Identifying Local So. California Birds

What's That Bird?

 

Tonight Thursday, October 7th, 7:30 PM
Del Air Rockhound General Meeting
at 
Northridge United Methodist Church
9650 Reseda Blvd., Northridge CA 91324 

Learning to identify local birds is easy if you start with the basics. I'll be doing a basic class on how to identify local species, tonight at the General Meeting of the Del Air Rockhounds. The meeting is open to the general public and everyone is welcome.

Mourning doves, like the one pictured above, have become one of the most common birds seen across the country. In fact one of the families that attending one of my birding classes was able to identify that the bird nesting on their front porch was a mourning dove.

Come join me at the Northridge United Methodist Church tonight for a FREE program and discover the birds in your backyard.

Six, Seven, Eight - Yellow-Breasted Chat

This morning while videoing hummingbirds for an upcoming project, I had an exciting surprise: my 678th Life Bird - a yellow-breasted chat.

We haven't traveled to many new destinations this year and that can make it difficult to see new bird species. On a weekend trip to San Diego I did spot my first black skimmer and a California gnatcatcher, but this sighting was truly rewarding because it was in our own yard.

The chat was feeding in some of our dense native shrubbery and taking a quick bath in the water pooled on some leaves. I didn't get a photo, but the bright yellow chest and long tail are printed in my mind.

We have now seen 71 species of birds in our yard in suburban Los Angeles. A perfect example of how recreating and restoring native habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity. A wildlife refuge is possible in your own backyard.

Learn to Identify the Birds in Your Yard

Have you ever looked out into your yard and wondered....

What's That Bird?


Saturday, May 29th, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Woodland Hills Public Library

I'll be doing a basic Birding 101 class on how to identify bird species.

Whether you are 8 or 80, you can learn to identify our local birds. We'll be focusing on the fun and understanding our bird neighbors.

Oh, these big birds on my feeder are native band-tailed pigeons. They are locals who need our help. Before the San Fernando Valley became parking lots and housing tracks, before the citrus and walnut orchards, this big birds roamed under oak trees swallowing acorns whole. No oak trees, no food for these local birds. Their numbers were low and declining, but recently they seem to be improving.

Come join me at the Woodland Hills Public Library for a FREE program and activities.

One Yard in a Great Big City

It is an amazing thing. I can stand in my kitchen in the San Fernando Valley and eat a bite of lunch while watching a desert cottontail munching on a blade of grass and a young southern California alligator lizard hunting a bug. Both of these creatures are about fifteen feet away from me, albeit on the other side of the glass window.

I live in one of the world's largest cities, but this morning 10 species of native birds were in my yard:

• Allen's hummingbird
• band-tailed pigeon
• California towhee
• house finch
• lesser goldfinch
• oak titmouse
• Bewick's wren
• scrub jay
  
• black phoebe
• and a Cooper's hawk

In another month as the migratory birds start passing through, that number will increase dramatically. All kinds of avian visitors will drop in for a day or for the winter.

This morning western fence lizards, adults and juveniles, were hunting insects. An anise swallowtail butterfly was laying eggs on the citrus trees and a tiger swallowtail stopped in for a snack.

What is truly amazing is the same thing isn't true at my neighbors' across the street. Their grass may be green and thick, but few native creatures live there. Our yard didn't start out this way, we have gradually introduced more native plants and added available water to our yard. We are an oasis of habitat in the city.

If you gaze out the window of your car or house and think, Los Angeles is a pretty green place? I challenge you to look at a satellite photo. The green you see is the Santa Monica Mountains and protected land. Photos from space reveal that the greatest area of land in Los Angeles is comprised roof tops, streets, asphalt school yards and parking lots. None of these provide habitat for beleaguered wildlife.

Now, the Station Fire has scorched large tracts of wildlife habitat in the Angeles Forest (just north of Los Angeles). Animals large and small are searching for new areas to find food, water and shelter.

But, every year the city expands and evicts similar numbers of plants and animals. It doesn't have to be that way. A yard can be habitat for wildlife. A narrow strip of land around a parking lot or a school can be planted with natives to provide shelter and food. It might take a little work and a change of priorities, but it is worth it. Every year our species list increases. I don't have to turn on the television to watch a "nature show," its happening right outside my kitchen window.

Great Backyard Bird Count - L.A. Zoo

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count !

Across North America, citizens are playing a vital role for science by counting wild birds like this California towhee.

Why is this important?

Bird counts turned in to the Great Backyard Bird Count website will create a snapshot of bird populations across the continent.

The Great Backyard Bird Count continues Feb. 15 -18.

