This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for May 17, 2024.
A SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER was at the Piute Ponds on Edwards AFB (letter of permission required for entry) on May 14.
A WESTERN CATTLE EGRET was at the San Gabriel Coastal Basin Spreading Grounds in Pico Rivera on May 16.
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS were at Ballona Lagoon through May 13 and by Will rogers Mini Park and Marine Stadium in Long Beach on May 15.
A YELLOW-HEADED CARACARA was in Lomita from May 14-17, but the bird has apparently been present for up to two years. This bird is almost undoubtedly an escapee or ship-assisted arrival. It has been seen near the Halal Market, Popeyes Chicken and Target lot at Narbonne and PCH.
A TROPICAL KINGBIRD continued at the San Gabriel Coastal Basin Spreading Grounds in Pico Rivera (west side, south of Mines Ave.) through May 11.
A BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER was in Signal Hills at the North Side Trails on May 15.
A VIRGINIA’S WARBLER was at the Kenneth Hahn SRA from May 11-13 by the hummingbird garden.
A TROPICAL PARULA, a first county record, was in Big Dalton Canyon from May 12-14, but has not been found since then. Google Earth coordinates are 34.1602, -117.8252
SUMMER TANAGERS were at the Piute Ponds in Edwards AFB on May 13 (letter of permission required for entry) and at Willow Springs Park in Long Beach on May 16.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 5/17/24 8:45 pm From: Jeanette Repp via groups.io <jzlrepp...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Big Dalton Canyon
A lovely day hiking and birding along this beautiful creek. Very birdy, too! Highlights include: Black-chinned Hummingbird, Black-headed Grosbeak, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Western Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Oak Titmouse, Wrentit, and House Wren everywhere!
Date: 5/17/24 10:57 am From: Diane Alps via groups.io <diane.alps...> Subject: [LACoBirds] YH Caracara Los Angeles
I spent about an hour with the caracara yesterday evening (~18:30 - 19:30), where it moved between the 99c Store lot and the Popeye's/Target lot. There are palm trees in front of 99c Store where it spent a great deal of time.
Date: 5/17/24 10:10 am From: Krista Woods via groups.io <Kristamwoods...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] [CALBIRDS] putative YH Caracara Los Angeles
Please keep us updated with the bird. Some of us are out in the valleys and can't get out to see the YH Caracara until the weekend. Thanks everyone! Happy Birding!
Date: 5/16/24 10:02 pm From: Loren Wright via groups.io <lorenywright...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Caracara history update
Very interesting! I still might take this with a huge grain of salt but, on Tuesday, a man who works in the office building behind the ficus tree off of Narbonne independently stated the same thing - that the caracara has been there for the last two years.
Of course at the time that also sounded very unlikely, but perhaps less so now after reading your report.
Date: 5/16/24 9:33 pm From: Merryl Edelstein Long Beach via groups.io <merryledel...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Caracara history update
According to the construction manager for the Target Store, the Caracara typically shows up at 9 AM in response to the trash truck schedule. We watched it for about an hour, a very intelligent bird. It snacked on some Cheetos and a chicken leg bone.
When harassed by ravens, it would fly up under some scaffolding near the nearby laundromat, or a trash enclosure near the Popeye's. It also vocalized a few times, scolding the ravens.
Since the Target hasn't yet opened, this is a good time to go and the parking lot is now accessible. (Southeast corner of Pacific Coast Hwy and Narbonne Avenue). The CVS on the west side of Narbonne has closed and we first parked there but the Target lot is better and doesn't require jaywalking across Narbonne.
It flew off a few times, but would return.
Date: 5/16/24 7:54 pm From: Ann and Eric via groups.io <motmots...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Caracara history update
Dear Birders,
We got to see the Yellow-headed Caracara a couple of times this morning- such a pretty bird! As we were about to leave, the Target store construction supervisor came by. He told us he had first noticed the Caracara on a dumpster behind the store about a week before April 23. The next day it enjoyed a meal gleaned from pizza boxes. He was sitting in his truck on April 23 and realized that the Caracara was sitting on his roof rack, so he opened the sunroof and took a lovely portrait of the caracara with his cell phone. He said when he first saw it it was being harassed by crows and he thought maybe it was a baby hawk and there might be a big mama hawk around, but he's learned a lot about caracaras since!
Just before he approached us, he called out to a young couple crossing the lot- they told him they had been seeing it for TWO YEARS. He couldn't believe it, but they said they lived in a nearby apartment house and had been watching it for 2 years. Seems very unlikely, but everything about this bird is unlikely!!
Anyway, pretty good history since about April 16!!
And the lot striping in the Target lot is complete and there's LOTS of parking. He's happy to have people there as long as you stay out of the way of his crews.
Good birding!Ann and Eric BrooksLos Angeles
Date: 5/15/24 11:50 pm From: Al Borodayko via groups.io <adboro...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-headed Caracara
Greetings,
I posted two photos of the Yellow-headed Caracara hanging out in Lomita. The photos were taken, Wednesday morning 15 May, when it was in the tree along Cypress Street. Thery can be found in the Photos Album.
Yes, "Provisional" counts in eBird (despite many of us having lobbied
against that policy). But although eBird will proudly add this caracara to
your eBird lists for the time being, please bear in mind that the eBird
reviewers will change the designation to "Escapee" if the California Bird
Records Committee reviews the record and there is a majority opinion that
the bird was likely NOT to have represented a natural occurrence. That was
the CBRC decision for the previous Humboldt County record, which is now
designated "Escapee" and does not "count" on any eBird lists. I wouldn't
hold my breath for CBRC acceptance....
Kimball Garrett
Juniper Hills, CA
On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 7:57 AM Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Good Morning,
> Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking
> lot.
> Park at CVS on PCH:
> 33°47′19″ N 118°19′13″ W
>
> Remember, provisional counts on eBird!
>
> Nancy Salem
> Long Beach
>
>
Date: 5/15/24 1:01 pm From: Vargas, Norman via groups.io <normvargas2011...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
Has flown west from Popeyes now.
Norm Vargas
San Gabriel
On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 12:50 PM Norm Vargas <normvargas2011...>
wrote:
> Still present at Popeyes dumpster bordering Target parking lot. Was
> farther west to bank earlier this morning.
>
> Norm Vargas
> San Gabriel
>
> On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 7:57 AM Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330=
> <gmail.com...> wrote:
>
>> Good Morning,
>>
>> Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking
>> lot.
>>
>> Park at CVS on PCH:
>>
>> 33°47′19″ N 118°19′13″ W
>>
>> Remember, provisional counts on eBird!
>>
>> Nancy Salem
>> Long Beach
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
Date: 5/15/24 12:50 pm From: Vargas, Norman via groups.io <normvargas2011...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
Still present at Popeyes dumpster bordering Target parking lot. Was farther
west to bank earlier this morning.
Norm Vargas
San Gabriel
On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 7:57 AM Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Good Morning,
>
> Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking
> lot.
>
> Park at CVS on PCH:
>
> 33°47′19″ N 118°19′13″ W
>
> Remember, provisional counts on eBird!
>
> Nancy Salem
> Long Beach
>
>
>
>
>
Date: 5/15/24 11:28 am From: David Barton via groups.io <dagnabbit1956...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
Indeed. One of the most reliable places to see the hard-to-find White-throated Caracara (a relative of the Yellow-headed that's visiting the PopEye's) is the garbage dump outside Ushuaia, Argentina . . . Â
David BartonSherman Oaks
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 10:39:04 AM PDT, Lyndsay <lyndsayjo...> wrote:
My knowledge of caracaras is limited to the (excellent imo) book "A Most Remarkable Creature", but a caracara taking full advantage of a dumpster as a food source certainly sounds normal for them!Â
--
Lyndsay Peters
 Â
On Wed, May 15, 2024, 10:34 AM Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330...> wrote:
This Caracara is beautiful. But really sad to watch it search for food, flying from dumpster to the PopEye drive through. Â What usually happens to birds so far out of their range?
Nancy SalemLong Beach
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Nancy Salem via groups.io" <vintage330...>
Date: May 15, 2024 at 7:57:13 AM PDT
To: <lacobirds...>
Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
Reply-To: <vintage330...>
Good Morning,
Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking lot.
Date: 5/15/24 10:39 am From: Lyndsay via groups.io <lyndsayjo...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
My knowledge of caracaras is limited to the (excellent imo) book "A Most
Remarkable Creature", but a caracara taking full advantage of a dumpster as
a food source certainly sounds normal for them!
--
Lyndsay Peters
On Wed, May 15, 2024, 10:34 AM Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> This Caracara is beautiful. But really sad to watch it search for food,
> flying from dumpster to the PopEye drive through. What usually happens to
> birds so far out of their range?
>
> Nancy Salem
> Long Beach
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From:* "Nancy Salem via groups.io" <vintage330...>
> *Date:* May 15, 2024 at 7:57:13 AM PDT
> *To:* <lacobirds...>
> *Subject:* *[LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara*
> *Reply-To:* <vintage330...>
>
> Good Morning,
>
> Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking
> lot.
>
> Park at CVS on PCH:
>
> 33°47′19″ N 118°19′13″ W
>
> Remember, provisional counts on eBird!
>
> Nancy Salem
> Long Beach
>
>
>
>
>
>
Date: 5/15/24 10:37 am From: Katz, Nurit via groups.io <nkatz...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
Caracaras are known for that behavior, like corvids they are highly adaptable to urban environments, in their home range as well. The dumpster diving is not because it's far from home.
________________________________
From: <LACoBirds...> <LACoBirds...> on behalf of Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330...>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 10:33:50 AM
To: <lacobirds...> <lacobirds...>
Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
This Caracara is beautiful. But really sad to watch it search for food, flying from dumpster to the PopEye drive through. What usually happens to birds so far out of their range?
Nancy Salem
Long Beach
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Nancy Salem via groups.io" <vintage330...>
Date: May 15, 2024 at 7:57:13 AM PDT
To: <lacobirds...>
Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
Reply-To: <vintage330...>
Good Morning,
Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking lot.
Date: 5/15/24 10:34 am From: Nancy Salem via groups.io <vintage330...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
This Caracara is beautiful. But really sad to watch it search for food, flying from dumpster to the PopEye drive through. What usually happens to birds so far out of their range?
Nancy Salem
Long Beach
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Nancy Salem via groups.io" <vintage330...>
> Date: May 15, 2024 at 7:57:13 AM PDT
> To: <lacobirds...>
> Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-Headed Caracara
> Reply-To: <vintage330...>
>
> Good Morning,
>
> Bird continues. Seen on light pole now and flew towards Target parking lot.
>
> Park at CVS on PCH:
>
> 33°47′19″ N 118°19′13″ W
>
> Remember, provisional counts on eBird!
>
> Nancy Salem
> Long Beach
>
>
>
>
Date: 5/14/24 6:19 pm From: Chris Dean via groups.io <chrisdeanbirder...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-headed Caracara - ebird protocol
Hi,
For those chasing the Yellow-headed Caracara, please use the ebird stakeout hotspot. The status of the bird will be provisional, similar to the prior Yellow-headed Caracara in Humboldt and other possible ship-assisted birds.
Thank you! Chris Dean, one of the LA team of ebird reviewers Silver Lake
Date: 5/14/24 3:36 pm From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] [CALBIRDS] putative YH Caracara Los Angeles
Birders,
Re: the Yellow-headed Caracara currently in Lomita/Torrance, Los Angeles Co.
While the "natural origin" question regarding this caracara remains to be
adjudicated, I provide here the California Bird Records Committee's wording
about the previous California sighting from Humboldt County in 2007-2008,
from Western Birds 41(3), 2010:
"YELLOW-HEADED CARACARA *Milvago chimachima*. NATURAL OCCURRENCE
QUESTIONABLE. One was around Ferndale, HUM, 27 Jul–30 Dec 2007, at Humboldt
Bay, HUM, 8 Mar 2008, then near L. Earl, DN, 13 Mar 2008 (KR†, GSL;
2008-169). The committee unanimously questioned the origin of this
individual, and some questioned whether this nonmigratory, primarily South
American species is a candidate to occur in California at all, let alone in
the far north of the state. According to Wetmore (1981), the dark bands on
the tail of individuals of the more southerly race, *M. c. chimachima*,
found from the Amazon southward, are “wider and heavier” than the white
bands. If this is correct, photos of the Yellow-headed Caracara originally
found in Ferndale suggest it may be *M. c. chimachima*, not the more
northerly *M. c. cordata*."
[Note that this species is now placed in the genus *Daptrius *by
eBird/Clements/Birds of the World]
Yellow-headed Caracaras have been expanding their range northward (aided by
deforestation?] but have still barely been recorded in Mexico. No
populations are known to be migratory. In other words, this is hardly a
candidate to occur naturally in California (and who knows the provenance of
the recent bird in Florida?). Not that I'm suggesting this bird was
ship-assisted, but there is known to be shipping traffic through Panama
(there's this canal down there...), some of it headed north to California.
This is yet another bird waif not far from Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor,
where one must at least acknowledge the possibility of ship-riding. I'm
less worried about an escaped falconer's bird (why on Earth would anyone
use this species for sport or hunting?).
Kimball Garrett
Juniper Hills, CA
On Tue, May 14, 2024 at 2:04 PM Andrew Birch via groups.io <andyrbirch=
<yahoo.com...> wrote:
> As of an hour ago, the bird had been relocated in a ficus in front of an
> apartment building here:
> 33.788633792874826, -118.32062395652908
> The Target parking lot was closed off for construction but there seemed to
> be parking at the adjacent CVS. According to birders already on site, the
> bird was first noticed by local store workers on April 24th. The Halal meat
> market in that parking lot has been throwing out raw meat that it has been
> seen feeding on as well as dumpster diving.
> Best, Andy Birch
> Los Feliz
>
>
>
Date: 5/14/24 2:04 pm From: Andrew Birch via groups.io <andyrbirch...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] [CALBIRDS] putative YH Caracara Los Angeles
As of an hour ago, the bird had been relocated in a ficus in front of an apartment building here:33.788633792874826, -118.32062395652908The Target parking lot was closed off for construction but there seemed to be parking at the adjacent CVS. According to birders already on site, the bird was first noticed by local store workers on April 24th. The Halal meat market in that parking lot has been throwing out raw meat that it has been seen feeding on as well as dumpster diving.
Best, Andy BirchLos Feliz
On Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 11:09:50 AM PDT, <tgmiko...> <tgmiko...> wrote:
Hi,There has been a cross posting of a rated conversation including a photo of what absolutely looks like a Yellow-headed Caracara that was supposedly taken in Lomita California at the following location:Â https://goo.gl/maps/Kr1bHMYw3j2FvgF4A I assume that birders are on the way there to look for this bird and will report it if seen. The photo does not show any indication of a falconry.
Date: 5/14/24 12:37 pm From: Jonathan Feenstra via groups.io <feenstra...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Semi Sandpiper, Piute Ponds, 5/14/24
Birders:
To distract everyone from the intense recreational birding going on out there, there is a Semipalmated Sandpiper (spring, so, adult plumage) with a few Westerns and a Least using the sandbars at the east end of Duckbill pond at Piute Ponds.
Otherwise, birdy here with good numbers of regular migrants, particularly Wilson's Warblers.
I was at the site Sunday after 2 PM and Monday from 715 to around 1130.
