Date: 4/19/24 5:58 pm From: basquebirder via groups.io <allaboutbirds...> Subject: [SFBirds] San Francisco Biking Big Day 04/18/24
Hi all,
Yesterday, Josiah Clark and I pedaled on bikes around the city seeking out as many species as possible within San Francisco county lines. The morning was calm and warm, with south winds picking up in the early afternoon with the west side getting fogged in as well.
The general idea of our itinerary for the day was: start the day in the Presidio zooming all over, following Josiah's big hour route (Mountain Lake Park, Presidio Hills, Ft. Scott and Battery Godfrey, Crissy Field and Lagoon, up the El Polin drainage, out from Arguello), went straight to the Oak Woodlands, back towards the Richmond where we went through the Land's End Trail followed by Cliff House and Sutro Baths, Ocean Beach to Lake Merced, east to McLaren Park and then Candlestick Point SRA, north to India Basin, Heron's Head Park, and Pier 94, and lastly headed back west where we ended the day in Golden Gate Park. I did a rough calculation of our ride, and it seems like we biked just over 40 miles.
Generally, the "clean" Big Day total is the species count observed by all observers in the party, and species only observed by a single member of the party being "dirty". Our "clean" total was 138, with 3 "dirty" birds only detected by Josiah, so 141 really. Definitely a total we were happy with!
Highlights of the day in chronological order were:
Presidio:
- Sora at Mountain Lake Park
- 2 Wrentits in the Presidio Hills
- Western Flycatcher presumably on territory by the transfer station below Washington Blvd.
- 2 Brant off of Battery Godfrey
- Red-necked Grebe off the Warming Hut at Crissy Field
- 2 Cliff Swallows over Crissy Field (only ones of the day)
- Adult Orchard Oriole spotted by Josiah at Thompson's Reach, quite the surprise
- Cassin's Vireo in the El Polin bowl
Oak Woodlands in Golden Gate Park:
- Black-throated Gray Warbler at the horseshoe pits
- 3 White-throated Sparrows Josiah had staked out near horseshoe pits as well
Cliff House:
- 9 Black Turnstones
- 4 Surfbirds
- 1 worn first-cycle Heermann's Gull flying around by the Camera Obscura (only one for the day, thanks Dom for the heads up!)
Ocean Beach:
- various shorebird flocks along beach including Whimbrels, Willets, Marbled Godwits, Western Sandpipers, and a Dunlin
- adult Bonaparte's Gull roosting on beach with some Mew Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls
- Red-breasted Merganser sitting offshore
- 1 Snowy Plover between Judah and Irving
Lake Merced:
- Green Heron by the wooden bridge
- Great-tailed Grackles of course
- 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow (only one for the day)
- 3 Red Crossbill flew over us at the Impound Lake, going west towards the golf course
Hunter's Point:
- Gadwall, might be one of the continuing birds from Candlestick but seen only by Josiah by Pier 94
- Subadult Bald Eagle spotted by Josiah, seen from the top of the Ingalls St. hill. We saw it again from Pier 94.
- Western Kingbird in this field north of India Basin
- Ash-throated Flycatcher in poplars or sycamores of India Basin parking lot (such a surprise!)
Golden Gate Park in the evening:
- our last bird of the day, a Western Tanager calling by North Lake
I will type out the full species total att the end of the post with estimated day count for every species, for those who are curious about the nitty gritty.
For as well as we did, there were some notable misses:
- various ducks like Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser which were reported fairly recently
- Horned Grebe, but numbers are locally thinning out
- Virginia Rail, but we tried at various spots, playing tape and clapping
- Wilson's Snipe, also just getting late but there must certainly be a few around still
- Pacific Loon, a fickle bird that can be ubiquitous on a seawatch one day, and nonexistant the next
- Osprey
- Acorn Woodpecker, but not very notable of a miss since we didn't go to Lafayette Park
- Peregrine Falcon, a species we really kept an eye out for throughout the day, especially along the bayside looking at the top of every crane
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet, numbers really thinning but I did see one within 3 days of the 18th
- Red-breasted Nuthatch, Josiah had heard since within a few days of the 18th, and we went by those same spots
- Fox Sparrow, same as kinglet
- Bullock's Oriole, especially since we spent time at McLaren Park where one had been reported
- Black-headed Grosbeak
- Lazuli Bunting
Additionally, there were multiple stakeout rarities (Harlequin Duck, Tropical Kingbird, Baltimore Oriole, Hammond's Flycatcher, Clay-colored Sparrow) that we could have made better efforts to look for, but either struck out on or couldn't take the time to get there by bike.
