Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2020

Location: Pacifica, CA

Site description: This week, I went to the park two blocks away from my parent’s house in Pacifica. Although it was a small park, there weren’t any people there because of the stay at home order. The park itself was mainly just grass, and the perimeter was outlined with a bunch of trees. The trees weren’t as tall as the trees we’ve seen on our field labs. I chose this area because the park was very hill-like, it was elevated in some places more than others. It was right next to the main residential road. The park itself as surrounded by houses, and it was fenced off in certain areas. The key species identified were Anna’s Hummingbird and White-crowned Sparrow.

Species account:  A species I came across this week was the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). This species belongs to the order Columbiformes and family Columbidae. When I first saw this bird, I thought it was some type of regular pigeon flying by. It wasn’t until it sat perched on a wood fence that I was able to get a better look at it and it’s color. It’s pale brown plumage with dark spots on the wings made it very distinguishable. I noticed its breast was much lighter, almost light pink toned. This species had a chunky body and pointed, slender tail. The bird I was sat perched on the fence for a prolonged period of time, almost 10 minutes before taking off and flying elsewhere. Mourning Doves are very common in suburban areas – they like to stay perched on things such as telephone poles/wires and fences. They are significantly unbothered by humans, which is why I think this particular bird was perched in the same spot for so long, despite cars passing by. They forage for seeds on the ground, which make up a majority of their diet. They eat roughly 12-20% of their body weight per day. Typically, Mourning Dove nest in the branches of specific trees, but particularly on the West coast, they nest on the ground.

Narrative: The weather during this outing was very clear, not much wind or clouds. In total, I saw six species. I had seen all of them previously during our field labs, but I was able to see some more in depth. This was the first time in a while I encountered a Tree Swallow, and it was pretty amazing seeing its acrobatic flight. Unfortunately, it didn’t land anywhere nearby so I wasn’t able to get a great look at its coloring, but its flight pattern was very distinguishable and reminded me of the time we first encountered them.

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S67189077

Citations: 

“Mourning Dove Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/lifehistory#habitat.