January Recap
In case you missed it you can find last month's newsletter here: january newsletter
january birding walk
Last month we did a birding walk at the Crissy Field Marsh.
If you haven't been before it's a nice spot for a stroll and you get good opportunities to see some cool birds.
if you look closely you can see some american coots (Fulica americana) and a bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
First some action shots of the birders:
december drawing contest award presentation
last month we announced the winners of the drawing contest and the winners were presented with their awards.
close up of the awards
first place winner Janet with her condor drawing
Member Submissions
Thank you to everyone who sent me photos of the birds they saw!
First up Rick sent in a picture of a great blue heron. Fun fact this guy here probably only weighs 5 lbs
Kelly sent in a photo of a california scrub jay
Janet sent in a photo of a Townsend's Warbler in SF. She actually took the photo in december but don't tell anyone
Nisa sent in a photo of some peacocks in Rome.
Aarsh sent in some interesting submissions including a video of an owl that was so dark it was basically an audio recording. I'm not going to include that, but he also sent in a photo of a bushtit and a lesser goldfinch which he claimed was a california parrot..
Lastly Adam C. sent in a bunch of cool pictures from his Hawaii trip.
Spotlight Bird: Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
We saw a couple buffleheads during our birding walk. I thought they'd be a good choice for bird of the month because of that sighting and because they fit the theme of SF winter birds.
Fun Bufflehead Facts:
- unlike many other philandering ducks, buffleheads are monogamous, so this also makes them an appropriate bird to choose for the month of valentine's day.
- they are almost the smallest american duck
- when we saw them on the bird walk they were constantly diving below the water for short dives. apparently this is very typical and they often spend roughly 10 or so seconds diving and then 10 or so seconds on the surface rinse and repeat
- they're diving for food often mollusks or crustaceans
- they nest in holes in old trees dug by northern flickers
- They have one of my favorite common names among bird species. It sounds a bit like an insult.
- they are beautiful:
picture of a bufflehead from Dorian Anderson from Macaulay Library
Winter Bird Month
I struggled to come up with an event or theme for this month.
I thought about doing a bird call competition and making people submit their best bird calls, but I elected to wait a bit before doing another contest.
Instead, and inspired by the buffleheads and mergansers we saw on the birding walk, I decided it would be a good time to highlight the seasonality of birding and focus on the current birds who are wintering here.
Winter is soon coming to a close but there is still some time to spot the species who call the bay their winter home before they embark on their spring migrations and flock north
where they will spend their summers breeding.
The bird of the month, the bufflehead, is a great example of a bird who spends its winters down here.
A lot of the birds who are spending their winters here are waterfowl and shorebirds like those buffleheads and the sanderlings,
but other examples include the yellow-rumped warblers who are common throughout the bay area and both golden-crowned and fox sparrows, which
unlike the white-crowned and song sparrows you see year round in the city, are only winter visitors.
So the challenge for this month is to spot any birds who are spending their winters here in the bay area and send in a picture or a note.
If you want to do your best bird call and send me that then you can do that too.
Closeout
That's all; happy birding