All in all it was a fantastic day, we were blessed with great weather conditions for most of the day, migrants seemed to be around which certainly helped with our total species count and kept the day interesting. It was very cool to pass by numerous Habitat Potential work sites, from Mountain Lake Park, the Oak Woodlands, and Lake Merced. Something about taking on this endeavor and moving around the city strictly with the mechanics of the bike made it a very rewarding journey, along with the laughs and great experiences along the way. Thanks Josiah for getting us motivated for this relatively impromptu Big Day, I had a blast and we saw a lot of birds.
Everyone, get out there and enjoy spring!
Good birding,
Cédric Duhalde
Species total for the day in taxonomic order, with location where first bird was detected:
- 2 Brant: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 50 Canada Goose: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 15 American Wigeon: Candlestick Point SRA - Yosemite Slough
- 65 Mallard: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 1 Gadwall : one of the "dirty" birds only detected by Josiah: Pier 94
- 15 Ring-necked Duck: Golden Gate Park - Blue Heron Lake
- 30 Greater Scaup: Candlestick Point SRA
- 2 Lesser Scaup: Heron's Head Park
- 350 Surf Scoter: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 55 Bufflehead: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 1 Red-breasted Merganser: Ocean Beach
- 60 Ruddy Duck: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 6 Pied-billed Grebe: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 1 Red-necked Grebe: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 10 Eared Grebe: Lake Merced
- 80 Western Grebe: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 20 Clark's Grebe: Lake Merced
- 150 Rock Pigeon: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 15 Band-tailed Pigeon: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 30 Eurasian Collared-Dove: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 8 Mourning Dove: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 10 White-throated Swift: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 35 Anna's Hummingbird: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 10 Allen's Hummingbird: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 1 Sora: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 20 American Coot: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 3 Black-necked Stilt: Candlestick Point SRA - Yosemite Slough Pond
- 5 American Avocet: Candlestick Point SRA - Yosemite Slough Pond
- 10 Black Oystercatcher: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 8 Black-bellied Plover: Candlestick Point SRA
- 4 Killdeer: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 4 Semipalmated Plover: Candlestick Point SRA
- 1 Snowy Plover: Ocean Beach
- 350 Whimbrel: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 7 Long-billed Curlew: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 10 Marbled Godwit: Ocean Beach
- 3 dowitchers (presumably Short-billed): one of the "dirty" birds only detected by Josiah: Pier 94
- 6 Spotted Sandpiper: Candlestick Point SRA
- 10 Willet: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 5 Greater Yellowlegs: Candlestick Point SRA
- 9 Black Turnstone: Cliff House
- 4 Surfbird: Cliff House
- 1200 Sanderling: Ocean Beach
- 100 Dunlin: Ocean Beach
- 400 Least Sandpiper: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 1000 Western Sandpiper: Ocean Beach
- 10 Pigeon Guillemot: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 2 Common Murre: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 1 Bonaparte's Gull: Ocean Beach
- 1 Heermann's Gull: Cliff House
- 5 Mew Gull: Ocean Beach
- 3 Ring-billed Gull: Ocean Beach
- 1000 Western Gull: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 3 Herring Gull: Candlestick Point SRA
- 45 California Gull: Ocean Beach
- 5 Glaucous-winged Gull: Land's End Trail
- 4 Caspian Tern: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 25 Forster's Tern: Candlestick Point SRA
