Rare birds missing in annual count

by Ryder W. Miller

This year's annual Audubon Society Bird Count and Great Backyard Bird Count have once again left local birders with unanswered questions and concerns.

The Audubon counters, who annually count all the birds they can find in a 15 mile diameter on the northern tip of the Peninsula, did not find as many rare birds as usual. There was also a roughly 50 percent drop, a startling drop, in the number of two common birds, the Brewers Blackbird and Mourning Doves.

"Why? I haven't the vaguest idea," said Audubon Society count organizer, and Sunset District resident, Dan Murphy. "There is no way of knowing if it is widespread,"

Murphy said there was also an unusual lack of rare birds.

"We hardly had any. We only had one species that qualifies as a neotropical migrant. All those flycatchers, warblers, orioles and other birds that are supposed to be in Mexico or further south, but that we usually see, aren't around this year," Murphy said.

Murphy pointed out that Mourning Doves and Brewer Blackbirds are two of our most common birds, so the drop is alarming. He said the Mourning Doves could have been affected by local tree removal.

The number of Corvids also fluctuated, ravens dropped from 696 in 2008 to 616 this year and crows increased in numbers from 360 to 413. There may be answers about the Corvids forthcoming because they are carriers of the West Nile Virus, so their carcasses are studied when discovered.

Citizen scientist Murphy could not find definitive meaning in the results of this year's count.

"One year does not say a whole lot," he cautioned.

The Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count, which took place Feb. 12 through 14, is not likely to shed any new light on the situation either.

"The Great Backyard Bird Count is altogether different," Murphy said. "There are no local compilers, so we don't get any data from it. Everything is submitted online to National Audubon. I don't think actual people do anything. All the data is crunched by computer and only then are findings made public. You can glean a little from the Web site, but nothing of substance."

The National Audubon Society was not available for comment as of presstime.

Murphy thought it was also possible that fluctuations in the local marine food web, which has resulted in the recent demise of many Cormorants in the area, could possibly provide an explanation. Local birders and the Point Reyes Bird Observatory will be watching to see if the Cormorants recover this Spring. There have also been dead Brown Pelicans found along the coast. Pelicans, Cormorants and Great Blue Heron populations will be observed closely this Spring.

The Audubon Society's annual bird count took place Dec. 29 despite inclement weather. There were 159 species counted with 49,313 individual birds. Murphy said that is on the low end of average for species, and a pretty low total number of birds.

The annual Audubon Society Bird Count was created to counter the tradition of hunting birds at Christmas time. The birds count results have been compiled since the 1930s.

There was some good news associated with this year's count. Kamala Kelkar reported in the SF Examiner on Dec. 31 that Sea Ducks seem to be making a slow return in the area, with 32 seen at Fort Funston.

There were also some unusual birds spotted in the area, including the White-Throated Swift and the Lapland Longspur, which were seen the day before the count in the lower Presidio. It was a first for the San Francisco bird count.

In related news, San Francisco Nature Education, headed by Executive Director Nancy DeStefanis, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year. The organization provides field trips in Golden Gate Park and Heron's Head Park for disadvantaged students and other interested parties. For more information, go to the Web site at www.sfnature.org.