Ebird Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S120014848
Date: October 05, 2022
Location: Golden Gate Park–Chain of Lakes
Latitude, Longitude: 37.7736598, -122.4559291
Elevation: 233 ft (71 m)
Site Description: Golden Gate Park is a large area located in the Western side of San Francisco. It is man-made and was originally created on over 1000 acres of empty, bleak sand and ocean shore dunes in 1870. Today, the acreage stands at 1,017 acres after additions and modifications to the original plan.¹ The park’s landscape now contains 680 forested acres, 130 acres of meadows, 15 miles of drives, 33 acres of lakes, and numerous fields and open spaces. Additionally, it is home to several unique points of interest, such as the Rose Garden, Shakespeare Garden, Japanese Tea Garden, and many more.² A topographic map of the entire park is shown here.³
Since the park contains a variety of habitats, from open water and protected bays to rocky and sandy shorelines, tidal marshes, coastal scrub, grasslands, and forests, there are over 250 different birds that are supported here. Similarly, as the park lies along the Pacific Flyway, many birds stop to rest and feed in their amazing migrations. The park creeks attract small songbirds, such as Wilson’s warbler, and grosbeaks can be seen. The shores attract many waterbirds, such as Brandt’s cormorants and Peregrine falcons. Native habitats and the introduced forests are also important to locally declining species such as the California quail, western screech owl, and Hutton’s vireo.⁴
Species Account: Belted Kingfisher – Megaceryle alcyon (Species name), Coraciiformes (Order) > Alcedinidae (Family). These birds are large-headed, stocky birds with a crest on the top and back of their head, a straight, thick, pointed bill, short legs, and a medium-length tail that is square-tipped. Their color is blue-gray above with white spotting on the wings and tail and white underparts with a broad, blue breast band. Juveniles have irregular spotting in the breast band, and females have a broad rusty band on their bellies. Both sexes are about robin-sized and are between 11.0-13.8 in (28-35 cm) in length and weigh about 4.9-6.0 oz (140-170 g) with a wingspan of 18.9-22.8 in (48-58 cm). Belted Kingfishers spend most of their time perched along the edges of water bodies, searching for small fish. They can fly up and down rivers and shorelines while giving their calls, and they hunt either by plunging directly or by hovering over the water with their bill downwards before they dive after fish. They pair up during the breeding season when the male feeds the female while courting her. Both members of a pair defend their territories with loud, rattling calls. Although monogamous, they form new pairs every season. These birds need access to bodies of water for feeding and earthen banks for nesting, so their most common habitats are streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, estuaries, and calm marine waters. Although they mostly eat fish, crayfish, other crustaceans, insects, amphibians, reptiles, young birds, small mammals, and even berries are also included. Predators of these birds include hawks, mammals, and snakes. When threatened, a Belted Kingfisher will land and heave its body up and down or fly back and forth with its crest elevated while rattling noisily or screaming and spreading its wings and raising the patch of white feathers next to each eye. Although these birds are common now, from 1996-2019, their population declined by almost 38% as they were once hunted and trapped. Now, although they are sensitive to disturbances, they are relatively unaffected by environmental conditions and are of low conservation concern.⁵
Picture from e-bird.
Picture from e-bird of flying Belted Kingfisher.
Narrative: We left at around 8:20 or 8:30 am and took the cars to Golden Gate Park. It was a very short drive, and we started birding around 8:45 am. The overall goal of the trip was to circle around the three lakes and see as much as we could, although we were aiming for a couple of species that were seen recently that were more uncommon or rare. We finally managed to see the Pied-billed Grebe, which was fantastic – it had such a loud call, and it kept diving under the surface every time I tried to get a picture, which was unfortunate. I managed to ID a Red-Shouldered Hawk as well as a couple Townsend’s Warblers, a Steller’s Jay, Red-Winged Blackbirds, and a couple Pygmy Nuthatches which I was very proud of. We heard the Pacific slope Flycatcher, and Merlin caught it too. We tried so hard to get it, but it was very difficult until we finally spotted it later in the trip. Similar to that, we kept hearing both the Nutall’s Woodpecker (which we finally saw) and the Belted Kingfisher, which we also finally saw at the very end. Everyone did get very excited about that, and I tried so hard to get a picture, but the bird flew away before I could. We ran into a couple experienced birders who helped us with our route and the identification of a couple other species. Around 12 pm, we left and got back to Koret parking lot around 12:20 pm. Overall, it was an absolutely fantastic trip, and although my next week is busy, I really want to try and go back out and get some more birding done. Although the other locations were also incredible, I think this may be my favorite field trip so far just because of how much we saw, how much I was able to ID myself, and the overall excitement of the group, which was great.
Additional photos or media: Picture of Red-Shouldered Hawk, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and Red-Winged Blackbird from the field trip – Already uploaded to E-bird
Sources:
¹ History of Golden Gate Park. History of Golden Gate Park | San Francisco Recreation and Parks, CA. (n.d.). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://sfrecpark.org/1119/History-of-Golden-Gate-Park
² History and geography of Golden Gate Park. Golden Gate Park. (2012, February 28). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://goldengatepark.com/history-geography.html
³ Golden Gate Park Topographic map, elevation, relief. topographic. (n.d.). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://en-us.topographic-map.com/maps/ddhf/Golden-Gate-Park/
⁴ U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). Birds. National Parks Service. Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/nature/birds.htm
⁵ Belted kingfisher overview, all about birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Belted_Kingfisher/overview