This definitely seems to be a morning bird when it is on the river side of the road. There it is flying  into the close  Sycamores and into the pines by the restrooms. The lighting is also favorable. In the afternoon  it seems to go upslope for awhile on the opposite  side of the road. There it is buried in the dense foliage. While it may be singing all day it is difficult to locate in the denser foliage. I did manage a few flight shots including a pair where it looks like it is catching something  (a worm?) in flight.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/25876581@N00/53720450074/in/dateposted-public/
Date: 5/13/24 9:02 am From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Tropical Parula refound today 13 May
Just the messenger...
The Tropical Parula in Big Dalton Canyon, L. A. Co., is present and singing in the sycamores where it was seen yesterday. Apparently this stretch of the canyon is quiet early in the morning, but the bird should be active through the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon.
Date: 5/12/24 10:00 am From: Cadeo Scott-Schipper via groups.io <cadeoscottschipper...> Subject: [LACoBirds] TROPICAL PARULA
Hi all,
My friend Jake just found what appears to be a TROPICAL PARULA at Big
Dalton Canyon. He viewed it in the top of a sycamore about
34.16063° N, 117.82504° W. photos linked in the checklist below.
Date: 5/11/24 2:56 pm From: Ralph via groups.io <sharks_hockey_maniac...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Hansen Dam RFI
Hello LA birders,
I’ll be in Van Nuys for a court appearance on Thursday and would like to work on my LA County list (which currently stands at a whopping SIX species!) and am thinking about checking out Hansen Dam when I arrive Wednesday afternoon.
I am specifically looking for information about where to look for CA Gnatcatcher (which would be a lifer) and any information about how safe the area is, car break ins, the risks of birding with my expensive camera, etc., and any info on the tick/mosquito situation there.
Feel free to contact me off list if you’d prefer.
This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for May 10, 2024.
Three BLACK SWIFTS passed through Bear Divide near Santa Clarita on May 7, with one there on May 8 and another twelve on May 9.
A RED KNOT was at the Ballona Creek mouth through May 6. A WESTERN CATTLE EGRET was there on May 5.
A rare spring PECTORAL SANDPIPER was at Malibu Lagoon from May 4-5.
A YELLOW-FOOTED GULL continued at Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas through May 5. It has been often seen on the buoys near the north shore.
Two YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS continued at Ballona Lagoon continuing through May 4.
The late-staying DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER at Vincent Lugo Park in San Gabriel was present through May 3. It is usually in the southeast corner of the park.
A RED-EYED VIREO was at Biola University in La Mirada on May 5.
Two PURPLE MARTINS were by the lake at La Mirada Community Regional Park from May 7-8.
The BROWN THRASHER continued along the West San Gabriel River Parkway Nature Trail in Lakewood through May 6 in the area below Monte Verde Park.
A HARRIS’S SPARROW was along the inflow channel at Quail Lake near Gorman on May 4.
An AMERICAN REDSTART was at the West San Gabriel River Parkway Nature Trail in Lakewood on May 9 in the area above Carson Street.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 5/8/24 3:58 pm From: Justyn Stahl via groups.io <justyn.stahl...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Loon 368 and Pelicans
I got the following from California Department of Fish and Wildlife's
Wildlife Health Laboratory in response to a mortality report I had
submitted a few days ago. This is presumably what's behind the increase in
inland records of Brown Pelicans recently.
"Thank you for submitting a mortality report. We have had an uptick in
reports of brown pelicans along the central and southern coasts recently.
Additionally, a number of wildlife rehabilitation centers have been
admitting increased numbers of debilitated pelicans. Most of these pelicans
appear to be younger birds that are emaciated, sometimes with secondary
injuries. Unfortunately, we sometimes see increased mortality of seabirds
due to food resource issues. Younger birds may have more difficulty
adjusting to changes. Thankfully, we have not detected disease in these
pelicans so far this season. We appreciate you reporting your observations.
These reports help us monitor the numbers and locations of animals involved
in the event."
On Wed, May 8, 2024 at 2:42 PM Ursula K. Heise via groups.io <heise.ursula=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Hello Birders:
>
> I received sad news regarding Pacific Loon 368 today, the bird that I took
> to IBR in San Pedro on April 26. The fish hook was lodged so deeply in its
> throat that they were not able to extract it with surgery, and they
> euthanized the bird. Needless to say, I’m terribly sad - you get attached
> to these critters you find in distress, and this seemed a particularly
> unnecessary death, just from someone's negligence in leaving fishing gear
> around.
>
> I was also told that the IBR is currently receiving a very large number of
> 2-3 year old pelicans on the brink of starvation. It wasn't entirely clear
> to me what the cause is - not sure that they know, either. Not bird flu,
> they told me. Overfishing? If anyone has any information, I'd be curious to
> know.
>
> Anyway, I'll keep donating to them and – time allowing – will volunteer
> with IBR. Maybe we can at least save some of these pelicans.
>
> In sadness,
> Ursula
>
> Ursula K. Heise
> Venice
>
>
>
Date: 5/8/24 2:43 pm From: Ursula K. Heise via groups.io <heise.ursula...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Loon 368 and Pelicans
Hello Birders:
I received sad news regarding Pacific Loon 368 today, the bird that I took
to IBR in San Pedro on April 26. The fish hook was lodged so deeply in its
throat that they were not able to extract it with surgery, and they
euthanized the bird. Needless to say, I’m terribly sad - you get attached
to these critters you find in distress, and this seemed a particularly
unnecessary death, just from someone's negligence in leaving fishing gear
around.
I was also told that the IBR is currently receiving a very large number of
2-3 year old pelicans on the brink of starvation. It wasn't entirely clear
to me what the cause is - not sure that they know, either. Not bird flu,
they told me. Overfishing? If anyone has any information, I'd be curious to
know.
Anyway, I'll keep donating to them and – time allowing – will volunteer
with IBR. Maybe we can at least save some of these pelicans.
Date: 5/6/24 10:35 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County Summary: 276 Species!
Hi Everyone,
This is the final summary for America's Birdiest County in Los Angeles on April 26-28, 2024.
The total this year was 276 species.
After the last update we added American White Pelican and Black Storm-Petrel.
How does our total compare with results from previous years?
Here are America's Birdiest County totals for Los Angeles County since 2003:
Year Total
2024 276 Apr 26-28
2023 268 Apr 28-30
2022 265 Apr 22-24
2021 277 Apr 23-25
2020 No count due to covid 19
2019 257 Apr 26-28
2018 263 Apr 27-29
2017 264 Apr 28-30
2016 270 Apr 29-May 1
2015 275 Apr 25-27
2014 272 Apr 25-27
2013 265 Apr 26-28
2012 262 Apr 29-30
2011 277 Apr 22-24
2010 271 Apr 23-25
2009 264 Apr 24-26
2008 255 Apr 25-27
2007 271 Apr 26-28
2006 263 Apr 28-30 Format changed from one day to three days; more organization
2005 246
2004 239
2003 239
Average from 2003-present: 263.8 +- 11.2
Our total this year was 12 species above our long-term average of 264.
Finding this many species takes a lot of effort, and we got that many because a lot of very dedicated and knowledgeable people went into the field and covered the most important locations for birds across the county. This resulted in excellent coverage at the Piute Ponds, Apollo Park, Quail Lake, the San Gabriel Mountains, Bonelli Park, Malibu Lagoon, parks in and near Long Beach, Bear Divide, and the Ballona/Playa de Rey area.
Nevertheless, we struggled to find some rarities that had apparently left within a few days of the count, or were somehow missed. Those are discussed in the bottom half of the email.
276 species is above our long-term average of 264 but we need to keep in mind that numerous introduced species have been added to the state list in recent years: Nanday parakeet, yellow-chevroned parakeet, Lilac-crowned parrot, mitred parakeet, red-masked parakeet, red-whiskered bulbul, and scaly-breasted munia. A few years ago we also relaxed our previous restriction on counting bald eagles on Catalina Island due to our (incorrect) perception that they needed human intervention to survive. Now they're also nesting annually along highway 39 on the mainland as well. As a result, it's easier to reach 276 species than it was only a few years ago.
Previous America's Birdiest County winners:
...discontinued after 2011...
2011 277 Los Angeles
2010 271 Los Angeles
2009 264 Los Angeles
2008 255 Los Angeles
2007 271 Los Angeles
2006 263 Los Angeles
2005 250 Monterey and San Diego (tie)
2004 266 San Diego
2003 248 Monterey
America's Birdiest County was a one-day event during its first three years. Starting in 2006, the format changed to three days. 2006 is also the first year that we really got organized in Los Angeles County and that accounts for the distinct uptick in the number of species relative to the first three years.
We added SIX new species this year:
Yellow-footed Gull
Black Storm-Petrel
Black Swift
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
Blackburnian Warbler
Painted Bunting
How do six new species compare with results from previous years?
Here are the number of new species that we've added since 2010:
2024 6 NONE introduced
2023 4 (two were introduced)
2022 3 (two were introduced)
2021 5 (two were introduced)
2020 No count due to covid 19
2019 3
2018 0 Only year we didn't add any species
2017 1
2016 5
2015 4
2014 5
2013 3
2012 5
2011 7
2010 5
The six species we added in 2024 was the most since we added 7 in 2011.
Our recent history of adding a few species annually probably indicates that there are still new species to find in future years. Given the near misses we have every year, it may be many years before we run out of new ones, even without introduced species newly accepted by the California Bird Records Committee.
Here are the species we FOUND this year:
* Snow Goose
* Ross's Goose
* Greater White-fronted Goose
* Brant
* Cackling Goose
* Canada Goose
* Wood Duck
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Northern Shoveler
* Gadwall
* American Wigeon
* Mallard
* Northern Pintail
* Green-winged Teal
* Redhead
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Common Goldeneye
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Gambel's Quail
* Chukar
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Spotted Dove
* Inca Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Greater Roadrunner
* Lesser Nighthawk
* Common Poorwill
* Black Swift NEW
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* Calliope Hummingbird
* Virginia Rail
* Sora
* Common Gallinule
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* Black Oystercatcher
* Black-bellied Plover
* Snowy Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Ruddy Turnstone
* Black Turnstone
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Dunlin
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Wilson's Snipe
* Wilson's Phalarope
* Red-necked Phalarope
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Lesser Yellowlegs
* Parasitic Jaeger
* Common Murre
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Glaucous-winged Gull
* Least Tern
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Black Storm-Petrel NEW
* Sooty Shearwater
* Black-vented Shearwater
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Neotropic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* American White Pelican
* Brown Pelican
* Least Bittern
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Western Cattle Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* White-faced Ibis
* Turkey Vulture
* California Condor
* Osprey
* Golden Eagle
* Northern Harrier
* Sharp-shinned Hawk
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Western Screech-Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Northern Pygmy-Owl
* Northern Saw-whet Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Williamson's Sapsucker
* Red-breasted Sapsucker
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Peregrine Falcon
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Lilac-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Red-masked Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Western Wood-Pewee
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Gray Flycatcher
* Dusky Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Vermilion Flycatcher
* Dusky-capped Flycatcher
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Cassin's Vireo
* Plumbeous Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Steller's Jay
* California Scrub-Jay
* Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay NEW
* Clark's Nutcracker
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Mountain Chickadee
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Horned Lark
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Rock Wren
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Marsh Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* American Dipper
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* LeConte's Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Townsend's Solitaire
* Swainson's Thrush
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* Phainopepla
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Cassin's Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Pine Siskin
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-chinned Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Savannah Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Rufous-crowned Sparrow
* Green-tailed Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Yellow-headed Blackbird
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* Blackburnian Warbler NEW
* Yellow Warbler
* Palm Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Hermit Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Blue Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
* Painted Bunting NEW
Here are the species found in previous years that we MISSED in 2024:
# Tundra Bean-Goose
# Canvasback
# Greater Scaup
# White-winged Scoter
# Black Scoter
# Hooded Merganser
# Common Merganser
# Horned Grebe
# Common Ground-Dove
# White-winged Dove
# Ridgway's Rail
# Sandhill Crane
# Pacific Golden-Plover
# Red Knot
# Ruff
# Stilt Sandpiper
# Baird's Sandpiper
# Pectoral Sandpiper
# Semipalmated Sandpiper
# Red Phalarope
# Pomarine Jaeger
# Scripps's Murrelet
# Cassin's Auklet
# Rhinoceros Auklet
# Sabine's Gull
# Laughing Gull
# Franklin's Gull
# Short-billed Gull
# Lesser Black-backed Gull
# Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
# Glaucous Gull
# Black Tern
# Common Tern
# Yellow-billed Loon
# Black-footed Albatross
# Leach's Storm-Petrel
# Northern Fulmar
# Pink-footed Shearwater
# Red-footed Booby
# American Bittern
# White-tailed Kite
# Zone-tailed Hawk
# Ferruginous Hawk
# Flammulated Owl
# Burrowing Owl
# Spotted Owl
# Long-eared Owl
# Red-naped Sapsucker
# Crested Caracara
# Least Flycatcher
# Tropical Kingbird
# Thick-billed Kingbird
# Purple Martin
# Golden-crowned Kinglet
# Mountain Bluebird
# Varied Thrush
# Red-throated Pipit
# Evening Grosbeak
# Grasshopper Sparrow
# Clay-colored Sparrow
# Field Sparrow
# Harris's Sparrow
# Vesper Sparrow
# Swamp Sparrow
# Orchard Oriole
# Baltimore Oriole
# Northern Waterthrush
# Black-and-white Warbler
# Tennessee Warbler
# Hooded Warbler
# American Redstart
# Northern Parula
# Chestnut-sided Warbler
# Red-faced Warbler
# Painted Redstart
# Summer Tanager
# Indigo Bunting
The table below lists every species we've recorded during the ABC weekend
since 2004 and the number of years in which we've found each one.
"11" indicates that we found a species in a given year and "00" indicates that we didn't.
The alignment of the columns works best if you use the Courier font in your email.
Of the species we've found to date, we have found the same ~200 every year,
accounting for about 3/4 of our annual average.
Species Found Only Once:
We have found 31 species only once indicating that about 9% are "one-hit wonders." Examples from previous years include Ridgeway's rail, yellow-billed loon, field sparrow, ruff, red-throated pipit, evening grosbeak, red-faced warbler, and tundra bean goose.
There are also numerous species that we find about 1/2 of the time, probably a consequence of the fact that we schedule the event in late April when wintering birds are leaving and when many spring migrants are just arriving.
Even though some species are reported nearly every year, there are a number that we struggle to find, and it's often through the dedicated efforts of a few people that we find them. Typical examples include Praire falcon, Golden-crowned kinglet, LeConte's thrasher, Clark's nutcracker, Williamson's sapsucker, and flammulated owl. Of those, this year we missed the kinglet and flammulated owl but found all the others.
Here are species we found that were particularly notable:
(Found less than or equal to five times previously and not introduced).
04 Long-tailed Duck
04 Common Goldeneye
01 Black Swift
01 Yellow-footed Gull
01 Black Storm-Petrel
05 Neotropic Cormorant. Becoming regular.
02 California Condor
05 Dusky-Capped Flycatcher
01 Woodhouses's Scrub-Jay
01 Blackburnian Warbler
01 Painted Bunting
Once again, the number in the first two columns gives the number of years when
we have found this species since 2004.
As mentioned above, yellow-crowned night-heron appears to be more regular and we've found it on the last seven counts. Given the explosive increase in neotropic cormorant numbers, those have become regular as well.
So have vermilion flycatchers.
What were our worst misses?