You can participate by counting birds in your backyard, on a walk through your neighborhood, in a local park or wildlife area. See the website http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ for easy instructions. Be a Citizen Scientist and help count birds in your area.

When and where are birds nesting? If you have a nest that you are watching, NestWatch wants YOU ! You can enter your information about a bird nest at www.nestwatch.org.

This morning Docents and Zoo members at the Los Angeles Zoo counted 42 species of wild birds on the Zoo grounds for Great Backyard Bird Count and spotted an Anna's hummingbird already nesting, as well as red-shouldered hawks and black phoebe's preparing nests. (hummingbird nest 2007)

Bird List from Los Angeles Zoo, 2/16/08

1. Mallard - 18
2. Great Egret - 1
3. Turkey Vulture - 2
4. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
5. Cooper's Hawk - 1
6. Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
7. Red-tailed Hawk - 3
8. Ring-billed Gull - 1
9. Band-tailed Pigeon - 2
10. Mourning Dove - 4
11. Yellow-chevroned Parakeet - 6
12. Anna's Hummingbird - 4
13. Allen's Hummingbird - 4
14. Acorn Woodpecker - 1
15. Red-breasted Sapsucker - 1
16. Nuttall's Woodpecker - 2
17. Black Phoebe - 6
18. Cassin's Kingbird - 2
19. Common Raven - 4
20. Bushtit - 8
21. Bewick's Wren - 1
22. Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
23. Hermit Thrush - 3
24. Swainson's Thrush -1
25. American Robin - 6
26. Northern Mockingbird - 2
27. European Starling - 10
28. Cedar Waxwing - 30
29. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) - 8
30. Spotted Towhee - 1
31. California Towhee - 6
32. Fox Sparrow (Sooty) - 2
33. Song Sparrow - 19
34. Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
35. White-crowned Sparrow - 4
36. Dark-eyed Junco - 7
37. Red-winged Blackbird - 30
38. Brewer's Blackbird - 45
39. House Finch - 45
40. Lesser Goldfinch - 25
41. American Goldfinch - 12
42. House Sparrow - 4

Download a pdf of my L.A. Zoo Bird List

"The Geese of Beaver Bog" by Bernd Heinrich

Book Review:

The Geese of Beaver Bog

by Bernd Heinrich
HarperCollins, New York, NY 2004


Looking for a summer read that has intertwining romances, intrigue and an uplifting ending? Then get your hands on Bernd Heinrich’s “The Geese of Beaver Bog.”


Heinrich is one of my favorite authors. He combines the scientific insight of a biology professor, the lyric wordsmithing of a poet and the curiosity of child with the artful unraveling of complex concepts that is the gift of a true teacher.

In addition, Heinrich’s books stand out for me because of his passion for fieldwork. He wades through the muck to get close to the nesting geese. He clutches a cup of hot coffee while observing on a frosty morning. He is the one who is struck by a defensive gander while patiently trying to establish a relationship with several pairs of wild Canada geese.

Less scientific than previous works, like Winter World, The Geese of Beaver Bog is Heinrich’s very personal saga of a Canada goose named “Peep.” This female Canada goose was raised by Heinrich and his family and then returned to the wild.

Could a gosling imprinted on humans lead a normal life in the wild? Would it remember its human family years later? Heinrich chronicles his life with Peep and in the process reveals some myths about Canada geese. Do they mate for life? Do they build their nests in communal groups? Do male geese dominate their female partners?

You will count the days along with Heinrich waiting for the eggs to hatch and hurry through the pages to find the geese when they disappear. You’ll hang on the successes and failures, and try to listen in as the parents communicate with the hatchlings still inside their eggs.

If you are interested in the natural world and understanding creatures different from yourself, spend some quality reading time with Bernd Heinrich and discover the complex and fascinating world of Beaver Bog. You’ll never look at a Canada goose the same way again.

The Backyard Biodiversity Project - Day 1

From rainforests to deserts biodiversity has become an important environmental issue. But what is biodiversity? In simple language, it means the variety of living things. Rainforests are home to many different kinds of plants and animals and therefore have great biodiversity.

But biodiversity isn’t just something that happens far away in remote or exotic places. No matter where you live, biodiversity is all around you. You are a part of it.

Whether you live in the city or the countryside, you share your environment with plants and animals. The animals may be small, the plants may be struggling to grow between cracks in concrete sidewalks, but still they are there trying to survive. Who are these neighbors we often do not notice? That is what the Backyard Biodiversity Project is all about.

Around the world biologists and botanists are documenting the types of animals and plants in distant jungles and remote badlands. In many places, they are discovering plants and creatures that no one has identified before or they are redicovering living things we thought had disappeared. But who is looking in your backyard?

