Ebird Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S117866579
Date: August 31, 2022
Location: Golden Gate Park
Latitude, Longitude: 37.7736598, -122.4559291
Elevation: 233 ft (71 m)
Site Description: Golden Gate Park is a large area located on 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, and 33 acres of lakes, as well as 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, to 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 over 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: California Scrub-Jay – Aphelocoma californica (Species name), Passeriformes (Order) > Corvidae (Family). These birds are fairly large and are lanky with long and floppy tails. They often have a bent posture and a bill that is straight and stout, with a hook at the end. Both sexes are between 11.0-11.8 in (28-30 cm) in length and weigh about 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g) with a wingspan of about 15.3 in (39 cm). The adult birds have extremely beautiful coloring with a rich azure blue and grey combo on top and a pale underside with a blue necklace. The blue color, depending on lighting, can range from azure to royal blue. Similarly, the juveniles are mostly gray, even on top, with a little bit of blue coming into their tail and wing tips. The California Scrub-Jay is very vocal and curious – they can be silhouetted high in trees as lookouts, and their flight patterns are slow, with bouts of flapping alternating with glides. They tend to stay to open habitats such as oak woodlands and chaparral, but they can also be found in backyards, pastures, and orchards. This specific Jay that we found was in the lower branches of smaller trees and jumping along with a nut in its beak. These birds eat mostly insects and fruit during the spring and summer but switch to nuts and seeds during the fall and winter. They prefer acorns and grass seeds, sunflower seeds, and peanuts at feeders, and cultivated corn, walnuts, and cherries. They also sometimes eat small animals such as lizards and nestling birds. Their stout bill and hooked upper mandible help to split open the acorn shells and pluck at the nut’s meat. Both the male and female may choose the nest site, which is typically low in a tree and well hidden amidst the foliage. Their nests are usually made of twigs lined with plant fibers and livestock hair, and both members help with the building process. These birds move in bold hops and lunges and are often found in flocks during the fall and winter. A dominance hierarchy governs how members behave towards each other, and traditionally, pairs stay together for several years. Members of a pair often feed each other, especially during the breeding season, but the female does all the incubation. Predators of these birds include bobcats, accipiters, and Great Horned Owls, and nest predators include raccoons, weasels, skunks, squirrels, and several different types of snakes and birds, including king snakes and magpies. These birds are common, and conservation efforts say that their populations appear to be stable.5
A picture that I took of the jay.
Picture from google images
Picture from e-bird
Narrative: We left campus around 9am on Wednesday, August 31, and I began logging birds around 9:15am. The weather was slightly cloudy but eventually became sunnier as time passed. Some birds were actually initially difficult to iD just because the sky was so gray. We did not go too deep into the park itself, as we could see many different bird species within a mile or so from the northeast corner. Although we first spotted some crows and ravens, our first major find was a Cooper’s hawk which the group got very excited about. We were also able to see multiple other birds, including other hawks, an osprey, and even some smaller birds, such as the Pygmy Nuthatch and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee. We were there for almost two and a half hours and left around 12:05pm back to campus.
Additional Media:
The Cooper’s Hawk at first glance.
The Cooper’s Hawk in the upper branches.
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 California scrub-jay life history, all about birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Scrub-Jay/lifehistory#food