Here's a list of species we missed that were found at least 11 times previously:
11 Hooded Merganser: Missed by a couple of weeks
16 Common Merganser: Missed by less than one week
11 Horned Grebe: Missed by less than one week
14 Common Ground-Dove: No eBird reports in 2024
18 White-tailed Kite
12 Flammulated Owl: Missed by less than one week
14 Burrowing Owl: Population appears in serious decline
16 Spotted Owl: Population appears in serious decline
Of these, this was only the second time we've missed White-tailed Kite. There aren't many recent eBird reports, but even so, we missed it by less than one week.
We've had considerable success with Burrowing Owl and Spotted Owl in the past, but both are in decline, and we missed them again this year. This is the sixth year in a row that we have failed to find burrowing owl.
Here's a list of species reported within one week of the count that we missed:
Most were extracted from eBird:
Near-Misses: +- one week:
Common Merganser
Horned Grebe
Red Knot
Pectoral Sandpiper
Franklin's Gull
Black Tern
Pink-footed Shearwater
White-Tailed Kite
Flammulaed Owl
Tropical Kingbird.
Thick-billed Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo. Would have been new.
Brown Thrasher: Missed by one day. Would have been new.
Cassin's Sparrow: Missed by one day. Would have been new.
Clay-colored Sparrow: Missed by one day.
Harris's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Pine Warbler. This would have been new.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak. This would have been new.
N = 22
There were searches for the Cassin's sparrow and Brown Thrasher that were well known before the count. The Thick-billed Kingbird was reported only five days earlier.
Given the number of new species that we find each year, which species might be next?
in previous years, we did not even consider yellow-footed gull, but several days before this year's count one turned up at Bonelli Park and has lingered ever since.
We just missed Cassin's sparrow, Pine Warbler, and Brown Thrasher by only one or two days. All would have been new.
We've missed broad-winged hawk by less than one week on multiple occasions, so we should find it eventually. Brown Boobies are increasing in abundance and are sometimes reported fairly often, so we should sweep one up. I'm surprised that we haven't found reddish egret yet. Despite these predictions, the rarities we find suggests something not mentioned above is likely to turn up. That certainly happened this year!
It seems inevitable that more exotics will be added to the state list by the California Bird Records Committee and thus become countable. Species that might be added in the not-too-distant future include Egyptian goose, Swinhoe's White-eye, and perhaps Pin-tailed Whydah. For a discussion, please check the CBRC website at:
We have started to keep track of uncountable, non-native species that we find,
but we didn't attempt to organize dedicated searches.
Here are the ones that were reported, in no particular order:
Domestic geese
Egyptian goose
Mallard (domestic)
Pin-tailed Whydah
Swinhoe's White-eye
Indian Peafowl
Yellow-headed Parrot
Northern Cardinal
Muscovy Duck
How many more species could we find during this count?
We've already found 277 species twice, and 276 and 275 species once, so 280 species is probably within reach if we have really good luck. 285 species might be attainable...particularly if the CBRC continues to add introduced species to the state list. Finding more than that is probably very unlikely even if we dramatically increase our organization and level of effort because we're already up against the limit of the number of birds regularly in the area at this time of year.
The significance of "America's Birdiest County" has grown considerably since we started in 2003. It's become much more than a friendly competition with other counties and has turned into a educational event that continues to improve our body of knowledge of the status and distribution of birds in our area. Knowledge of where birds are has grown to the point that we usually find most species that are very local.
Although there are other events during the year such as Christmas Bird Counts and the Great Backyard Bird Count, there aren't many events in the spring when migration is in full swing. As such, we've been obtaining a detailed sample for 20 years at a time of year when few other surveys occur. Now, however, the Bear Divide Migration Count, which is well on the way to becoming a regular event, is providing another means for assessing species in this area in a systematic way.
As mentioned above, ABC weekend is also documenting changes, both positive and negative, in the avifauna in our area for species such as vermilion flycatcher, neotropic cormorant, yellow-crowned night-heron, zone-tailed hawk, tricolored blackbird, white-tailed kite, American dipper, and burrowing owl.
Use of the Merlin App
The Merlin bird ID app has become extremely popular recently and is being used extensively. Unfortunately, it doesn't always identify sounds correctly, and some species are being entered into eBird primarily based on results from the Merlin app without confirmation by the observer. This lead to multiple incorrectly identified species during ABC weekend this year. PLEASE do NOT rely solely on Merlin to identify species! Although Merlin is very capable and getting better, but it makes mistakes. If you think you found something interesting based on a Merlin recording, please include the recording in your eBird list and try to see the bird and photograph it. As an example, on April 26 I was at Buckhorn listening to thick-billed fox sparrows singing, and just for yucks, I decided to see if Merlin could identify them. It concluded that I was hearing a sooty grouse! Be careful!
Most of our participants use eBird to archive their observations and many people are uploading photos and audio recordings, which makes the reports considerably more valuable. Every year during ABC weekend there's a significant increase in the number of records entered into eBird. We scour eBird for reports that weren't submitted to us or posted on listserves. This often adds 2-4 species after the count that we would otherwise miss. Many species were reported directly to me but I also found several dozen by checking eBird.
Use of eBird is making an increasingingly important contribution to ornithology worldwide. eBird data is appearing in a rapidly-increasing number of peer-reviewed publications in prominent scientific journals and it's having a pronounced impact on many areas of bird conservation. Articles that discuss results from eBird have appeared many times in some of the highest-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals, and eBird is widely considered to be among the most important community science projects in existence.
Date: 5/5/24 11:21 am From: JonathanRowley via groups.io <jonathan.james...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Red-eyed Vireo, La Mirada
I am a little trepidatious about reporting this, because it is almost in a restricted area. I am looking at a Red-eyed Vireo at Biola University. It is in a public area, but the University is not accessible for chasing birds.
33.910159,-118.012059
To access this bird, you would need to park on the street immediately east of La Mirada boulevard at the Biola University entry. Then you would have to cross La Mirada boulevard at the protected crossing and walk down the bridle trail. It is currently singing in an ash tree to the south to where the bridle trail splits.
Please do not cross the fence. I will say as a word of caution, that I did hear the bird singing at sycamores inside of the University yesterday. I was unable to find it at that point, so I am pleased to confirm the bird now.
Date: 5/4/24 6:28 am From: Jeanette Repp via groups.io <jzlrepp...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Madrona Marsh
I had a lovely morning at Madrona Marsh Friday. While I saw many expected species, 3 highlights were nesting House Wren, Rudy Ducks and an Ash Throated Flycatcher.
This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for May 3, 2024.
Continuing at the Ballona Creek mouth through April 27 was a LONG-TAILED DUCK. A lingering COMMON MURRE was here through May 2 and a RED KNOT was observed here from May 1-2.
Two INCA DOVES were in Lake Los Angeles in the east Antelope Valley on April 28 by 169th Street East and Ave. N-4.
A BLACK SWIFT was seen at Bear Divide near Santa Clarita on April 27.
An apparent AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER was at the Ballona Creek mouth on April 27.
A SOUTH POLAR SKUA was offshore at the mouth of Redondo Canyon on May 2.
A YELLOW-FOOTED GULL continued at Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas through May 3. It has been often seen on the buoys near the north shore. Up to three BROWN PELICANS were here from May 1-3 and a RED-THROATED LOON was seen on May 1.
A WESTERN CATTLE EGRET was in the Antelope Valley at the flood basin by highway 14 and Ave. H from April 30-May 2 and three were along the Los Angeles River in Glendale on May 3.
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS included two birds at Sims Bio Pond in Long Beach on April 26, one at the Venice canals on May 1 and two at Ballona Lagoon continuing through April 30.
The DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER at Vincent Lugo Park in San Gabriel was present through April 26. It is usually in the southeast corner of the park.
A WOODHOUSE’S SCRUB-JAY was on Edwards AFB property (no public access) on April 26.
The BROWN THRASHER continued along the West San Gabriel River Parkway Nature Trail in Lakewood through May 2 in the area below Monte Verde Park.
An AMERICAN DIPPER was along the stream about a half mile from the Burkhart trail head near Buckhorn Campground on April 28.
A NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH was by the southeast corner of Duckbill Lake (Piute Ponds, Edwards AFB) on April 29. A letter of permission is required for entry.
A BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER was at the north end of the wetland area at DeForest Park in Long Beach from April 27-30. A bit north of there, a PALM WARBLER was south of the administration buildings on April 27.
A PALM WARBLER continued along the east side of the Los Angeles River south of Willow Street through April 30. Another was in the Mt. Washington area on April 30.
A ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK was at Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach on May 2.
A PAINTED BUNTING was at a residence in Altadena on April 27.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 5/2/24 7:33 pm From: Jonathan Feenstra via groups.io <feenstra...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Santa Monica Bay, 5/2/24: SPSkua, Black Tern
LA Birders:
I was on a private boat today in Santa Monica Bay and basically ended up doing a loop from Marina Del Rey to Redondo Canyon, north along the escarpment to Santa Monica Canyon and back to the Marina.
A singular highlight was a South Polar Skua just inside the shipping channel off the mouth of Redondo Canyon. This might be the furthest inshore I've encountered this species in SoCal (though I know it happens). Another irregular bird offshore today in Santa Monica Canyon was a Black Tern grimly perched atop a floating loon corpse.
There actually weren't many birds, but diversity was good with a few each of Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, Ashy Storm-Petrel, Cassin's and Rhinoceros Auklets, Scripps's Murrelets, and other usual pelagic sundries. Guadalupe Fur Seals and abundant Velella velella jellyfish were also out there.
Date: 4/30/24 6:03 pm From: <thebrit1...> via groups.io <thebrit1...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Golden Triangle
It was another big one today. The winds were howling over the pass - 20 mph at 6.15am quickly increasing to a steady 30 mph. The relatively few birds that went north through the triangle were struggling over the grasses and headed to the first bushes for cover where 30 Western Kingbirds and other birds were hiding from the wind. I figured the flight was not going to be a big one.
I went to Copco Rd where birds were seemingly skirting the winds and not flying towards the triangle but flying straight west over I5 at Copco Rd and going through Hungry Valley along 'raptor' ridge. The winds are far less here. One minute counts here ranged from 26 to 122 per minute going over the highway at 9am (averaged 55 per minute - 3300 per hour). The photography was great.
At 10.15 I went to Old Ridge Route. At the start, just past Quail Lake, birds were steadily moving out of the Antelope Valley foothills (114 in 5 minutes) - this was steady over 20 minutes. I then went further into the chaparral (it was now 11 am) where there were birds moving but not so many including a few Hermit, BT Grays etc.Â
At the confluence of multiple geographical features and wind funnels, this area creates an incredible, and probably unique, opportunity to study migration. Understanding what goes on up here is impossible without multiple counts. It is always overwhelming on good days with different routes and different species make up. Overwhelming, frustrating and exhilarating all at once!
Probably 6-10k today. Lazuli's dominated everywhere again with flocks going past almost constantly. Western Tanagers were up a bit - seeing over 1000 of both in a day is not a big deal here. Lots of grosbeaks, Western Kingbirds: few warblers - much like yesterday. Plenty of other stuff and a steady trickle of raptors again.Â
Not expecting so many tomorrow. Hope I am wrong. Clearly these big movements go on all the way around LA - it's probably just as big crossing i15...Â
Richard Crossley
Date: 4/29/24 9:33 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] ABC MISSING species, Monday night
Hi Again, Here's the updated list of species found in previous years on ABC weekend that haven't been reported yet this year:
# Tundra Bean-Goose
# Canvasback
# Greater Scaup
# White-winged Scoter
# Black Scoter
# Hooded Merganser
# Common Merganser
# Horned Grebe
# Common Ground-Dove
# White-winged Dove
# Ridgway's Rail
# Sandhill Crane
# Pacific Golden-Plover
# Red Knot
# Ruff
# Stilt Sandpiper
# Baird's Sandpiper
# Pectoral Sandpiper
# Semipalmated Sandpiper
# Red Phalarope
# Pomarine Jaeger
# Scripps's Murrelet
# Cassin's Auklet
# Rhinoceros Auklet
# Sabine's Gull
# Laughing Gull
# Franklin's Gull
# Short-billed Gull
# Lesser Black-backed Gull
# Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
# Glaucous Gull
# Black Tern
# Common Tern
# Yellow-billed Loon
# Black-footed Albatross
# Leach's Storm-Petrel
# Northern Fulmar
# Pink-footed Shearwater
# Red-footed Booby
# American White Pelican
# American Bittern
# White-tailed Kite
# Zone-tailed Hawk
# Ferruginous Hawk
# Flammulated Owl
# Burrowing Owl
# Spotted Owl
# Long-eared Owl
# Red-naped Sapsucker
# Crested Caracara
# Least Flycatcher
# Tropical Kingbird
# Thick-billed Kingbird
# Purple Martin
# Golden-crowned Kinglet
# Mountain Bluebird
# Varied Thrush
# Red-throated Pipit
# Evening Grosbeak
# Grasshopper Sparrow
# Clay-colored Sparrow
# Field Sparrow
# Harris's Sparrow
# Vesper Sparrow
# Swamp Sparrow
# Orchard Oriole
# Baltimore Oriole
# Northern Waterthrush
# Black-and-white Warbler
# Tennessee Warbler
# Hooded Warbler
# American Redstart
# Northern Parula
# Chestnut-sided Warbler
# Red-faced Warbler
# Painted Redstart
# Summer Tanager
# Indigo Bunting
There were also some rare birds in the area recently that aren't on this list such as Cassin's sparrow, pine warbler, and, of course, swallow-tailed kite.
Date: 4/29/24 9:30 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County: Preliminary total = 274 species
Hi Everyone, Since the last update we have added and subtracted some species with the net result that our total is still 274. Some rarities did not have sufficient documentation to accept but some other species have been reported. There are still species under review so the total could still change. In about a week I'll circulate a detailed email that summarizes everything, but in the meantime, here's the list of everything we found:
* Snow Goose
* Ross's Goose
* Greater White-fronted Goose
* Brant
* Cackling Goose
* Canada Goose
* Wood Duck
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Northern Shoveler
* Gadwall
* American Wigeon
* Mallard
* Northern Pintail
* Green-winged Teal
* Redhead
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Common Goldeneye
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Gambel's Quail
* Chukar
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Spotted Dove
* Inca Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Greater Roadrunner
* Lesser Nighthawk
* Common Poorwill
* Black Swift NEW
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* Calliope Hummingbird
* Virginia Rail
* Sora
* Common Gallinule
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* Black Oystercatcher
* Black-bellied Plover
* Snowy Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Ruddy Turnstone
* Black Turnstone
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Dunlin
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Wilson's Snipe
* Wilson's Phalarope
* Red-necked Phalarope
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Lesser Yellowlegs
* Parasitic Jaeger
* Common Murre
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Glaucous-winged Gull
* Least Tern
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Sooty Shearwater
* Black-vented Shearwater
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Neotropic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Least Bittern
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Western Cattle Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* White-faced Ibis
* Turkey Vulture
* California Condor
* Osprey
* Golden Eagle
* Northern Harrier
* Sharp-shinned Hawk
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Western Screech-Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Northern Pygmy-Owl
* Northern Saw-whet Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Williamson's Sapsucker
* Red-breasted Sapsucker
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Peregrine Falcon
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Lilac-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Red-masked Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Western Wood-Pewee
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Gray Flycatcher
* Dusky Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Vermilion Flycatcher
* Dusky-capped Flycatcher
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Cassin's Vireo
* Plumbeous Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Steller's Jay
* California Scrub-Jay
* Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay NEW
* Clark's Nutcracker
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Mountain Chickadee
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Horned Lark
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Rock Wren
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Marsh Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* American Dipper
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* LeConte's Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Townsend's Solitaire
* Swainson's Thrush
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* Phainopepla
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Cassin's Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Pine Siskin
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-chinned Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Savannah Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Rufous-crowned Sparrow
* Green-tailed Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Yellow-headed Blackbird
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* Blackburnian Warbler NEW
* Yellow Warbler
* Palm Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Hermit Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Blue Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
* Painted Bunting NEW
I'll post another email shortly with the list of MISSING species. Thank you again to everyone who went birding, posted messages on the listserve, contacted me privately, and posted observations into eBird. Regards, Lance Lance BennerAltadena _._,_._,_
Date: 4/29/24 4:38 pm From: <thebrit1...> via groups.io <thebrit1...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Golden Triangle - 1500 Lazuli's
I am still trying to work out the migration through the Golden Triangle but it is still quite a mystery. The second half of spring last year was disturbingly slow other than a couple of days; one was a mega flight of 20,000 birds on a calm day that cut across the top of the hills to the east of Tejon Pass (Daniel Irons had very few birds near Gorman). Raptors also do this when winds are not strong.
