McLaren Park is an urban oasis...

...for hundreds of bird and animal species, some who make it their year-round home, and others who make McLaren a pit stop on their journeys along the Pacific Flyway or other migration paths.  

Birds

Red shouldered hawk
SMP photo by Ed Brownson
[click picture for info]

The diversity of vegetation in McLaren Park provides suitable foraging, nesting, and roosting habitat for a wide variety of species.

The grassland and scrub habitats of McLaren Park provide foraging habitat for raptors, while the forests provide potential nesting habitat for these species. Habitat for smaller birds such as sparrows, finches, and flycatchers is available in the scrub and mosaic habitats throughout the park.

-- from SF Natural Areas Plan for McLaren Park

Bird watchers who visit the Golden Gate Park disc golf course always note the diminished songbird population. There is very little ground cover for them to forage in and reduced shrubbery and lower tree branches for them to perch on, and the regular sound of limbs snapping as discs whiz through the air must be alarming to many small animals. We are greatly concerned that a disc golf course in any part of McLaren Park will further reduce the fragile ecosystem that supports such a wide variety of passerines. In fact, the SF Natural Areas Plan designates several already-threatened Sensitive Species and Important Bird Habitat Areas in McLaren Park that the proposed course will overlap.

Sensitive Species and Bird Habitat Map
[click map to enlarge]

McLaren Park Breeding Bird List

These are species identified as breeding at McLaren Park (See SF Breeding Bird Atlas). One species is classified as near-threatened on the IUCN scale (NT), and over twenty have been observed directly on one of the proposed disc golf fairways by Save McLaren Park observers (DG). Many of these birds are also Golden Gate Audubon Society Species of Local Concern (SLC):

Mallard Red-shouldered Hawk- DG, SLC Red-tailed Hawk- DG, SLC American Kestrel- DG, SLC Killdeer  Rock Dove  Great Horned Owl- DG, SLC White-throated Swift- DG Anna's Hummingbird - DG Allen's Hummingbird  Downy Woodpecker - DG Olive-sided Flycatcher - NT Pacific-slope Flycatcher - DG, SLC Black Phoebe - DG Hutton's Vireo - SLC Stellar's Jay Western Scrub Jay	American Crow  Horned Lark Tree Swallow - SLC Violet-green Swallow - DG Barn Swallow - SLC Chestnut-backed Chickadee  Bushtit Pygmy Nuthatch - DG, SLC Brown Creeper - DG Winter Wren  Swainson's Thrush - SLC American Robin - DG Northern Mockingbird  European Starling  Orange-crowned Warbler - SLC Wilsons Warbler - SLC Spotted Towhee - SLC	California Towhee - DG Song Sparrow  White-crowned Sparrow - DG Dark-eyed Junco - DG  Lazuli Bunting  Red-winged Blackbird  Brewers Blackbird  Brown-headed Cowbird  Hooded Oriole - SLC, DG Purple Finch - DG, SLC House Finch - DG Pine Siskin  Lesser Goldfinch - DG, SLC American Goldfinch - DG, SLC House Sparrow
Other birds observed in the park by SMP Cedar Waxwing Cooper's Hawk Great Blue Heron (Upper Reservoir) Western Meadowlark  Ruby-crowned Kinglet Townsend’s Warbler Varied Thrush Hermit Thrush Fox Sparrow Golden-crowned Sparrow Say’s Phoebe Gadwall (McNab Lake) American Wigeon (McNab Lake) Northern Flicker American Coot (McNab Lake)   Try the riparian area and ponds off Shelly Boulevard for the widest variety of birds. It is one of the surest places in the city to find Western Meadowlark, Lesser Goldfinch and American Goldfinch. Expect most of the same species as elsewhere in the city. The wooded areas near the open grasslands make this a pretty good park for raptors, particularly in winter. Loggerhead Shrikes were once a sure thing here but they have disappeared from then open areas of this park as well as from other parks in the city. Redwood groves should be checked for wintering Hermit and Varied Thrushes. Eucalyptus groves often have winter blooming trees and can be expected to provide habitat for a wide variety of insectivores.  --SF Field Ornithologists		Great Blue Heron SMP photo by Ed Brownson [Click picture for info]

Bugs & Little Critters

Unsung heroes of the natural world get their shout out here, from earthworms to dung beetles to several species of native bees to spiders to dragonflies and so much more. This "foundation of the forest" makes life possible for all the birds and other larger animals in the park. Habitat for many of these species would be trampled and eroded by the ongoing activities of a disc golf course, just as it has been in Golden Gate Park. 

San Francisco Alligator lizard. SMP photo by Ed Brownson Potato bug. SMP photo by Melanie Walker

BayNature.org's Bees of the Bay Area

Western Fence Lizard Commonly seen sunning on paths, rocks, and fence posts, and other high places. This behavior makes them an easy target to predation by snakes, birds, and even some mammals. They protect themselves by employing their fast reflexes.

Potato Bug What can you say about Potato bugs?

Small Mammals

The rarer, mostly nocturnal indigenous gray fox, nearly gone from its native lands, travels between McLaren Park and San Bruno Mountain, probably along a narrow greenway of undeveloped land in the Visitacion Valley. Wildlife needs routes to get around on land fragmented over 200 years of development. The land doesn't have to be that wide -- one or two lots. We haven't seen any dens," said [Lisa] Wayne [Director, SF Natural Areas Program], who has seen the secretive animal.
-- from " Nature Moves Back In"
SF Chronicle,  July 13, 2003

Gray fox are the only fox species in the world that can climb trees. They prefer woody, brushy habitats, and eat a variety of foods. Their keen sense of smell and acute hearing help them locate small mammals, such as gophers and mice. Gray fox also eat fruit, plant materials, insects, and birds. Not only are they scarce in the Presidio, they are rarely seen due to their shy nature and nocturnal lifestyles.

Once widespread, gray fox are now confined to only a few natural areas within the city such as Glen Canyon Park, McLaren Park, San Bruno Mountains, Bayview Hill, and the Presidio, although sightings here are very rare.
-- from 2005 Presidio Meso-Carnivore Study

California Vole
Photo from WikiMedia Commons by Jerry Kirkhart

Other small mammals in McLaren Park

Western Harvest Mouse
Broad-footed Mole
California Meadow Vole