Date: 01/30/20
Location: Golden Gate Park, 37.7694°N, 122.4862°W, highest elevation = 303.87 ft
Site description: We visited the very east end of Golden Gate Park that runs along Stanyan St in San Francisco. This section of the park had several branching trails surrounded by diverse vegetation. This vegetation ranged from tall grasses, shrubbery, and flowers to the massive Blue Gum Eucalyptus and Monterey Cypress trees. Contrarily, multiple open recreational spaces disrupted the surrounding flora. Some key bird species that were identified at the time of visit include Anna’s Hummingbird, Dark-eyed Junco, and Golden-crowned Sparrow.
Species account: Golden-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla. Golden-crowned sparrows are fist-sized birds with long tails. They are brown-bodied with dark black striped running parallel with their white-tipped wings and their beaks are short and triangular. Most notably, the breeding adults were seen to have a yellowish-gold crown at the highest point of their head. Non-breeding adults lacked this distinguishing feature. The sparrows navigated mainly on the ground in large groups scouring the floor for food and occasionally jumping up to nearby twigs and branches. Their diet consists of primary insects and seeds, and they are frequently found in forest edges, backyards, and scrubby spaces during winter and their periods of migration. During breeding, the sparrows can be found near the ground amongst the shrubbery of the tundra or at the edges of boreal forests (eBird.org).
Narrative: We began our trip at approximately 9:45Am on January 30th, 2020. Arriving at the east end of Golden Gate Park off Stanyan St, the weather was mainly cloudy with the occasional sunlight peaking through. Immediately after entering the park, birds were being spotted left and right. Not long into the trek, we ran into a small group of fellow birders who were in search of a Red-naped Sapsucker; considered to be a very rare sighting at this park. As a new birder, this experience helped instill the basic principles of active bird spotting and binocular usage.
eBird list (cameronlucian): https://ebird.org/profile/MTUzNjg2OA/world