Today the winds were already 20mph when arrived at Gorman at 6.15am; it typically doesn't get windy till 7.30am. Strong W or NW are what we always want here. Birds were already moving and I had a couple hundred birds in the first half hour. Lazuli's were the commonest bird - very unusual for here. I went to Copco Ave - the best place for flight photography in the region in the right weather conditions. It was much less windy here as usual, but it was clear the flight was really picking up. It was by the largest Black-headed Grosbeak flight I have seen here (500), good numbers of Western Tanager (800) and Western Kingbird (500). Lazuli Buntings were constant (400 per hour) and I estimate at least 1500. A few were still going over when I left at 12.30pm.Â
Remarkably, there were almost no warblers - sort of stunning since Bear Divide had big numbers. Why? I don't have a clue. I do know that most Hermit, Townsend's and BT Grays fly high to over the Golden Triangle either to carry on migrating (not feeding) or could be heading to Frazier Peak/Mount Pinos where there would be food. I don't get the sense that was happening today. Again, another mystery it would be fantastic to work out.
Unlike Bear Divide where there is one valley most of the birds travel through, this area has multiple places to visit. These places have different birds, geography and wind patterns; a unique place to get a better understanding of bird migration. Cleary many species are incorrectly labelled as diurnal or nocturnal migrants. Old Ridge Route past Sandberg, has 2 obvious divides just before you get to Tumble Inn. It is similar to Bear Divide but on average has fewer birds (they are more spread out here). Good numbers of shorebirds fly through here: I have no idea why there are so many here when you can see BD in the distance and they get very few. It is a fantastic, atmospheric place where you rarely see a person. These birds exit the Chaparral above Copco Ave, usually more to the east in calmer weather (last years massive flight) but more typically down the valley or along the tops of the fingers that go down to I5 near the Rt 138/Lancaster slip road. The tips of these fingers next to the highway are the jump off points for many birds. Most cross the Golden Triangle to the north, and a sometimes, a disturbingly large number go west across I5 and up the ridge that most raptors follow through Hungry Valley SVRA. When the wind is howling NW in Gorman Pass as it is sucked into the Antelope Valley, the birds cut across the triangle and fly up the grass slopes or through the bushes adjacent to Post Gorman Rd. Mid-morning they were really having to fight the wind which was often at 30mph. It was still a constant procession.
It is windy again tomorrow. Perhaps the warblers are waiting to come. Or maybe it will be another day to drink my coffee in peace.
Richard Crossley
Date: 4/29/24 2:23 pm From: Bob Shanman via groups.io <wildbirdbob...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Turkey Vultures in the South Bay
A friend of mine just had two TUVU fly over his house at about 180th and Inglewood in Redondo Beach. Rare sighting in the South Bay. He got several photos with his phone.
Date: 4/29/24 12:36 pm From: Ron Cyger via groups.io <ron...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] [pasadenaaudubon] ABC total: 274 species!
Lance,
Thank you for spearheading the ABC!
Ron Cyger
Monrovia
On Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at 11:59 PM Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner=
<charter.net...> wrote:
> All,
>
> Since the last update, we have added Williamson's Sapsucker, American
> Dipper, and California Condor so our preliminary total is 274 species.
> Some species are under review, and there could be late reports, so this
> number could increase or decrease in the next few days. I'll send a more
> detailed email tomorrow after I get some sleep.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Lance
>
> Lance Benner
> Altadena
>
>
>
>
All, Since the last update, we have added Williamson's Sapsucker, American Dipper, and California Condor so our preliminary total is 274 species. Some species are under review, and there could be late reports, so this number could increase or decrease in the next few days. I'll send a more detailed email tomorrow after I get some sleep. Thank you! Lance Lance BennerAltadena _._,_._,_
Greetings Everyone, Here are species found in previous years that we have yet to locate this time:
# Greater White-fronted Goose
# Tundra Bean-Goose
# Canvasback
# Greater Scaup
# White-winged Scoter
# Black Scoter
# Hooded Merganser
# Common Merganser
# Gambel's Quail
# Chukar
# Common Ground-Dove
# White-winged Dove
# Calliope Hummingbird
# Ridgway's Rail
# Sandhill Crane
# Pacific Golden-Plover
# Red Knot
# Ruff
# Stilt Sandpiper
# Baird's Sandpiper
# Pectoral Sandpiper
# Semipalmated Sandpiper
# Red Phalarope
# Pomarine Jaeger
# Scripps's Murrelet
# Cassin's Auklet
# Rhinoceros Auklet
# Sabine's Gull
# Laughing Gull
# Franklin's Gull
# Short-billed Gull
# Lesser Black-backed Gull
# Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
# Glaucous Gull
# Black Tern
# Common Tern
# Yellow-billed Loon
# Black-footed Albatross
# Leach's Storm-Petrel
# Northern Fulmar
# Pink-footed Shearwater
# Red-footed Booby
# American White Pelican
# American Bittern
# California Condor
# White-tailed Kite
# Zone-tailed Hawk
# Ferruginous Hawk
# Flammulated Owl
# Burrowing Owl
# Spotted Owl
# Long-eared Owl
# Williamson's Sapsucker
# Red-naped Sapsucker
# Crested Caracara
# Least Flycatcher
# Tropical Kingbird
# Thick-billed Kingbird
# Purple Martin
# Golden-crowned Kinglet
# American Dipper
# Mountain Bluebird
# Varied Thrush
# Red-throated Pipit
# Evening Grosbeak
# Grasshopper Sparrow
# Clay-colored Sparrow
# Field Sparrow
# Harris's Sparrow
# Vesper Sparrow
# Swamp Sparrow
# Orchard Oriole
# Baltimore Oriole
# Northern Waterthrush
# Black-and-white Warbler
# Tennessee Warbler
# Hooded Warbler
# Northern Parula
# Chestnut-sided Warbler
# Red-faced Warbler
# Painted Redstart
# Summer Tanager
# Indigo Bunting
Notes on a couple more missing species:
American Dipper:
Recently Barrett-Stoddard Road has been the easiest place in the county to find these, and there was a search on Friday, plus brief searches at Buckhorn Campground (where there's a lot of water) and along the West Fork of the San Gabriel River between Valley Forge Campground and West Fork Campground on Saturday (also a lot of water there). No luck yet.
Vesper Sparrow:
We don't usually get this species but often there are eBird reports within a few days of when the count starts. Has anyone seen one?
Summer Tanager:
Another species that we find more than 1/2 of the time but so far not yet this year.
Black Tern:
They should be migrating through the desert any time now...but no reports yet from the Piute Ponds.
Franklin's Gull:
Similar to Black Tern, when we find them, it's usually at the Piute Ponds. This is about the time that they start to migrate through. Multiple teams have been to the Piute Ponds today (Sunday) but haven't reported any.
Greater White-fronted Goose:
Usually there are some around in ponds at various parks. Has anyone seen one?
All, Since the last update at 10:45 am on Sunday, we have added the following species: BrantBlack-vented ShearwaterHorned GrebeWillow Flycatcher The flycatcher is very, very early so let's consider that record tentive pending confirmation. For now, it's on our list, but that might change. With that in mind, here are the species we have FOUND so far:
* Snow Goose
* Ross's Goose
* Brant
* Cackling Goose
* Canada Goose
* Wood Duck
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Northern Shoveler
* Gadwall
* American Wigeon
* Mallard
* Northern Pintail
* Green-winged Teal
* Redhead
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Common Goldeneye
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Horned Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Spotted Dove
* Inca Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Greater Roadrunner
* Lesser Nighthawk
* Common Poorwill
* Black Swift NEW
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* Virginia Rail
* Sora
* Common Gallinule
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* American Oystercatcher NEW Check documentation
* Black Oystercatcher
* Black-bellied Plover
* Snowy Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Ruddy Turnstone
* Black Turnstone
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Dunlin
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Wilson's Snipe
* Wilson's Phalarope
* Red-necked Phalarope
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Lesser Yellowlegs
* Parasitic Jaeger
* Common Murre
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Glaucous-winged Gull
* Least Tern
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Sooty Shearwater
* Black-vented Shearwater
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Neotropic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Least Bittern
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Western Cattle Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* White-faced Ibis
* Turkey Vulture
* Osprey
* Golden Eagle
* Northern Harrier
* Sharp-shinned Hawk
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Western Screech-Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Northern Pygmy-Owl
* Northern Saw-whet Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Red-breasted Sapsucker
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Peregrine Falcon
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Lilac-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Red-masked Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Western Wood-Pewee
* Willow Flycatcher NEW Check documentation
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Gray Flycatcher
* Dusky Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Vermilion Flycatcher
* Dusky-capped Flycatcher
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Cassin's Vireo
* Plumbeous Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Steller's Jay
* California Scrub-Jay
* Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay NEW
* Clark's Nutcracker
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Mountain Chickadee
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Horned Lark
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Rock Wren
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Marsh Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* LeConte's Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Townsend's Solitaire
* Swainson's Thrush
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* Phainopepla
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Cassin's Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Pine Siskin
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-chinned Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Savannah Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Rufous-crowned Sparrow
* Green-tailed Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Yellow-headed Blackbird
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* American Redstart Hahamongna. Needs confirmation
Date: 4/28/24 11:04 am From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] ABC MISSING species, Sunday, 10:45 am
Hi Everyone, Our list of "MISSING" species is getting quite a bit shorter. Here are the species we found in previous years that we haven't found yet this weekend:
# Greater White-fronted Goose
# Tundra Bean-Goose
# Brant
# Canvasback
# Greater Scaup
# White-winged Scoter
# Black Scoter
# Hooded Merganser
# Common Merganser
# Gambel's Quail
# Chukar
# Horned Grebe
# Common Ground-Dove
# White-winged Dove
# Calliope Hummingbird
# Ridgway's Rail
# Sandhill Crane
# Pacific Golden-Plover
# Red Knot
# Ruff
# Stilt Sandpiper
# Baird's Sandpiper
# Pectoral Sandpiper
# Semipalmated Sandpiper
# Red Phalarope
# Pomarine Jaeger
# Scripps's Murrelet
# Cassin's Auklet
# Rhinoceros Auklet
# Sabine's Gull
# Laughing Gull
# Franklin's Gull
# Short-billed Gull
# Lesser Black-backed Gull
# Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
# Glaucous Gull
# Black Tern
# Common Tern
# Yellow-billed Loon
# Black-footed Albatross
# Leach's Storm-Petrel
# Northern Fulmar
# Pink-footed Shearwater
# Black-vented Shearwater
# Red-footed Booby
# American White Pelican
# American Bittern
# California Condor
# White-tailed Kite
# Zone-tailed Hawk
# Ferruginous Hawk
# Flammulated Owl
# Burrowing Owl
# Spotted Owl
# Long-eared Owl
# Williamson's Sapsucker
# Red-naped Sapsucker
# Crested Caracara
# Least Flycatcher
# Tropical Kingbird
# Thick-billed Kingbird
# Purple Martin
# Golden-crowned Kinglet
# American Dipper
# Mountain Bluebird
# Varied Thrush
# Red-throated Pipit
# Evening Grosbeak
# Grasshopper Sparrow
# Clay-colored Sparrow
# Field Sparrow
# Harris's Sparrow
# Vesper Sparrow
# Swamp Sparrow
# Orchard Oriole
# Baltimore Oriole
# Northern Waterthrush
# Black-and-white Warbler
# Tennessee Warbler
# Hooded Warbler
# Northern Parula
# Chestnut-sided Warbler
# Red-faced Warbler
# Painted Redstart
# Summer Tanager
# Indigo Bunting
Notes about selected species: American White Pelican:One of our biggest misses. Reported as recently as April 20 at Almansor Park and flying over the lower Arroyo Seco. Calliope Hummingbird:One at Bear Divide on April 22 and another at a private residence in La Canada-Flintridge on April 25. One of our biggest misses so far. Chestnut-sided Warbler: One has been hanging out a Victory Park in Pasadena and was reported within the last week. Is it still there? Pine Warbler: Also reported within the last week, although it's not on the list above. We've never gotten one during ABC weekend. Cassin's Sparrow:Reported as recently as April 25. Greater White-fronted Goose:Reported at Apollo Park as recently as April 20. Brant:Reported at Dockeweiler State Beach on April 15. Common Merganser:Reported at Quail Lake on April 20 Thick-billed Kingbird:Seen at Griffith Park as recently as April 21. Some are species that we usually get, although they're on the edge due to migration north out of the area. Thank you! Regards, Lance BennerAltadena_._,_._,_
Date: 4/28/24 10:49 am From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] ABC Update: 267 Species, Sunday, 10:45 am
All, Since the update late last night we have added Western Cattle Egret, Least Tern, LeConte's Thrasher, Inca Dove, Sooty Shearwater, and Parasitic Jaeger so our total is now 267. That's only one short of our total for last year. Here's the list of everything we've FOUND so far this time:
* Snow Goose
* Ross's Goose
* Cackling Goose
* Canada Goose
* Wood Duck
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Northern Shoveler
* Gadwall
* American Wigeon
* Mallard
* Northern Pintail
* Green-winged Teal
* Redhead
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Common Goldeneye
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Spotted Dove
* Inca Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Greater Roadrunner
* Lesser Nighthawk
* Common Poorwill
* Black Swift NEW
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* Virginia Rail
* Sora
* Common Gallinule
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* American Oystercatcher NEW Check documentation
* Black Oystercatcher
* Black-bellied Plover
* Snowy Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Ruddy Turnstone
* Black Turnstone
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Dunlin
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Wilson's Snipe
* Wilson's Phalarope
* Red-necked Phalarope
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Lesser Yellowlegs
* Parasitic Jaeger
* Common Murre
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Glaucous-winged Gull
* Least Tern
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Sooty Shearwater
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Neotropic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Least Bittern
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Western Cattle Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* White-faced Ibis
* Turkey Vulture
* Osprey
* Golden Eagle
* Northern Harrier
* Sharp-shinned Hawk
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Western Screech-Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Northern Pygmy-Owl
* Northern Saw-whet Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Red-breasted Sapsucker
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Peregrine Falcon
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Lilac-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Red-masked Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Western Wood-Pewee
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Gray Flycatcher
* Dusky Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Vermilion Flycatcher
* Dusky-capped Flycatcher
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Cassin's Vireo
* Plumbeous Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Steller's Jay
* California Scrub-Jay
* Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay NEW
* Clark's Nutcracker
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Mountain Chickadee
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Horned Lark
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Rock Wren
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Marsh Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* LeConte's Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Townsend's Solitaire
* Swainson's Thrush
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* Phainopepla
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Cassin's Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Pine Siskin
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-chinned Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Savannah Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Rufous-crowned Sparrow
* Green-tailed Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Yellow-headed Blackbird
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* American Redstart Hahamongna. Needs confirmation
Date: 4/27/24 11:40 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] ABC MISSING species
Hi Everyone, Below is the list of species found in previous ABC weekends that we haven't found yet this year. Most of the common ones have been found but there are still quite a few that we often get that haven't been reported yet this year such as western cattle egret, sooty shearwater, black-vented shearwater, LeConte's thrasher, American dipper, hooded merganser, common merganser, least tern, Williamson's sapsucker, and calliope hummingbird. There are also recent rarities that we haven't found such as Cassin's sparrow, chestnut-sided warbler, pine warbler, tropical kingbird, and thick-billed kingbird. Here's the "missing" list:
# Greater White-fronted Goose
# Tundra Bean-Goose
# Brant
# Canvasback
# Greater Scaup
# White-winged Scoter
# Black Scoter
# Hooded Merganser
# Common Merganser
# Gambel's Quail
# Chukar
# Horned Grebe
# Inca Dove
# Common Ground-Dove
# White-winged Dove
# Calliope Hummingbird
# Ridgway's Rail
# Sandhill Crane
# Pacific Golden-Plover
# Red Knot
# Ruff
# Stilt Sandpiper
# Baird's Sandpiper
# Pectoral Sandpiper
# Semipalmated Sandpiper
# Red Phalarope
# Pomarine Jaeger
# Parasitic Jaeger
# Scripps's Murrelet
# Cassin's Auklet
# Rhinoceros Auklet
# Sabine's Gull
# Laughing Gull
# Franklin's Gull
# Short-billed Gull
# Lesser Black-backed Gull
# Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
# Glaucous Gull
# Least Tern
# Black Tern
# Common Tern
# Yellow-billed Loon
# Black-footed Albatross
# Leach's Storm-Petrel
# Northern Fulmar
# Pink-footed Shearwater
# Sooty Shearwater
# Black-vented Shearwater
# Red-footed Booby
# American White Pelican
# American Bittern
# Western Cattle Egret
# California Condor
# White-tailed Kite
# Zone-tailed Hawk
# Ferruginous Hawk
# Flammulated Owl
# Burrowing Owl
# Spotted Owl
# Long-eared Owl
# Williamson's Sapsucker
# Red-naped Sapsucker
# Crested Caracara
# Least Flycatcher
# Tropical Kingbird
# Thick-billed Kingbird
# Purple Martin
# Golden-crowned Kinglet
# American Dipper
# LeConte's Thrasher
# Mountain Bluebird
# Varied Thrush
# Red-throated Pipit
# Evening Grosbeak
# Grasshopper Sparrow
# Clay-colored Sparrow
# Field Sparrow
# Harris's Sparrow
# Vesper Sparrow
# Swamp Sparrow
# Orchard Oriole
# Baltimore Oriole
# Northern Waterthrush
# Black-and-white Warbler
# Tennessee Warbler
# Hooded Warbler
# Northern Parula
# Chestnut-sided Warbler
# Red-faced Warbler
# Painted Redstart
# Summer Tanager
# Indigo Bunting
If you find any of these, or anything else, please let us know!