Today I started documenting the plant and animal species here on one small piece of the planet.

Field Notes:
This morning Zone 17, the driveway . I thought the first species would be a plant, but right now a fox squirrel is looking at me beligerently from the zone. She is the first living thing recorded on this first day – an alien species, aggressive and thriving. Above me a mourning dove watches from the phone line, calm, native and wondering what I'm doing on the driveway on my hands and knees looking at snail shells and spider webs. It's a good start.

AnimalBytes at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 8:00 AM

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count.
AnimalBytes will be at the Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.

Bring your binoculars and Come Join Us.

We will be counting birds for Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. Last year we documented over 100 double-crested cormorants, flocks of red-winged blackbirds and a kettle of turkey vultures. The Sepulveda Dam area brings together water fowl and song birds. This year we hope to tally even more individual birds and species.

We will meet at the cement sign at the north entrance to the wildlife area between 7:45 AM and 8:00 AM.

The Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge is accessible from the 405 FWY, the 101 FWY and the Metro Orange Line (Woodley Station).

To access the parking area, enter the park from Woodley at the same driveway as the Japanese Gardens. Stay to the right and follow the road east along the wall. The road ends at a parking area with a public restroom. The cement sign and the entrance path are just before you come to the public restroom. Well-behaved children are always welcome, they have the best eyes and are our next generation of conservationists.

You can count at home in you backyard too.

Remember Every Bird Counts.

For more information about GBBC and to enter your own bird counts go to the GBBC Website

Great Backyard Bird Count 2007

The 10th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count is just around the corner.

Over four days, February 16-19 2007, people across North America will count birds in parks, refuges, city streets and backyards to create a snapshot of avian populations and biodiversity.

Typically, 75 % of all North American bird species migrate. But last year, warm weather caused some birds to skip their normal winter travel. Still other species were recorded further north than usual. Species like the California towhee, pictured, are found only in regional locations. If volunteers don't count in southern California, there is no record of these birds. While some birds like the American goldfinch showed increases across the country, others like the American crow recorded another year of decline. All of this information was captured by Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) observers.

The Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and Audubon host this annual event to collect important scientific data. Birds are travelers and their movement can tell us a great deal about the effects of climate change, urbanization and conservation efforts. GBBC is the perfect family outing, scout or youth project or a way to enjoy your backyard and contribute to important biological science.

Counting birds for GBBC is fun and easy.

To Count on Your Own:
Visit the Great Backyard Bird Count website for simple instructions and information. (www.birdsource.org/gbbc)

To Count with a Group:

• The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens will be hosting two Bird Walks in conjunction with GBBC. Wed. Feb. 14 and Sat. Feb. 17, 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM Both Bird Walks are open to Zoo members free of charge. The Wed. Bird Walk will teach you how to count so you can count on your own over the weekend. While on the Saturday Bird Walk you will be helping Zoo Docents complete a count of wild birds on Zoo grounds. Reservations are required for both walks. To make reservations send an e-mail to sanderson@lazoo.org; put “Bird Walk” in the subject line and include in your e-mail: the number of people in your party, your phone number and your Zoo membership number.
• 
  
• AnimalBytes also invites you to come out and count with us at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Refuge. Sunday, Feb. 18 at 8:00 AM. Last year we counted 29 species, including 122 double-crested cormorants, 47 red-winged blackbirds and a merlin. We will meet at the cement sign at the north entrance to the wildlife area. To access the parking area, enter the park from Woodley at the same driveway as the Japanese Gardens. Stay to the right and follow the road east along the wall. The road ends at a parking area with a public restroom. The cement sign and the entrance path are just before you come to the public restroom. Well-behaved children are always welcome, they have the best eyes and are our next generation of conservationists.

Whether you are an experienced birder or casual observer, science needs your help. Even if you only count the five mourning doves on your lawn, EVERY BIRD COUNTS.

Every bird is important.
You can make a difference.
Participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Podcast Bolsa Chica Wetlands - Part 2

Recently we spent two Saturdays at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve birding for shorebirds. 75% of the bird species in North America migrate and a large number of these species are shorebirds. Part of what makes Bolsa Chica so exciting is the variety of birds that pass through or who come to spend the winter. Some of these birds fly all the way from Canada and Alaska.

You might ask, “What is so special about a reddish egret?”

















“What does a little island of dry ground with sandpipers have to do with Bolsa Chica?”












Or “What are those willets doing?”











Listen to our first PodCast - Bolsa Chica Audio Adventure and find out.

Click Here to listen to the Podcast!

Bolsa Chica located along Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, CA.
The pathways are easily accessible and the birds are close. Give the Gift of Tranquility - Take your loved ones to go watch the birds for an hour.