San Francisco’s annual Christmas Bird Count happened last week. (The counts don’t have to be on Christmas, just around that time.) The Golden Gate Audubon Society is still tallying the final results, but here’s the initial report on the birds of Bernal Heights: Not so exciting.
Tom White, who led the group that covered Bernal, said they didn’t see anything spectacular up here — certainly not any candidates for bird of the day. (For the uninitiated, birding is a slightly competitive activity.) Participants in Christmas Bird Counts count everything: crows, pigeons, starlings, and ravens.
Between the Hill, Holly Park, and one of the community gardens, the Bernal group also counted Anna’s hummingbirds, a mockingbird, robins, house finches, pygmy nuthatches, yellow-rumped warblers, and two American kestrels. Mundane stuff. To them.
So Bernal’s not a hot birding spot — or at least it wasn’t the morning of the Christmas Bird Count. But we do have some nice birds. My favorites are the colorful scrub jays, squawking from a yard near you. The kestrels are cool, too: they’re tiny, colorful falcons. You can find them sometimes if you see a bunch of upset pigeons, but no hawk. Check nearby branches; chances are there’s a badass little kestrel hanging out. Even in the city, it’s a jungle out there.
Photo: A local hummingbird, by Molly Samuel
Bernalwood 
I feel like I’ve seen a couple of hawks or falcons that hang out on Bernal…. and I definitely hear owls, though I’ve never seen them.
I’ve heard owls, too, and once saw one swoop down the middle of Bocana. Someone more informed than me said it was probably a barn owl, though there used to be great horned owls here, too.
Don’t forget the parrots. Love them.
Yes! The parrots! Over the summer and fall it seemed like they were spending some time in a huge Eucalyptus around Powhattan and Banks. Have you seen or heard them recently? I haven’t, but since it’s been colder I’ve had my windows closed more.
Around September a whole bunch were perched on the wires outside my house on Mullen, just briefly. So fun. I have heard them once or twice since then, flying over.
Sometime I’ve seen a caique riding (or flying next to) an electric scooter down Cortland. I think his name is pixel, and that dork riding the scooter is probably Brett.