All, We have added another 18 species since this morning and our total stands at 247 as of 6 pm on Saturday. There have been several rarities such as, and in no particular order: Blackburnian WarblerPalm WarblerPlumbeous VireoPainted BuntingAmerican OystercatcherBlack Swift Some of these have been photographed, but keep in mind that these require extensive documentation and have not yet confirmed. Currently they are on our list of "found" species subject to review. Now if only that Swallow-tailed Kite would fly about 20 miles east... Here are the species we have FOUND:
* Snow Goose
* Ross's Goose
* Canada Goose
* Wood Duck
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Northern Shoveler
* Gadwall
* American Wigeon
* Mallard
* Northern Pintail
* Green-winged Teal
* Redhead
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Spotted Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Greater Roadrunner
* Lesser Nighthawk
* Common Poorwill
* Black Swift NEW Need documentation
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* Virginia Rail
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* American Oystercatcher NEW Check documentation
* Black Oystercatcher
* Snowy Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Ruddy Turnstone
* Black Turnstone
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Dunlin
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Wilson's Snipe
* Wilson's Phalarope
* Red-necked Phalarope
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Glaucous-winged Gull
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Neotropic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Least Bittern
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* White-faced Ibis
* Turkey Vulture
* Osprey
* Golden Eagle
* Northern Harrier
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Western Screech-Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Lilac-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Western Wood-Pewee
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Gray Flycatcher
* Dusky Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Vermilion Flycatcher
* Dusky-capped Flycatcher
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Cassin's Vireo
* Plumbeous Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Steller's Jay
* California Scrub-Jay
* Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay NEW
* Clark's Nutcracker
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Mountain Chickadee
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Horned Lark
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Rock Wren
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Marsh Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Townsend's Solitaire
* Swainson's Thrush
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* Phainopepla
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Cassin's Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Pine Siskin
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-chinned Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Savannah Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Rufous-crowned Sparrow
* Green-tailed Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* American Redstart Hahamongna. Needs confirmation
* Blackburnian Warbler NEW
* Yellow Warbler
* Palm Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Hermit Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Blue Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
* Painted Bunting NEW
I'll send the list of MISSING species in a separate email. Thank you! Lance Lance BennerAltadena_._,_._,_
Date: 4/27/24 8:02 am From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] ABC update: 229 species
All, We have added Ross's Goose and Black Turnstone so our total is now 229 species. Please note that there are a number of recent rarities that we haven't found yet that might still be around, including: Common GoldeneyeWestern Cattle EgretTropical KingbirdThick-billed KingbirdBrown ThrasherCassin's SparrowChestnut-sided WarblerPalm WarblerPine Warbler We haven't found any shearwaters or alcids yet. And we still need ruby-crowned kinglet! Good luck to us, Lance Lance BennerAltadena P.S. I'm heading off again for a few hours so the next update may not happen until early afternoon. _._,_._,_
Date: 4/27/24 12:15 am From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] ABC MISSING species: Midnight, Friday
Hi Everyone, Here's the list of species found in previous ABC weekends that haven't been reported yet as of midnight on Friday night. Note that there are still some relatively common species.
Date: 4/27/24 12:12 am From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County: 227 species, midnight, Friday
All, We have added _a lot_ of species since the last report at about 3:30 pm on Friday. As of midnight, our total stands at 227 species, so we're off to a roaring start.
* Snow Goose
* Canada Goose
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Northern Shoveler
* Gadwall
* Mallard
* Northern Pintail
* Green-winged Teal
* Redhead
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Spotted Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Greater Roadrunner
* Lesser Nighthawk
* Common Poorwill
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* Virginia Rail
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* Black Oystercatcher
* Snowy Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Dunlin
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Wilson's Snipe
* Wilson's Phalarope
* Red-necked Phalarope
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* White-faced Ibis
* Turkey Vulture
* Osprey
* Northern Harrier
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Lilac-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Western Wood-Pewee
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Gray Flycatcher
* Dusky Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Vermilion Flycatcher
* Dusky-capped Flycatcher
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Cassin's Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Steller's Jay
* California Scrub-Jay
* Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Mountain Chickadee
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Horned Lark
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Rock Wren
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Marsh Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Swainson's Thrush
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* Phainopepla
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Cassin's Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Pine Siskin
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-chinned Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Savannah Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Rufous-crowned Sparrow
* Green-tailed Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* Yellow Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Hermit Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Blue Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
I'll send a list of MISSING species shortly in a separate email. Thank you! Lance Lance BennerAltadena _._,_._,_
This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for April 26, 2024.
Continuing at the Ballona Creek mouth through April 25 was a LONG-TAILED DUCK. A RED-NECKED GREBE also continued here through April 22.
A late COMMON GOLDENEYE was at the Piute Ponds on Edwards AFB (letter of permission required) on April 25.
Two BLACK SWIFTS were over Glendora Ridge Road on April 19.
Three WESTERN CATTLE EGRETS were on the baseball fields at Hansen Dam on April 23. At least one remained through April 25.
A YELLOW-FOOTED GULL was at Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas from April 21-26. It has been often seen on the buoys near the north shore. A FRANKLIN’S GULL was seen briefly here on April 22 and a PACIFIC LOON was present from April 22-26.
A SWALLOW-TAILED KITE was photographed above Encino on April 22. Unsurprisingly, it could not be refound.
A TROPICAL KINGBIRD continued at Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach through April 20.
The THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD continued in Griffith Park through April 21. Google Earth coordinates are approximately 34.14079, -118.28856. Although the bird moves around the area, it does regularly come back to this spot.
The BROWN THRASHER continued along the West San Gabriel River Parkway Nature Trail in Lakewood through April 23 in the area below Monte Verde Park.
A CASSIN’S SPARROW was in the Antelope Valley from April 23-25 south of Ave. H and west of the 14 Freeway. Google Earth coordinates 34.7138, -118.1761
A PALM WARBLER was along the east side of the Los Angeles River south of Willow Street on April 23.
A PINE WARBLER continued at Satellite Park in Cerritos through April 25. Google Earth coordinates are 33.8827, -118.0678
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 4/26/24 6:07 pm From: Bob Shanman via groups.io <wildbirdbob...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Loon Rescue Update
Ursula-thank you so much for doing this. We had four Pacific Loons in the
creek channel so I suspect it was one of them. By any chance did you get a
photo that you could forward to us for identification?
Thanks again
Bob
Bob Shanman
<wildbirdbob...>
On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 1:59 PM Ursula K. Heise via groups.io <heise.ursula=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Hello Neysa:
>
> Please give my thank you to Patrick, and yes, please tell him that loon is
> now in good hands. Very happy to see the crew working out there today - all
> three guys were very helpful.
>
> Warm best,
>
> Ursula K. Heise
> Venice
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 1:21 PM Neysa Frechette <neysaf...>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ursula,
>>
>> So glad to hear you were able to help the loon! Patrick is our Habitat
>> Restoration Manager at Friends of Ballona Wetlands, we were out doing trail
>> rehabilitation work at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh today. I will let him
>> know that the loon arrived at IBR!
>>
>> We also have a drop down menu “Found an Injured Animal?” with a list of
>> helpful animal rescue/injury numbers on our Contact Page:
>> https://www.ballonafriends.org/contact-us >>
>> Thank you for going above and beyond for that bird!
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Neysa
>> --
>>
>> *Neysa Frechette* | *Manager of Scientific Programs*
>>
>> *Friends of Ballona Wetlands* | P.O. Box 5159 | Playa del Rey | CA |
>> 90296
>>
>> *p. 818.470.3593*
>>
>> *<neysaf...> <neysaf...> *
>>
>> *www.ballonafriends.org <http://www.ballonafriends.org/> *
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 1:09 PM Ursula K. Heise via groups.io
>> <heise.ursula...> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Friends:
>>>
>>> I'm now back home and wanted to extend a warm thank you to all of you
>>> who jumped in and helped out with very useful info this morning. Here's the
>>> story so far:
>>>
>>> I spotted the loon just east of the Ballona Creek bike/ped bridge in
>>> Marina del Rey a little after 9 this morning, not far from a small group of
>>> surf scoters. Unlike the scoters, the loon seemed to be moving oddly, just
>>> paddling in place, sort of like a buoy. So I jogged across the bridge and
>>> climbed down to take a closer look, and saw that there was a fishing line
>>> running from the loon to the shore.
>>>
>>> A very friendly and helpful passerby located a piece of broken glass
>>> that we could use to cut the line (the ubiquitous trash came in handy, for
>>> a change). But then I discovered to my dismay that the rest of the line ran
>>> into the loon's bill. I picked it up, wrapped it in my vest and looked in
>>> its bill, but the line ran down its throat. So I rushed it to my car, put
>>> it in a box, and sent the emergency email, then left a voicemail with IBR.
>>> Thanks so much for the quick reference to IBR from people on this list -
>>> that was a lifesaver!!
>>>
>>> I started heading east on Culver, saw several guys doing work at the
>>> Ballona Freshwater Marsh, and pulled over to see if they might have advice.
>>> They checked the bird, confirmed that the hook was deep down its gull, and
>>> a guy with the nametag Patrick said IRB would take it in (anyone know who
>>> that Patrick might be - I want to thank him?). Real luck that I'm not
>>> teaching today, so I drove down to San Pedro, and they took the loon in.
>>> Vet seemed hopeful that the hook could be removed with surgery, and also
>>> noted that one of the loon's eyes looked a bit funny, which I hadn't
>>> noticed. It's now Pacific Loon 368 down there. I'll call on Monday to see
>>> how he/she is doing.
>>>
>>> The loon did seem pretty strong - it struggled to get out of my vest and
>>> arms in Playa del Rey and to get out of the box down in San Pedro, which I
>>> thought was a good sign: I hope that it wasn't caught on that line the
>>> whole night.
>>>
>>> I'm sending a generous donation to IBR this weekend - so glad they were
>>> there in this situation! And I can't thank everyone on this list enough for
>>> the referral: I was about to take the loon to the Access Animal Hospital on
>>> Jefferson, where I take my pet birds, but was doubtful that they'd accept a
>>> wild bird. So your lightning-fast responses to my emergency email came in
>>> the nick of time!
>>>
>>> I've posted a picture of the loon with this morning's ebird list:
>>> https://ebird.org/checklist/S170404169.
>>>
>>> Thank you, everyone, and let's hope this beautiful bird survives! I'll
>>> send an update next week.
>>>
>>> Ursula K. Heise
>>> Venice
>>>
>>>
>
>
Date: 4/26/24 5:19 pm From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Cormorant madness at Marina del Rey
Birders,
What are the chances that the hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of cormorants that sit on the breakwater at Marina del Rey are nearly all Brandt's most of the time, but nearly all Double-crested sometimes, and (on at least one eBird list) nearly all Pelagics??? Close to zero, I imagine. I would urge observers to either inspect the cormorants on the breakwater more carefully (a scope is obviously necessary) or to make liberal use of the "cormorant, sp." option in eBIrd.
For the record, I usually see mainly Brandt's on the breakwater (with a few Double-cresteds often present, and sometimes some Pelagics), but maybe at times the species mix changes.
Also, please be on the lookout for nesting activity by cormorants on the breakwater -- Brandt's nested there last summer, perhaps for the first time.
Kimball Garrett Juniper Hills, CA (where I never see Brandt's or Pelagic cormorants)
Date: 4/26/24 3:58 pm From: Jonathan Feenstra via groups.io <feenstra...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay (not chase-able)
Birders:
This morning I saw a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay in the mesquite woodland on the east side of Edwards Air Force Base. As with most species I've encountered there, it quickly moved north along the line of trees and vanished. This is on a part of the Base without any public access. Previous records for the area have been late fall and winter, but I see one was also observed at Butterbredt Spring not too far away in Kern last week.
