, and sometimes insects. During the winter, their diet is almost entirely seeds, which transitions into vegetable matter during the other seasons including flowers, some mosses, berries, and small fruit. During the summer, insects can more easily be found and their diet can include various insects including spiders.⁶ Their feeding behavior, as I observed, was largely foraging while hopping along the ground. Sometimes they will feed in low shrubs and can make short flights to catch insects while flying, though the simplest and most common foraging strategy involves searching open areas for seeds. Oftentimes, they will forage in flocks. When I saw these three individuals in Grant Park, I believe more White-crowned Sparrows were in the bushes nearby, but there was lots of movement among the birds on the path and within bushes because the foot traffic was very heavy. Many populations of White-crowned Sparrows along the Pacific Coast are permanent residents, in contrast to those from northern and mountain regions which exhibit strongly migratory behavior. Migratory behavior occurs at night. I am now having a much easier time identifying individuals as sparrows, especially after observing their foraging and flight behavior as well as their morphology and coloration. The White-crowned Sparrow was particularly easy to identify this afternoon because the black and white stripes were easily seen using my binoculars. Even so, after discovering that the juveniles differ in coloration from the mature White-crowned Sparrows, I believe I may have seen more individuals than I originally thought. I hope I am able to see more sparrow species during this migratory time, as well as sparrows in larger numbers. I will continue to look for sparrows alongside the paths of parks and in shrubbery that lies close to the ground. The images below show a distribution map of the White-crowned Sparrow in the United States as well as a couple views of the morphology of this species. The last image shows the juvenile individual, which clearly lacks the distinctive white and black stripes on the crown.

Narrative: I departed my house, at 9:13am on April 7th and stopped birding 183 minutes later (for a total time of just over three hours). I was birding during my entire walk as I ventured along tree and bush-lined residential streets, ending up at a park about two miles from my house. The walk was just over 4 miles long in total. I witnessed nine bird taxa during these three hours, many of which were inhabiting the park as opposed to the busier yards and streets I walked past. I did not see as many birds flying above as I have seen on other birding trips and the large majority of birds I noted in eBird were foraging on the ground or in small bushes at the park. One challenge I had this week was being patient with birds coming out of hiding. Many of the birds remained in their bushes and shrubs for a long time until people had not walked past for many minutes, which was frustrating because I had to wait a relatively long time to observe many of the birds (and the main reason why this birding experience was longer than others).  The weather on this day was partly cloudy with a high of 64°F and a low of 51°F.⁷ As was discussed in our weekly check-in, I am hoping to be able to identify more birds based on sound alone, or at least use the vocalizations of birds to aid in quicker identification. I am also hoping to keep a close eye out for American Robins since we should be seeing more of those during this time of year. I am particularly hoping to improve my identification skills of swallows, swifts, and sparrows since I should be seeing more of these week by week. This was a good park to go birding in when no one was walking by, but I hope to be able to walk further to other parks in the next couple weeks.

Additional Photos & Media: See below photos for additional images of Grant Park and the plant life alongside my walk to and from the park.

Sources:

¹ “Common Dove and Pigeon Species in the United States.” Migratory Birds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, https://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/pdf/surveys-and-data/HarvestSurveys/DovePigeonFactSheet.pdf.

² “Red-winged Blackbird Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/id.

³ “California Towhee Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Towhee/id.

⁴ “White-crowned Sparrow Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/id.

⁵ “White-crowned Sparrow.” eBird, The Cornell Lab, https://ebird.org/species/whcspa.

⁶ “White-crowned Sparrow.” Audubon, 29 Dec. 2019, “Mourning Dove.” Audubon, 16 Dec. 2019, www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/white-crowned-sparrow#.

⁷ Pelmorex Weather Networks Inc. “Los Altos, CA Window._config.masthead_has_content = True;” The Weather Network, www.theweathernetwork.com/us/last-24-hours/california/los-altos.San Rafael, CA Monthly Weather.”