Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Location: Pacifica, CA (37.64937, -122.47414)

Site description: I spent this hour bird watching in my parent’s backyard in Pacifica. The backyard isn’t very large, and I spent the majority of the time sitting in the patio observing birds passing over or standing by the small shrubs and few trees we had. The area was slightly cluttered because my parents are currently in the process of redoing the backyard, but there was an area at the very back that remained largely untouched. Nobody really goes to that part of our backyard because there’s a lot of weeds and shrubs, which was a great spot to see some common species. In addition, the backyard had many patches of grass and dry land, and we have a large apple tree that sits at the back. The key species I saw often were the American Crow, Common Raven, and Dark-eyed Junco.

Species account: A species I encountered this week was the American Robin (Turdus migratorius). They belong to the order Passeriformes and family Turdidae. I first saw this species while I was sitting on my patio, where I saw one picking at the ground at the very back of the yard. Because I had seen this species before, I knew what it was without having to use my field guide. It was easily distinguishable because of its orange breast and stout yellow beak. American Robins are fairly large songbirds with round bodies, long legs, and tails that extend fairly long. In addition to their warm orange underparts, they appear to have black and grey plumage as well. They are ground foragers and are often seen hopping around lawns, fields, and city parks. When foraging on the ground, they will often run a few steps, stop abruptly, and stare at the ground motionlessly to find worms. Robins will sometimes fight over worms that others have caught. Their diet consists of both invertebrates and fruit. In the spring and summer, they eat a large number of earthworms and insects, as well as a wide variety of fruit. One study suggested that robins may try to round out their diet by selectively eating fruits that have bugs in them. During mating season in the spring, males will attract females by singing, raising and spreading their tails, shaking their wings and inflating their white-striped throats.

Narrative: All the birds I observed this week were species I had seen previously. Although it was nice being able to sit in the backyard and use my binoculars to get a closer look at certain birds. I was able to see the American Robin and White-crowned Sparrow for a long period of time through my binoculars because they remained in my backyard for about 10-15 minutes. That gave me the opportunity to really look and study their features and foraging behavior. The weather was pretty clear, although it did rain in the early morning, which is probably why I saw so many ground foraging birds. One thing I was curious about was if the presence of a fruit tree in my backyard would lure in any new species. I didn’t observe any interaction with the tree, but I think as the season goes on there’ll probably be more species who are interested in fruit-bearing trees. Next week, I might walk to a nearby park in my neighborhood and see if I can find any other species.

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S66462690

Citations:

“American Robin Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/lifehistory#habitat.