Otherwise, it was very birdy even in the wind (mostly in the Kern part). Then the weather deteriorated to something between unbirdable and unbearable. Piute Ponds had thousands of shorebirds on Duckbill, some of which I could see through the blowing dust. If it calms down out there soon, it'll be a good time.
Hi everyone, Here are the species we are MISSING so far this weekend that we found during ABC events in previous years. Note that there are still quite a few that are common and that there are quite a few recent rarities that we haven't found yet (pine warbler, palm warbler, Cassin's sparrow, clay-colored sparrow...).
All, We have added a number of new species since the last update and our total now stands at 170 species. Earlier I thought we had found pelagic cormorant but that was a mistake on my part, so I removed it from the "found" list and added it back to the "missing" list. If you find one, please let us know! Here are the species we have FOUND:
* Snow Goose
* Canada Goose
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Gadwall
* Mallard
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Common Poorwill
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* Black Oystercatcher
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Long-billed Curlew
* Marbled Godwit
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* Turkey Vulture
* Northern Harrier
* Cooper's Hawk
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Swainson's Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* Prairie Falcon
* Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* California Scrub-Jay
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* Canyon Wren
* House Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* Swainson's Thrush
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Lark Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Lincoln's Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Western Meadowlark
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* Yellow Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Hermit Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
I'm heading out to look for birds so the next update will be later tonight.
Hi Everyone, Here are the species reported in previous years that we haven't found yet this year. Again, note that some are really rare that we don't expect to find.
# Ross's Goose
# Greater White-fronted Goose
# Tundra Bean-Goose
# Brant
# Cackling Goose
# Wood Duck
# Northern Shoveler
# American Wigeon
# Northern Pintail
# Green-winged Teal
# Canvasback
# Redhead
# Greater Scaup
# White-winged Scoter
# Black Scoter
# Common Goldeneye
# Hooded Merganser
# Common Merganser
# Gambel's Quail
# Chukar
# Horned Grebe
# Spotted Dove
# Inca Dove
# Common Ground-Dove
# White-winged Dove
# Greater Roadrunner
# Lesser Nighthawk
# Calliope Hummingbird
# Ridgway's Rail
# Virginia Rail
# Sora
# Common Gallinule
# Sandhill Crane
# Black-bellied Plover
# Pacific Golden-Plover
# Snowy Plover
# Long-billed Curlew
# Ruddy Turnstone
# Black Turnstone
# Red Knot
# Ruff
# Stilt Sandpiper
# Dunlin
# Baird's Sandpiper
# Pectoral Sandpiper
# Semipalmated Sandpiper
# Short-billed Dowitcher
# Wilson's Snipe
# Wilson's Phalarope
# Red-necked Phalarope
# Red Phalarope
# Solitary Sandpiper
# Lesser Yellowlegs
# Pomarine Jaeger
# Parasitic Jaeger
# Common Murre
# Scripps's Murrelet
# Cassin's Auklet
# Rhinoceros Auklet
# Sabine's Gull
# Laughing Gull
# Franklin's Gull
# Short-billed Gull
# Lesser Black-backed Gull
# Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
# Glaucous-winged Gull
# Glaucous Gull
# Least Tern
# Black Tern
# Common Tern
# Yellow-billed Loon
# Black-footed Albatross
# Leach's Storm-Petrel
# Northern Fulmar
# Pink-footed Shearwater
# Sooty Shearwater
# Black-vented Shearwater
# Red-footed Booby
# Neotropic Cormorant
# American White Pelican
# American Bittern
# Least Bittern
# Cattle Egret
# White-faced Ibis
# California Condor
# Osprey
# White-tailed Kite
# Golden Eagle
# Sharp-shinned Hawk
# Bald Eagle
# Swainson's Hawk
# Zone-tailed Hawk
# Ferruginous Hawk
# Flammulated Owl
# Western Screech-Owl
# Northern Pygmy-Owl
# Burrowing Owl
# Spotted Owl
# Long-eared Owl
# Northern Saw-whet Owl
# Williamson's Sapsucker
# Red-naped Sapsucker
# Red-breasted Sapsucker
# Lewis's Woodpecker
# Downy Woodpecker
# Hairy Woodpecker
# White-headed Woodpecker
# Crested Caracara
# American Kestrel
# Merlin
# Peregrine Falcon
# Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
# Lilac-Crowned Parrot
# Red-masked Parakeet
# Western Wood-Pewee
# Least Flycatcher
# Gray Flycatcher
# Dusky Flycatcher
# Say's Phoebe
# Vermilion Flycatcher
# Dusky-capped Flycatcher
# Tropical Kingbird
# Thick-billed Kingbird
# Cassin's Vireo
# Plumbeous Vireo
# Loggerhead Shrike
# Steller's Jay
# Clark's Nutcracker
# Mountain Chickadee
# Horned Lark
# Purple Martin
# Golden-crowned Kinglet
# Ruby-crowned Kinglet
# White-breasted Nuthatch
# Pygmy Nuthatch
# Brown Creeper
# Rock Wren
# Canyon Wren
# Marsh Wren
# American Dipper
# LeConte's Thrasher
# Mountain Bluebird
# Townsend's Solitaire
# Varied Thrush
# Swainson's Thrush
# Hermit Thrush
# Phainopepla
# Red-throated Pipit
# Evening Grosbeak
# Purple Finch
# Cassin's Finch
# Pine Siskin
# Grasshopper Sparrow
# Clay-colored Sparrow
# Black-chinned Sparrow
# Field Sparrow
# Brewer's Sparrow
# Lark Sparrow
# Fox Sparrow
# Golden-crowned Sparrow
# Harris's Sparrow
# Vesper Sparrow
# Savannah Sparrow
# Lincoln's Sparrow
# Swamp Sparrow
# Rufous-crowned Sparrow
# Green-tailed Towhee
# Yellow-headed Blackbird
# Western Meadowlark
# Orchard Oriole
# Baltimore Oriole
# Northern Waterthrush
# Black-and-white Warbler
# Tennessee Warbler
# MacGillivray's Warbler
# Hooded Warbler
# American Redstart
# Northern Parula
# Chestnut-sided Warbler
# Palm Warbler
# Red-faced Warbler
# Painted Redstart
# Summer Tanager
# Blue Grosbeak
# Indigo Bunting
Also, there have been a lot of emails so I hope I caught everything. In all the flurry of activity it's easy to miss a species here or there on the first day.
All, Thank you to everyone who has sent emails with reports. They have raised our total to 163 species as of 2 pm on Friday. This is one of the fastest starts we've ever had. Here's a list of everything we've FOUND so far:
* Snow Goose
* Canada Goose
* Blue-winged Teal
* Cinnamon Teal
* Gadwall
* Mallard
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Bufflehead
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Common Poorwill
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Rufous Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* American Coot
* Black-necked Stilt
* American Avocet
* Black Oystercatcher
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Marbled Godwit
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Least Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Yellow-footed Gull NEW
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Black Skimmer
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* Turkey Vulture
* Northern Harrier
* Cooper's Hawk
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Northern Flicker
* Prairie Falcon
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Nanday Parakeet
* Mitred Parakeet
* Olive-sided Flycatcher
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Bell's Vireo
* Hutton's Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* California Scrub-Jay
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Bank Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* California Gnatcatcher
* House Wren
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* House Sparrow
* Scaly-breasted Munia
* American Pipit
* House Finch
* Red Crossbill
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Yellow-breasted Chat
* Hooded Oriole
* Bullock's Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Tricolored Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Nashville Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* Yellow Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Hermit Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
I know it's windy in the Antelope Valley today, but it would be great if someone could check the Piute Ponds. At least 22 species were reported there yesterday that we haven't found yet today. I'll send a list of missing species in a separate email shortly. Thank you! Regards, Lance Lance BennerAltadena _._,_._,_
Date: 4/26/24 1:59 pm From: Ursula K. Heise via groups.io <heise.ursula...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Loon Rescue Update
Hello Neysa:
Please give my thank you to Patrick, and yes, please tell him that loon is
now in good hands. Very happy to see the crew working out there today - all
three guys were very helpful.
Warm best,
Ursula K. Heise
Venice
On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 1:21 PM Neysa Frechette <neysaf...>
wrote:
> Hi Ursula,
>
> So glad to hear you were able to help the loon! Patrick is our Habitat
> Restoration Manager at Friends of Ballona Wetlands, we were out doing trail
> rehabilitation work at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh today. I will let him
> know that the loon arrived at IBR!
>
> We also have a drop down menu “Found an Injured Animal?” with a list of
> helpful animal rescue/injury numbers on our Contact Page:
> https://www.ballonafriends.org/contact-us >
> Thank you for going above and beyond for that bird!
>
> Best wishes,
> Neysa
> --
>
> *Neysa Frechette* | *Manager of Scientific Programs*
>
> *Friends of Ballona Wetlands* | P.O. Box 5159 | Playa del Rey | CA | 90296
>
> *p. 818.470.3593*
>
> *<neysaf...> <neysaf...> *
>
> *www.ballonafriends.org <http://www.ballonafriends.org/> *
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 1:09 PM Ursula K. Heise via groups.io
> <heise.ursula...> wrote:
>
>> Hello Friends:
>>
>> I'm now back home and wanted to extend a warm thank you to all of you who
>> jumped in and helped out with very useful info this morning. Here's the
>> story so far:
>>
>> I spotted the loon just east of the Ballona Creek bike/ped bridge in
>> Marina del Rey a little after 9 this morning, not far from a small group of
>> surf scoters. Unlike the scoters, the loon seemed to be moving oddly, just
>> paddling in place, sort of like a buoy. So I jogged across the bridge and
>> climbed down to take a closer look, and saw that there was a fishing line
>> running from the loon to the shore.
>>
>> A very friendly and helpful passerby located a piece of broken glass that
>> we could use to cut the line (the ubiquitous trash came in handy, for a
>> change). But then I discovered to my dismay that the rest of the line ran
>> into the loon's bill. I picked it up, wrapped it in my vest and looked in
>> its bill, but the line ran down its throat. So I rushed it to my car, put
>> it in a box, and sent the emergency email, then left a voicemail with IBR.
>> Thanks so much for the quick reference to IBR from people on this list -
>> that was a lifesaver!!
>>
>> I started heading east on Culver, saw several guys doing work at the
>> Ballona Freshwater Marsh, and pulled over to see if they might have advice.
>> They checked the bird, confirmed that the hook was deep down its gull, and
>> a guy with the nametag Patrick said IRB would take it in (anyone know who
>> that Patrick might be - I want to thank him?). Real luck that I'm not
>> teaching today, so I drove down to San Pedro, and they took the loon in.
>> Vet seemed hopeful that the hook could be removed with surgery, and also
>> noted that one of the loon's eyes looked a bit funny, which I hadn't
>> noticed. It's now Pacific Loon 368 down there. I'll call on Monday to see
>> how he/she is doing.
>>
>> The loon did seem pretty strong - it struggled to get out of my vest and
>> arms in Playa del Rey and to get out of the box down in San Pedro, which I
>> thought was a good sign: I hope that it wasn't caught on that line the
>> whole night.
>>
>> I'm sending a generous donation to IBR this weekend - so glad they were
>> there in this situation! And I can't thank everyone on this list enough for
>> the referral: I was about to take the loon to the Access Animal Hospital on
>> Jefferson, where I take my pet birds, but was doubtful that they'd accept a
>> wild bird. So your lightning-fast responses to my emergency email came in
>> the nick of time!
>>
>> I've posted a picture of the loon with this morning's ebird list:
>> https://ebird.org/checklist/S170404169.
>>
>> Thank you, everyone, and let's hope this beautiful bird survives! I'll
>> send an update next week.
>>
>> Ursula K. Heise
>> Venice
>>
>>
>>
So glad to hear you were able to help the loon! Patrick is our Habitat
Restoration Manager at Friends of Ballona Wetlands, we were out doing trail
rehabilitation work at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh today. I will let him
know that the loon arrived at IBR!
We also have a drop down menu “Found an Injured Animal?” with a list of
helpful animal rescue/injury numbers on our Contact Page:
https://www.ballonafriends.org/contact-us
Thank you for going above and beyond for that bird!
Best wishes,
Neysa
--
*Neysa Frechette* | *Manager of Scientific Programs*
*Friends of Ballona Wetlands* | P.O. Box 5159 | Playa del Rey | CA | 90296
On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 1:09 PM Ursula K. Heise via groups.io <heise.ursula=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Hello Friends:
>
> I'm now back home and wanted to extend a warm thank you to all of you who
> jumped in and helped out with very useful info this morning. Here's the
> story so far:
>
> I spotted the loon just east of the Ballona Creek bike/ped bridge in
> Marina del Rey a little after 9 this morning, not far from a small group of
> surf scoters. Unlike the scoters, the loon seemed to be moving oddly, just
> paddling in place, sort of like a buoy. So I jogged across the bridge and
> climbed down to take a closer look, and saw that there was a fishing line
> running from the loon to the shore.
>
> A very friendly and helpful passerby located a piece of broken glass that
> we could use to cut the line (the ubiquitous trash came in handy, for a
> change). But then I discovered to my dismay that the rest of the line ran
> into the loon's bill. I picked it up, wrapped it in my vest and looked in
> its bill, but the line ran down its throat. So I rushed it to my car, put
> it in a box, and sent the emergency email, then left a voicemail with IBR.
> Thanks so much for the quick reference to IBR from people on this list -
> that was a lifesaver!!
>
> I started heading east on Culver, saw several guys doing work at the
> Ballona Freshwater Marsh, and pulled over to see if they might have advice.
> They checked the bird, confirmed that the hook was deep down its gull, and
> a guy with the nametag Patrick said IRB would take it in (anyone know who
> that Patrick might be - I want to thank him?). Real luck that I'm not
> teaching today, so I drove down to San Pedro, and they took the loon in.
> Vet seemed hopeful that the hook could be removed with surgery, and also
> noted that one of the loon's eyes looked a bit funny, which I hadn't
> noticed. It's now Pacific Loon 368 down there. I'll call on Monday to see
> how he/she is doing.
>
> The loon did seem pretty strong - it struggled to get out of my vest and
> arms in Playa del Rey and to get out of the box down in San Pedro, which I
> thought was a good sign: I hope that it wasn't caught on that line the
> whole night.
>
> I'm sending a generous donation to IBR this weekend - so glad they were
> there in this situation! And I can't thank everyone on this list enough for
> the referral: I was about to take the loon to the Access Animal Hospital on
> Jefferson, where I take my pet birds, but was doubtful that they'd accept a
> wild bird. So your lightning-fast responses to my emergency email came in
> the nick of time!
>
> I've posted a picture of the loon with this morning's ebird list:
> https://ebird.org/checklist/S170404169.
>
> Thank you, everyone, and let's hope this beautiful bird survives! I'll
> send an update next week.
>
> Ursula K. Heise
> Venice
>
>
>
Date: 4/26/24 1:09 pm From: Ursula K. Heise via groups.io <heise.ursula...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Loon Rescue Update
Hello Friends:
I'm now back home and wanted to extend a warm thank you to all of you who jumped in and helped out with very useful info this morning. Here's the story so far:
I spotted the loon just east of the Ballona Creek bike/ped bridge in Marina del Rey a little after 9 this morning, not far from a small group of surf scoters. Unlike the scoters, the loon seemed to be moving oddly, just paddling in place, sort of like a buoy. So I jogged across the bridge and climbed down to take a closer look, and saw that there was a fishing line running from the loon to the shore.
