City couple fills empty nest with love for area birds

By Bonnie Eslinger
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, December 30, 2005 1:26 AM PST

San Francisco bird lover Dan Murphy guesses he knows at least 500 species of birds by sight. Walking through San Francisco’s Pine Lake Park on the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas bird count, he never once glances at the field guide in his back pocket — he just calls out the names of the feathered creatures as he sees and hears them.

“Six more yellow-rumped warblers, and a pygmy nuthatch,” says Murphy, 61, a no-nonsense guy, wearing binoculars and a blue American Birding Association baseball cap. “And an American coot.”

“Already got it,” said his wife Joan, who follows along, taking notes while keeping an eye out for the birds hidden in the eucalyptus trees and within the park’s shrubs.

Native San Franciscans, Dan and Joan Murphy have been married for 37 years. A few years after getting married, Dan began bird-watching after work to diffuse the stress of his job, working with Alameda County youth in the juvenile justice system. Every afternoon, he’d take a walk through Golden Gate Park, simply to look at the birds.

Murphy bought some books and took some classes, and eventually began leading tours and sharing his hobby with others. In 1983, Murphy and another local bird enthusiast organized a San Francisco team to participate in Audubon’s annual winter count.

“It’s fun,” Murphy said. “There’s loads of variety and a lot of diversity. Their behavior is incredibly varied. They tell you a lot about the conditions of nature. And they’re beautiful to look at.”

Unfortunately, some birds, such as the California quail, are disappearing, he said, due to feral cats and unleashed dogs, as well as a loss of habitat caused by development.

While she now shares his enthusiasm for birds, Joan Murphy, who also works as a library aide, said raising a family kept her from getting involved with bird-watching during the first few decades of

their marriage.

“At one time, I said I’d be crazy if I ever started to do this,” she said.

Only after the kids began leav-ing the proverbial nest did Joan get her first pair of bird-watching binoculars. Now she’s hooked. “You don’t realize when you’re not birding how many species are all around you,” she said.

That was 15 years ago.

“She hasn’t been bird-watching as long as I have, but she’s coming along,” Dan Murphy said with a smile.

E-mail: beslinger@examiner.com