- 50 Elegant Tern: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 15 Red-throated Loon: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 1 Common Loon: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 200 Brandt's Cormorant: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 4 Pelagic Cormorant: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 35 Double-crested Cormorant: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 75 Brown Pelican: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 60 Black-crowned Night-Heron: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 12 Snowy Egret: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 1 Green Heron: Lake Merced - Wooden Bridge
- 1 Great Egret: Presidio - flying over Washington Blvd. (only one for the day, random and cool)
- 10 Great Blue Heron: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 10 Turkey Vulture: Presidio - Inspiration Point
- 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 3 Cooper's Hawk: Presidio
- *1 Bald Eagle: Hunter's Point
* - 3 Red-shouldered Hawk: Golden Gate Park - Oak Woodlands
- 15 Red-tailed Hawk: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 1 Barn Owl: stakeout in Golden Gate Park
- 2 Great Horned Owl: stakeout in the Presidio
- 2 Belted Kingfisher: Presidio - Crissy Field Lagoon
- 4 Downy Woodpecker: Golden Gate Park - Oak Woodlands
- 20 Nuttall's Woodpecker: Presidio
- 4 Hairy Woodpecker: Presidio
- 2 Northern Flicker: Presidio
- 14 Red-masked Parakeet: Presidio
- 1 Western Flycatcher: Presidio
- 13 Black Phoebe: Presidio
*- 1 Ash-throated Flycatcher: India Basin*
- 1 Western Kingbird: India Basin
- 1 Hutton's Vireo: Presidio - Presidio Hills
*- 1 Cassin's Vireo : Presidio - El Polin Springs*
- 2 Warbling Vireo: Golden Gate Park - Oak Woodlands
- 20 Steller's Jay: Presidio
- 8 California Scrub-Jay: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 75 American Crow: Presidio
- 20 Common Raven: Presidio
- 25 Chestnut-backed Chickadee: Josiah's House
- 75 Tree Swallow: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 15 Violet-green Swallow: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow: Lake Merced - Concrete Bridge
- 20 Barn Swallow: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 2 Cliff Swallow: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 12 Bushtit: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 2 Wrentit: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 20 Pygmy Nuthatch: Presidio - Battery Godfrey
- 3 Brown Creeper: Golden Gate Park - Oak Woodlands
- 4 Pacific Wren: Presidio
- 4 Marsh Wren: Lake Merced
- 6 Bewick's Wren: Presidio
- 150 European Starling: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 4 Northern Mockingbird: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 8 Western Bluebird: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 1 Hermit Thrush : one of the "dirty" birds only detected by Josiah: McLaren Park - McNabb Pond
- 55 American Robin: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 450 Cedar Waxwing: Presidio
- 8 House Sparrow: Presidio - Thompson's Reach
- 100 House Finch: Josiah's House
- 18 Purple Finch: Presidio - El Polin Springs
- 3 Red Crossbill: Lake Merced - Impound Lake
- 4 Pine Siskin: Presidio - El Polin Springs
- 10 Lesser Goldfinch: Presidio
- 50 Dark-eyed Junco: Presidio
- 35 White-crowned Sparrow: Presidio
- 8 Golden-crowned Sparrow: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 3 White-throated Sparrow: Golden Gate Park - Oak Woodlands
- 8 Savannah Sparrow: Presidio - Crissy Field
- 50 Song Sparrow: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 10 California Towhee: Presidio
- 2 Spotted Towhee: Presidio - Presidio Hills
*- 1 Orchard Oriole: Presidio - Thompson's Reach
* - 12 Hooded Oriole: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 30 Red-winged Blackbird: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 20 Brown-headed Cowbird: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 12 Brewer's Blackbird: Presidio - Ft. Scott
- 18 Great-tailed Grackle: Lake Merced - Concrete Bridge
- 26 Orange-crowned Warbler: Presidio - Presidio Hills
- 2 Common Yellowthroat: Lake Merced
- 12 Yellow-rumped Warbler: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 2 Black-throated Gray Warbler: Golden Gate Park - Oak Woodlands
- 4 Townsend's Warbler: Presidio - El Polin Springs
- 10 Wilson's Warbler: Presidio - Mountain Lake Park
- 1 Western Tanager: Golden Gate Park - North Lake