A very friendly and helpful passerby located a piece of broken glass that we could use to cut the line (the ubiquitous trash came in handy, for a change). But then I discovered to my dismay that the rest of the line ran into the loon's bill. I picked it up, wrapped it in my vest and looked in its bill, but the line ran down its throat. So I rushed it to my car, put it in a box, and sent the emergency email, then left a voicemail with IBR. Thanks so much for the quick reference to IBR from people on this list - that was a lifesaver!!
I started heading east on Culver, saw several guys doing work at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh, and pulled over to see if they might have advice. They checked the bird, confirmed that the hook was deep down its gull, and a guy with the nametag Patrick said IRB would take it in (anyone know who that Patrick might be - I want to thank him?). Real luck that I'm not teaching today, so I drove down to San Pedro, and they took the loon in. Vet seemed hopeful that the hook could be removed with surgery, and also noted that one of the loon's eyes looked a bit funny, which I hadn't noticed. It's now Pacific Loon 368 down there. I'll call on Monday to see how he/she is doing.
The loon did seem pretty strong - it struggled to get out of my vest and arms in Playa del Rey and to get out of the box down in San Pedro, which I thought was a good sign: I hope that it wasn't caught on that line the whole night.
I'm sending a generous donation to IBR this weekend - so glad they were there in this situation! And I can't thank everyone on this list enough for the referral: I was about to take the loon to the Access Animal Hospital on Jefferson, where I take my pet birds, but was doubtful that they'd accept a wild bird. So your lightning-fast responses to my emergency email came in the nick of time!
Date: 4/26/24 12:09 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County MISSING species
All, Here are the species we found in previous years during ABC weekend that we haven't found yet today. There are still many common species. Note that there are also some extremely rare species from previous years that we don't expect to find this year (e.g., yellow-billed loon, field sparrow, least flycatcher).
Date: 4/26/24 12:06 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County: 126 species, noon on Friday
Hi Everyone, As of noon on Friday our total is 126 species. Here are the species we have FOUND so far:
* Canada Goose
* Gadwall
* Mallard
* Ring-necked Duck
* Lesser Scaup
* Surf Scoter
* Long-tailed Duck
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Mountain Quail
* California Quail
* Eared Grebe
* Western Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
* Mourning Dove
* Common Poorwill
* Vaux's Swift
* White-throated Swift
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Costa's Hummingbird
* Allen's Hummingbird
* American Coot
* Black Oystercatcher
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Whimbrel
* Marbled Godwit
* Surfbird
* Sanderling
* Least Sandpiper
* Spotted Sandpiper
* Wandering Tattler
* Willet
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Heermann's Gull
* Ring-billed Gull
* Western Gull
* California Gull
* Herring Gull
* Caspian Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Elegant Tern
* Red-throated Loon
* Pacific Loon
* Common Loon
* Brandt's Cormorant
* Pelagic Cormorant
* Double-crested Cormorant
* Brown Pelican
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
* Turkey Vulture
* Northern Harrier
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Barn Owl
* Acorn Woodpecker
* Nuttall's Woodpecker
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Red-Crowned Parrot
* Hammond's Flycatcher
* Western Flycatcher
* Black Phoebe
* Ash-throated Flycatcher
* Cassin's Kingbird
* Western Kingbird
* Hutton's Vireo
* Warbling Vireo
* California Scrub-Jay
* American Crow
* Common Raven
* Oak Titmouse
* Verdin
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
* Tree Swallow
* Violet-green Swallow
* Barn Swallow
* Cliff Swallow
* Red-Whiskered Bulbul
* Bushtit
* Wrentit
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* Bewick's Wren
* Cactus Wren
* European Starling
* California Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* Western Bluebird
* American Robin
* Cedar Waxwing
* House Sparrow
* House Finch
* Lesser Goldfinch
* Lawrence's Goldfinch
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Black-throated Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Bell's Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* California Towhee
* Spotted Towhee
* Hooded Oriole
* Scott's Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Great-tailed Grackle
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* Yellow Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
* Wilson's Warbler
* Western Tanager
* Black-headed Grosbeak
* Lazuli Bunting
Note that we got the yellow-footed gull at Bonelli. We don't have the Cassin's sparrow from the Antelope Valley yet, although it's not clear if the bird is still in the area.
On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 11:18 AM Katheryn Barton via groups.io
<Katheryn.barton...> wrote:
> California Wildlife Center, 818-591-9453. The bird may end up with IBR but
> perhaps CWC can stabilize and arrange for transfer.
>
> Kathy Barton
> Sherman Oaks
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 10:47 AM Robert van de Hoek via groups.io
> <robertvandehoek...> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ursula,
>> Good consicience, caring and reaching out.
>> Mr. Grigory Heaton gave you good advice.
>> Another location is in Malibu but I do not have the contact info with me.
>> They are located in Malibu Canyon at the state park.
>> 'Roy' - Robert van de Hoek,
>> Los Angeles.
>> On Friday, April 26, 2024 at 09:25:57 AM PDT, Grigory Heaton <
>> <g.heaton...> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I'm not sure if there's anything closer, but International Bird Rescue /
>> IBR in San Pedro handled the yellow-billed loon a few months back so they
>> are a good bet. Hopefully the loon makes it!
>>
>> Grigory Heaton
>> Pasadena, CA
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* <LACoBirds...> <LACoBirds...> on behalf of Ursula K.
>> Heise <heise.ursula...>
>> *Sent:* Friday, April 26, 2024 9:21 AM
>> *To:* <lacobirds...> <lacobirds...>
>> *Subject:* [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue
>>
>> Hello all:
>>
>> Just found a loon with fish hook in throat on Ballona Lagoon - got it in
>> car - what’s closest rescue?
>>
>> Ursula Heise
>> Venice
>>
>>
>> _
> _._,_._,_
>
>
Date: 4/26/24 11:19 am From: Katheryn Barton via groups.io <Katheryn.barton...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue
California Wildlife Center, 818-591-9453. The bird may end up with IBR but
perhaps CWC can stabilize and arrange for transfer.
Kathy Barton
Sherman Oaks
On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 10:47 AM Robert van de Hoek via groups.io
<robertvandehoek...> wrote:
> Hi Ursula,
> Good consicience, caring and reaching out.
> Mr. Grigory Heaton gave you good advice.
> Another location is in Malibu but I do not have the contact info with me.
> They are located in Malibu Canyon at the state park.
> 'Roy' - Robert van de Hoek,
> Los Angeles.
> On Friday, April 26, 2024 at 09:25:57 AM PDT, Grigory Heaton <
> <g.heaton...> wrote:
>
>
> I'm not sure if there's anything closer, but International Bird Rescue /
> IBR in San Pedro handled the yellow-billed loon a few months back so they
> are a good bet. Hopefully the loon makes it!
>
> Grigory Heaton
> Pasadena, CA
> ------------------------------
> *From:* <LACoBirds...> <LACoBirds...> on behalf of Ursula K.
> Heise <heise.ursula...>
> *Sent:* Friday, April 26, 2024 9:21 AM
> *To:* <lacobirds...> <lacobirds...>
> *Subject:* [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue
>
> Hello all:
>
> Just found a loon with fish hook in throat on Ballona Lagoon - got it in
> car - what’s closest rescue?
>
> Ursula Heise
> Venice
>
>
>
>
>
Date: 4/26/24 10:47 am From: Robert van de Hoek via groups.io <robertvandehoek...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue
Hi Ursula,
Good consicience, caring and reaching out.
Mr. Grigory Heaton gave you good advice.
Another location is in Malibu but I do not have the contact info with me.
They are located in Malibu Canyon at the state park.
'Roy' - Robert van de Hoek,
Los Angeles.
On Friday, April 26, 2024 at 09:25:57 AM PDT, Grigory Heaton <g.heaton...> wrote:
#yiv4606196810 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}I'm not sure if there's anything closer, but International Bird Rescue / IBR in San Pedro handled the yellow-billed loon a few months back so they are a good bet. Hopefully the loon makes it!
Grigory HeatonPasadena, CAFrom: <LACoBirds...> <LACoBirds...> on behalf of Ursula K. Heise <heise.ursula...>
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2024 9:21 AM
To: <lacobirds...> <lacobirds...>
Subject: [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue Hello all:Â
Just found a loon with fish hook in throat on Ballona Lagoon - got it in car - what’s closest rescue?
Ursula Heise Venice
Date: 4/26/24 9:57 am From: Nick Cohen via groups.io <nick...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Yellow-footed Gull and Pacific loon, San Dimas
Yellow-footed Gull was briefly observed at about 9:30am today on the long string of buoys viewable from the north shore. It flew off after about ten minutes.
Nick Cohen Burbank
Nick Cohen <nick...>
On Tue, Apr 23 2024 at 11:44 AM, catbird117 <catbird117...> wrote:
Date: 4/26/24 9:25 am From: Grigory Heaton via groups.io <g.heaton...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue
I'm not sure if there's anything closer, but International Bird Rescue / IBR in San Pedro handled the yellow-billed loon a few months back so they are a good bet. Hopefully the loon makes it!
Grigory Heaton
Pasadena, CA
________________________________
From: <LACoBirds...> <LACoBirds...> on behalf of Ursula K. Heise <heise.ursula...>
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2024 9:21 AM
To: <lacobirds...> <lacobirds...>
Subject: [LACoBirds] Help urgent loon rescue
Hello all:
Just found a loon with fish hook in throat on Ballona Lagoon - got it in car - what’s closest rescue?
Date: 4/25/24 8:00 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County Reminder: starts at midnight!
Hi Everyone, Just a quick reminder that America's Birdiest County in Los Angeles County starts at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning, which is just over 4 hours from the time I'm writing this. If you hear a barn owl, great horned owl, nocturnal migrant tonight, we want to count it! The first update for the count is likely around noonish on Friday. Good luck to us, Lance Lance BennerAltadena, CA _._,_._,_
Date: 4/24/24 12:22 am From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County Details: April 26-28
Hi Everyone,
Here's additional information about the "America's Birdiest County" event that will happen in Los Angeles County on April 26-28, 2024.
The count starts at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning and ends at midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning.
The objective is to find as many species in Los Angeles County over this three day interval as possible. We've been doing this since 2003 and regularly find more than 260 species.
Birds can be identified by sight or sound, and as usual, rare species require documentation. All birds must be counted from land, so we can't accept anything seen on a whale watch, or from a boat on a lake, but we'd be glad to count any birds seen from Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands or from seawatches at places such as Point Vicente and Point Dume.
I will act as compiler again this year.
HISTORY
America's Birdiest County started in 2003 in San Diego as a friendly competition among counties across the country to see how many species people could find in a single 24-hour period.
After the first three years, the organizers changed the protocol to make it a three-day event. There were also various categories across the country to try to level the playing field so that counties in very different areas wouldn't be competing against those in other areas that have vastly more birds. Thus, counties in, say, Maine weren't competing against counties in California. Los Angeles was in the "Coastal West" category and our chief competition, at least initially, was with San Diego and Monterey. After the format changed to a three-day event, Monterey stopped competing in order to continue their traditional one-day county-wide birdathon. After 2011, the organizers discontinued the nationwide event, but selected counties continued due to strong local interest. Los Angeles and Kern Counties, which usually did very well, both continued.
Here are the number of species found in Los Angeles County since 2003:
Year Total
2023 268
2022 265
2021 277
2020 No count due to covid 19
2019 257
2018 263
2017 264
2016 270
2015 275
2014 272
2013 265
2012 262
2011 277
2010 271
2009 264
2008 255
2007 272
2006 265
2005 246
2004 240
2003 239
Our total jumped in 2006 due to better organization and increased interest.
This event has turned into an intensive sweep of the whole county each spring and has provided a useful snapshot of the species that are present in late April. Many people who participate also record their observations in eBird, and as a result, tens of thousands of bird sightings are permanently archived, so in addition to having fun, we're also making a scientifically useful contribution.
######################################
LOGISTICS
Please email reports to me at <lbenner...> and/or to the LA County listserve. (<lacobirds...>)
We welcome you to send ebird lists: the easiest way is to email eBird lists to your self and then forward them to me: This makes checking for new species really easy. We prefer that you * NOT * share the eBird lists with me unless I happened to be with you.
I will provide updates two to four times each day to track our progress and to help guide searches for species we're missing. The first update will probably happen by mid afternoon on Friday. We will also provide updates each night so that we everyone can see what we still need first thing in the morning.
We welcome reports on the county listserve all weekend regardless of what you see: the species do not have to be rare.
I'm not on the WhatsApp group so if you post there I won' see it.
Please note that we can't count birds seen from boats, but birds seen from Santa Catalina and San Clemente Island count.
The Gambel's quail and chukars on San Clemente Island are self-sustaining so we can count them. Ao continue the protocol we adopted a few years ago, we are now glad to count bald eagles seen from Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands.
######################################
NON-NATIVE SPECIES:
Kimball Garrett asks us to please report established non-native species even if they're not the list that's accepted by the AOS or the CBRC.
This means that we want to hear about introduced species such as parakeets and parrots, pin-tailed whydahs, orange bishops, white-eyes, Egyptian goose, Mandarin ducks, and so forth. Monitoring those populations is becoming increasingly important so please report them, and, of course, enter your sightings into eBird.
We'll keep them in a supplemental list separate from the "regular" species.
######################################
RARE SPECIES
There have been a number of rare species in the county recently. Here's an abbreviated list of some reported in the last week or so:
Long-tailed Duck
Common Goldeneye
Red-necked Grebe
White-winged Dove
Common Murre
Franklin's Gull
Yellow-footed Gull
Neotropic Cormorant
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Swallow-tailed Kite
Thick-billed Kingbird
Plumbeous Vireo
Brown Thrasher
Clay-colored Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
American Redstart
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
This is a partial list: I haven't had time yet to go through all the rarities found in the county recentl and I know there are more.
The Yellow-footed gull and Swallow-tailed Kite would be new for the count and was reported through April 23. The kite may have been a one-day wonder: It was photographed on April 22 but we don't know if it's still in the area.
As always, anything flagged as "rare" in eBird is going to require documentation, so please take photos, jot down notes, obtain recordings and videos, or make sketches.
Please remember that your cell phone probably has an app that allows you to record sounds. They're quite sensitive and can be good for documetation.
######################################
SPECIES PREVIOUSLY RECORDED
Below is the list of every species we've found during previous ABC weekends.
There are some species that we get regularly that are actually quite local and require special effort to find and/or that are just leaving or arriving at this time of year . Among them, in no particular order, are prairie falcon, American dipper, common ground-dove, Inca dove, spotted owl, northern saw-whet owl, northern pygmy owl, flammulated owl, burrowing owl, golden-crowned kinglet, LeConte's thrasher, Williamson's sapsucker, red crossbill, Swainson's hawk, common merganser, hooded merganser, summer tanager, golden eagle, and wandering tattler.
We often struggle to find pelagic species; alcids are particularly difficult.
The table below lists every species we've recorded during the ABC weekend since 2004 and the number of years in which we've found it. Note that this list isn't strictly in taxonomic order; we'll try to correct that by next year (which I also said last year...).
