Date: 05/08/2020
Location: Inner Richmond apartment off Balboa Ave, SF, 37.77748°N, -122.45958°W, elevation = 215′
Site description: The view from my Inner Richmond apartment off Balboa Avenue in San Francisco, CA provides a unique urban location for bird spotting. Amidst the multi-level houses and apartment complexes is a sparse array of man-made plant life. Directly below living room apartment window is a small tree with bright green leaves that completely cover the tree branches. A small family of White-crowned Sparrows could be heard and seen from my living room vantage point. Further down the street are a line of smaller bushes and shrubs in between the sidewalk and the street. Additionally, there are rows upon rows of telephone poles and wires that provide access to many perching birds. Some key species that were identified from this non-traveling location were Herring gulls and the group of White-crowned sparrows.
Species account: Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus. Herring Gulls are most commonly found along coasts around the globe where they scavenge along shorelines and open oceans. They often are seen congregating in large groups where potential foraging success is high (active beaches, fishing boats, etc). Adult Herring Gulls have gray backs with black wingtips and white bellies whereas juveniles possess more mixed and messy plumages.
Narrative: I began my idle apartment bird spotting session at approximately 12:00 PM on May 8th, 2020. The sun was shining brightly uninterrupted by clouds with temperatures around the mid 70s. Immediately after opening my large living room window, I heard a multitude of familiar “tweets” and saw rapid movements coming from the medium-sized tree directly below me. It wasn’t until several minutes later when two of the small brown birds left the tree to forage on the ground below and I able to identify these birds as White-crowned Sparrows. Knowing that these birds are commonly found in larger active groups foraging closer to the ground made this identification very easy. As I shifted my gaze upwards I noticed two white and grey birds perched at the top of a distant telephone pole. Using my binoculars and knowledge on gull morphology, I was able to identify this pair of Herring gulls. Although I was not able to identify many species during this session, I was pleasantly surprised with the activity in such an urban location.
eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S68623425
