San Francisco Breeding Bird Atlas Figure 1: California Quail © Alan Hopkins San Francisco Field Ornithologist’s Home Page http://www.sffo.org All material ©2001-2003 San Francisco Field Ornithologists. Additional portions may also be copyrighted by the individuals who generated those portions. Last Revised 1 June 2003 Table of Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents........................................................................................................................2 Table of Tables ...........................................................................................................................9 Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................10 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................15 The Evolution of Natural History of San Francisco ...................................................................16 Water and Wetlands ..............................................................................................................16 Pre-colonial Flora..................................................................................................................18 Pre-colonial Fauna ................................................................................................................21 What Happened?...................................................................................................................23 Present Day Natural History of San Francisco ...........................................................................27 Urbanization..........................................................................................................................27 Plant communities.................................................................................................................27 Mixed Evergreen Forest ....................................................................................................27 Oak Woodland and Oak Savannah.....................................................................................28 Bishop Pine Forest ............................................................................................................28 Coast Redwood Forest.......................................................................................................28 Grassland ..........................................................................................................................28 Coastal Beach–Dune Vegetation........................................................................................28 Northern Coastal Scrub .....................................................................................................30 Chaparral...........................................................................................................................31 Coastal Salt Marsh.............................................................................................................31 Coastal Riparian Forest .....................................................................................................32 Freshwater Marsh..............................................................................................................33 Urban Forest......................................................................................................................34 Exotic plants......................................................................................................................34 Topography...........................................................................................................................34 Climate .................................................................................................................................35 Geology and soils..................................................................................................................36 Additional fauna....................................................................................................................37 San Francisco Geography..........................................................................................................40 Atlas Methodology....................................................................................................................42 Table of Contents Atlas Results .............................................................................................................................54 Relative Distribution of Species ............................................................................................54 Relative Abundance of Species .............................................................................................56 Species Diversity...................................................................................................................57 Highlights .............................................................................................................................58 Composition of Avifauna ......................................................................................................59 A Note on Dates....................................................................................................................60 Additional Breeding Records.................................................................................................60 Conservation Applications of this Atlas.....................................................................................66 Identification of Breeding Bird Species of Special Concern...................................................66 American Peregrine Falcon ...............................................................................................68 California Least Tern.........................................................................................................68 Bank Swallow ...................................................................................................................68 Identification of Habitats of Special Concern.........................................................................68 Northern Coastal Scrub .....................................................................................................71 Mixed Evergreen Forest ....................................................................................................72 Freshwater Marsh..............................................................................................................7DRAFT 2 Valley Grassland ...............................................................................................................72 Coastal Riparian Forest .....................................................................................................72 Species Accounts ......................................................................................................................73 Grebes Podicipedidae .............................................................................................................73 Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps................................................................................73 Storm-Petrels Hydrobatidae....................................................................................................73 Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa.....................................................................73 Ashy Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma homochroa.......................................................................74 Cormorants Phalacrocoracidae ...............................................................................................74 Brandt’s Cormorant Phalacrocorax penicillatus ...................................................................74 Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus................................................................75 Pelagic Cormorant Phalacrocorax pelagicus ........................................................................76 Bitterns and Herons Ardeidae.................................................................................................77 Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias........................................................................................77 Great Egret Ardea alba .......................................................................................................77 Snowy Egret Egretta thula ..................................................................................................78 Table of Contents Green Heron Butorides virescens .........................................................................................78 Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax .............................................................78 Swans, Geese and Ducks Anatidae .........................................................................................79 Canada Goose Branta canadensis ........................................................................................79 Gadwall Anas strepera ........................................................................................................80 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos.................................................................................................80 Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis .........................................................................................81 Kites, Eagles, Hawks and Allies Accipitridae..........................................................................81