N = number of years we've found a species from 2004-present
N SPECIES
15 Snow Goose
19 Ross's Goose
18 Greater White-fronted Goose
01 Tundra Bean-Goose NEW
17 Brant
17 Cackling Goose
19 Canada Goose
17 Wood Duck
19 Blue-winged Teal
19 Cinnamon Teal
19 Northern Shoveler
19 Gadwall
19 American Wigeon
19 Mallard
17 Northern Pintail
19 Green-winged Teal
04 Canvasback
19 Redhead
19 Ring-necked Duck
02 Greater Scaup
19 Lesser Scaup
19 Surf Scoter
03 White-winged Scoter
04 Black Scoter
03 Long-tailed Duck
19 Bufflehead
03 Common Goldeneye
11 Hooded Merganser
16 Common Merganser
18 Red-breasted Merganser
19 Ruddy Duck
19 Mountain Quail
19 California Quail
14 Gambel's Quail
14 Chukar
19 Pied-billed Grebe
11 Horned Grebe
19 Eared Grebe
19 Western Grebe
19 Clark's Grebe
19 Rock Pigeon
19 Band-tailed Pigeon
18 Eurasian Collared-Dove
19 Spotted Dove
14 Inca Dove
15 Common Ground-Dove
03 White-winged Dove
19 Mourning Dove
19 Greater Roadrunner
19 Lesser Nighthawk
19 Common Poorwill
19 Vaux's Swift
19 White-throated Swift
19 Black-chinned Hummingbird
19 Anna's Hummingbird
19 Costa's Hummingbird
19 Rufous Hummingbird
19 Allen's Hummingbird
14 Calliope Hummingbird
01 Ridgeway's Rail
18 Virginia Rail
19 Sora
19 Common Gallinule
19 American Coot
01 Sandhill Crane
19 Black-necked Stilt
19 American Avocet
19 Black Oystercatcher
19 Black-bellied Plover
04 Pacific Golden-Plover
19 Snowy Plover
19 Semipalmated Plover
19 Killdeer
19 Whimbrel
18 Long-billed Curlew
19 Marbled Godwit
18 Ruddy Turnstone * We missed this last year *
18 Black Turnstone
02 Red Knot
19 Surfbird
01 Ruff
01 Stilt Sandpiper
19 Sanderling
19 Dunlin
04 Baird's Sandpiper
19 Least Sandpiper
01 Pectoral Sandpiper
02 Semipalmated Sandpiper
19 Western Sandpiper
15 Short-billed Dowitcher
19 Long-billed Dowitcher
13 Wilson's Snipe
14 Wilson's Phalarope
18 Red-necked Phalarope
03 Red Phalarope
19 Spotted Sandpiper
15 Solitary Sandpiper
19 Wandering Tattler
19 Greater Yellowlegs
19 Willet
18 Lesser Yellowlegs
07 Pomarine Jaeger
10 Parasitic Jaeger
06 Common Murre
04 Scripps' Murrelet
02 Cassin's Auklet
03 Rhinoceros Auklet
01 Sabine's Gull
19 Bonaparte's Gull
01 Laughing Gull
10 Franklin's Gull
18 Heermann's Gull
02 Short-billed Gull
19 Ring-billed Gull
19 Western Gull
19 California Gull
17 Herring Gull
02 Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
02 Lesser Black-backed gull
18 Glaucous-winged Gull
01 Glaucous Gull
18 Least Tern
19 Caspian Tern
05 Black Tern
01 Common Tern
19 Forster's Tern
19 Royal Tern
19 Elegant Tern
19 Black Skimmer
19 Red-throated Loon
19 Pacific Loon
19 Common Loon
01 Yellow-billed Loon
01 Black-footed albatross
01 Leach's Storm-petrel
03 Northern Fulmar
13 Pink-footed Shearwater
18 Sooty Shearwater
08 Black-vented Shearwater
01 Red-footed Booby NEW
19 Brandt's Cormorant
19 Pelagic Cormorant
04 Neotropic Cormorant
19 Double-crested Cormorant
18 American White Pelican
19 Brown Pelican
04 American Bittern
18 Least Bittern
19 Great Blue Heron
19 Great Egret
19 Snowy Egret
16 Western Cattle Egret Formerly "Cattle Egret"
19 Green Heron
18 Black-crowned Night-Heron
06 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
19 White-faced Ibis
01 California Condor
19 Turkey Vulture
19 Osprey
18 White-tailed Kite
17 Golden Eagle
18 Northern Harrier
18 Sharp-shinned Hawk
19 Cooper's Hawk
07 Bald Eagle
19 Red-shouldered Hawk
18 Swainson's Hawk
01 Zone-tailed Hawk
19 Red-tailed Hawk
04 Ferruginous Hawk
19 Barn Owl
12 Flammulated Owl
19 Western Screech-Owl
19 Great Horned Owl
17 Northern Pygmy-Owl
14 Burrowing Owl
16 Spotted Owl
06 Long-eared Owl
16 Northern Saw-whet Owl
19 Belted Kingfisher
14 Lewis's Woodpecker
19 Acorn Woodpecker
15 Williamson's Sapsucker
01 Red-naped Sapsucker
19 Red-breasted Sapsucker
16 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
19 Nuttall's Woodpecker
19 Downy Woodpecker
19 Hairy Woodpecker
19 White-headed Woodpecker
19 Northern Flicker
01 Crested Caracara
19 American Kestrel
16 Merlin
19 Peregrine Falcon
17 Prairie Falcon
01 Nanday Parakeet 2023 was the first year we could count it
02 Mitred Parakeet: 2022 was the first year we could count it
01 Red-masked Parakeet 2023 was the first year we could count it
03 Yellow-chevroned Parakeet. 2021 was the first year we could count it
19 Red-crowned Parrot
02 Lilac-crowned Parrot: 2022 was the first year we could count it.
19 Olive-sided Flycatcher
19 Western Wood-Pewee
01 Least Flycatcher
19 Hammond's Flycatcher
19 Gray Flycatcher
19 Dusky Flycatcher
19 Western Flycatcher Formerly Pacific-slope Flycatcher
19 Black Phoebe
19 Say's Phoebe
10 Vermilion Flycatcher
04 Dusky-capped Flycatcher
19 Ash-throated Flycatcher
08 Tropical Kingbird
19 Cassin's Kingbird
02 Thick-billed Kingbird
19 Western Kingbird
19 Bell's Vireo
19 Hutton's Vireo
19 Cassin's Vireo
11 Plumbeous Vireo
19 Warbling Vireo
19 Loggerhead Shrike
19 Steller's Jay
19 California Scrub-Jay
16 Clark's Nutcracker
19 American Crow
19 Common Raven
19 Mountain Chickadee
19 Oak Titmouse
18 Verdin
19 Horned Lark
19 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
09 Purple Martin
19 Tree Swallow
19 Violet-green Swallow
17 Bank Swallow
19 Barn Swallow
19 Cliff Swallow
03 Red-whiskered Bulbul. 2021 was the first year we could count it.
19 Bushtit
19 Wrentit
19 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
09 Golden-crowned Kinglet
19 Red-breasted Nuthatch
19 White-breasted Nuthatch
19 Pygmy Nuthatch
19 Brown Creeper
19 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
19 California Gnatcatcher
19 Rock Wren
19 Canyon Wren
19 House Wren
19 Marsh Wren
19 Bewick's Wren
19 Cactus Wren
13 American Dipper
19 European Starling
19 California Thrasher
13 LeConte's Thrasher
19 Northern Mockingbird
19 Western Bluebird
01 Mountain Bluebird
16 Townsend's Solitaire
19 Swainson's Thrush
19 Hermit Thrush
19 American Robin
01 Varied Thrush
19 Cedar Waxwing
19 Phainopepla
09 Scaly-Breasted Munia
19 House Sparrow
01 Red-throated Pipit
19 American Pipit
01 Evening Grosbeak
19 House Finch
19 Purple Finch
19 Cassin's Finch
13 Red Crossbill
15 Pine Siskin
19 Lesser Goldfinch
19 Lawrence's Goldfinch
19 American Goldfinch
04 Grasshopper Sparrow
19 Chipping Sparrow
03 Clay-colored Sparrow
19 Black-chinned Sparrow
01 Field Sparrow
15 Brewer's Sparrow
19 Black-throated Sparrow
18 Lark Sparrow
19 Fox Sparrow
19 Dark-eyed Junco
19 White-crowned Sparrow
19 Golden-crowned Sparrow
03 Harris' Sparrow
14 White-throated Sparrow
19 Bell's Sparrow
03 Vesper Sparrow
19 Savannah Sparrow
19 Song Sparrow
17 Lincoln's Sparrow
02 Swamp Sparrow
19 California Towhee
19 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
19 Green-tailed Towhee
19 Spotted Towhee
19 Yellow-breasted Chat
19 Yellow-headed Blackbird
19 Western Meadowlark
03 Orchard Oriole
19 Hooded Oriole
19 Bullock's Oriole
01 Baltimore Oriole
19 Scott's Oriole
19 Red-winged Blackbird
19 Tricolored Blackbird
19 Brown-headed Cowbird
19 Brewer's Blackbird
19 Great-tailed Grackle
02 Northern Waterthrush
05 Black-and-white Warbler
01 Tennessee Warbler
19 Orange-crowned Warbler
19 Nashville Warbler
19 MacGillivray's Warbler
19 Common Yellowthroat
01 Hooded Warbler
02 American Redstart
03 Northern Parula
19 Yellow Warbler
01 Chestnut-sided Warbler
11 Palm Warbler
19 Yellow-rumped Warbler
19 Black-throated Gray Warbler
19 Townsend's Warbler
19 Hermit Warbler
19 Wilson's Warbler
01 Red-faced Warbler
01 Painted Redstart
07 Summer Tanager
19 Western Tanager
19 Black-headed Grosbeak
19 Blue Grosbeak
19 Lazuli Bunting
02 Indigo Bunting
Total: 348 species
We added four new species in 2023:
Tundra Bean-Goose
Red-footed Booby
Nanday Parakeet Introduced: recently accepted by the CBRC
Red-masked Parakeet Introduced: recently accepted by the CBRC
Removed: black swift and willow flycatcher because we think those reports were in error. If you think you found them, be prepared to provide outstanding documentation!
Please start thinking of where you might be able to contribute, and we look forward to hearing from you on April 26, 27, and 28!
Date: 4/23/24 4:32 pm From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Thoughts on the Encino Swallow-tailed Kite
Birders,
Hugh Ranson's post to Calbirds about a Swallow-tailed Kite photographed yesterday (22 April) in Encino must have caught everybody's attention. Calbirds does not allow attachments, but Hugh later provided a link to the photos and they were also circulated to a handful of people.
Chasing seems out of the question, but it is interesting that California's second accepted Swallow-tailed Kite (also found on 22 April, but in 2016), was seen on that day at two different sites at opposite ends of the San Diego County coast as it moved north. So the Encino bird, which would be California's third and obviously a first for Los Angeles County, might be seen again somewhere up the coast. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check the nearby Sepulveda Basin, along with other open lowland sites farther up the coast such as Oxnard/Port Hueneme. Who knows, maybe it will end up in Marin County at the north end of the Golden Gate, following the path of the White-tailed Eagle.
The wheels are in motion to get all the details (including the images, the observer's name, and any other pertinent details) to the California Bird Records Committee.
Kimball
P.S. -- Windy out here in the Antelope Valley -- probably not ideal for chasing the Cassin's Sparrow.in Lancaster.
Just the messenger. A friend of a (I believe non-birding) friend photographed this bird at 5:03 pm yesterday on the 4600 block of Encino Ave., Encino, near Encino Reservoir. I believe it's legit.
Date: 4/23/24 11:44 am From: catbird117 via groups.io <catbird117...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow-footed Gull and Pacific loon, San Dimas
Both are continuing at Bonelli. The Gull is currently on a buoy off the South shore swim beach and the loon was headed that direction the last I saw it a few minutes ago.
Keith CondonDiamond Bar
Date: 4/21/24 2:39 pm From: Mark Scheel via groups.io <scheel314...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Yellow footed gull, bonelli park
Hi,
A bunch of us are on the north shore at Bonelli Park and we have a gull that looks good for adult Yellow-footed Gull. Big gull like western, big bulbous-tipped bill, bright yellow legs and feet.
Mark and Janet Scheel Naresh Satyan Andy Birch Chris Dean Omar Alui Ted Keyel
This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for April 19, 2024.
Continuing at the Ballona Creek mouth through April 15 was a LONG-TAILED DUCK.
The RED-NECKED GREBE at the Ballona Creek mouth continued through April 17.
A WHITE-WINGED DOVE was in the east Antelope Valley on April 16.
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS continued at Ballona Lagoon through April 17 and at Alamitos Bay through April 18.
A BROWN BOOBY was offshore southwest of San Pedro on April 18.
The DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER continued at Vincent Lugo Park in San Gabriel through April 16.
The BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER at the South Coast Botanic Garden continued through April 14 by the Arizona Crossing and Tram Road.
The THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD continued in Griffith Park through April 14. Google Earth coordinates are approximately 34.14079, -118.28856. Although the bird moves around the area, it does regularly come back to this spot.
A PURPLE MARTIN was at the Piute Ponds on Edwards AFB (letter of permission required for entry) from April 12-13.
A BROWN THRASHER continued along the West San Gabriel River Parkway Nature Trail in Lakewood through April 17 in the area below Monte Verde Park. A BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER continued here through April 13.
The WHITE WAGTAIL continued along the Los Angeles River through April 14. Recently it has been upstream from Buena Vista Park in Burbank (near the Warner Brothers gate) and moving up and down this part of the river.
CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS included one continuing in Area 3 of El Dorado Park in Long Beach through April, one at Vina Vieja Park in Pasadena through April 13 and one at Rio de Los Angeles Park through April 12.
Two ORCHARD ORIOLES were at La Mirada Park on April 19 by the play area at the top of the hill.
The AMERICAN REDSTART at Oakdale Memorial Park in Glendora continued through April 14. Another was at North Atwater Park on April 19.
The CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER at Victory Park in Pasadena continued through April 17 above the south playground area.
A PALM WARBLER was at Castaic Lagoon by Grasshopper Canyon (playground area) on April 12.
Another PALM WARBLER was in the southeast corner of Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park in Harbor City on April 13.
A PINE WARBLER was at Satellite Park in Cerritos on April 13.
A ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK was in Altadena on April 18.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 4/19/24 1:44 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] America's Birdiest County: April 26-28
Hi Everyone, Just a quick heads-up that we're going to do "America's Birdiest County" next weekend, April 26-28, all across Los Angeles County. I'll provide a lot more information about this in another email over the weekend. Regards, Lance Lance BennerAltadena, CA _._,_._,_
Date: 4/19/24 8:22 am From: JonathanRowley via groups.io <jonathan.james...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Two Orchard Orioles at La Mirada Park
I just found a first spring male Orchard Oriole chasing a female Orchard Oriole at La Mirada Park. This is near the play area at the top of the hill adjacent to splash. The birds were chasing each other around the sycamores. The female Orchard Oriole is probably continuing , but this is the first time I have seen the young male in the park.
Date: 4/18/24 10:46 am From: Tom Benson via groups.io <thomasabenson...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Common Nighthawk at Long Beach Marina
If you're referring to this eBird checklist (https://ebird.org/checklist/S169129833), the photos are of a Common Poorwill, not a Common Nighthawk.
Tom BensonRedlands, CA
On Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 10:44:04 AM PDT, Nancy Salem <vintage330...> wrote:
Hello,
Does anyone have more specific location information on the Common Nighthawk reported yesterday at a personal location in Long Beach?
