Today I was fortunate enough to have my mother let me borrow the car. Since I heard that there were two vagrants sighted at Mount Davidson, I decided to head there. The first vagrant sighted was a Sage Sparrow. This bird belongs to the Emberizidae family, along with Song and Lincoln's Sparrows. This was the third ever record for the city of San Francisco. This bird is a year-round resident of the Central Valley and Southern California. It spends its winters in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico, and its summers further up north. The second vagrant sighted was a male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak in full breeding plumage. This bird is a member of the Cardinalidae family, along with Northern Cardinals or Black-Headed Grosbeaks. This bird winters in Mexico and Central America, migrates through the southeast United States and spends its summers in the northeast United States. Evidently, these birds are lost, as they are completely out of range.
Reports said that the Sage Sparrow was near a long chain-link fence that separates the hill and residential yards, with some shrubs in between. The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak on the other hand was sighted all the way on top of the hill, in the canopy of the eucalyptus trees. The chain-link fence was my first stop. Once I arrived there, I saw another man with binoculars around his neck: he obviously was a birder searching for the same bird as me. His name is Bob Gunderson and is a birder/photographer. We got to talking and decided to search for the bird together. We spent at least an hour on this incredibly short trail in search for this elusive sparrow, to no avail.
We decided to climb up the hill, and try our luck at finding the grosbeak. Another birder that we crossed on the way up said that he saw and heard the bird singing all the way on top of the eucalyptus grove just 15 minutes before. This brought our hopes up, so we calmly walked up the hill, thinking we'd immediately find the bird. As we walked up, the songs of chirping House Finches and American Goldfinches filled the air. A far away Swainson's Thrush sang at the bottom of the ravine, and loud American Robins flew from tree to tree. It seemed like every bird in the area was showing themselves, all but the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. As it turned out, the grosbeak was impossible to find. We spent at least one whole hour sitting on a bench staring at the top-most branches of the trees, looking for a black-and-white bird. However, during our extended sit-down, I sighted a Western Wood-Pewee flycatching from a branch jutting out from the middle of a tree trunk. This is only the second time I've ever seen this bird, and the first time I've seen one in the city. Realizing that our pursuit for the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak had become futile, we decided to head back down and look for the Sage Sparrow once again. Along the way, we saw the Western Wood-Pewee at the very top of this tall and bare tree in the middle of a weedy area. Then, as we looked down the ravine, I spotted a Band-Tailed Pigeon sitting on a branch, completely oblivious to the fact that we were taking pictures of it. This was by-far the best view I've ever had of this species. They are frequently seen flying over parks, and it is much more difficult to find them actually perched and visible.
Finally we reached the same little trail where I began my day. The first fifteen minutes were sparrow-less. The only birds seen were a couple Mourning Doves, Western-Scrub-Jays, and Allen's and Anna's Hummingbirds. Finally we decided to head back up the trail and look some more for the grosbeak, but as we left, I spotted this sparrow-like bird fly from one shrub to another. I immediately put my binoculars to my eyes and found the bird that we had been looking for: the Sage Sparrow. I called Bob over quietly, to not frighten the bird, and he began to take shots of the bird with his 400mm zoom. Fortunately for us, it gave us great views, through an obstructive chain-link fence. Then it flew into some shrubs on our side of the fence, giving more incredible views. After 20 minutes of chasing the bird from shrub to shrub, we decided that we were pleased with our views.
Unfortunately, we never found the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, which would have been a lifer for me, but this was evened by a lifer Sage Sparrow. Bob Gunderson is an incredible photographer and if anyone is interested in viewing his photographs of the Sage Sparrow, please click here.
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