Finding The Positive in Los Angeles - The River and Local Wildlife

Los Angeles River west of Balboa Blvd.

On a day like today, following another mass assault on our own humanity, it can be difficult to see the world as a positive place. But we all have a choice and I choose to reach out to people making positive differences in the world. 

Los Angeles River just above Sepulveda Dam

Walking the Los Angeles River we have seen the neglected waterway being embraced and re-imagined as part of our communities. The neighborhoods we have walked through so far have been as varied as the River. We all should step out of our own neighborhoods more often to understand the lives of people we think are different from ourselves. The L.A. River holds the potential of uniting disparate peoples across a large city.

The River also can connect disengaged people with the natural world. The section through the Sepulveda Basin is wildness contained, a place to experience wildlife in the city.

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Channel Island fox

The non-profit that I work with, Friends of the Island Fox (a program of the Channel Islands Park Foundation) has just wrapped up a year of numerous successful efforts to support island fox conservation. The Channel Island fox has made a strong recovery from the brink of extinction because of the determined efforts of local people.

There is much to celebrate, but too often it is overshadowed by mindless tragedy caused by people. Today I reject fear and pledge to reach out and build connections with more of my neighbors. Safety doesn't come through weaponry, it comes through bonds of respect and understanding.

Great Backyard Bird Count 2014 Bigger Than Ever

Last weekend, people around the world counted birds in their backyards, local parks, neighborhoods and wildlife areas. India turned out a large number of people submitting this year. In total, 132,656 observation lists have been submitted as of today. The last day to submit lists from the Feb. 14-17 Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 28th.

It was fascinating to watch the world map on the GBBC website as lists were turned in and their location marked. As I watched, someone in Australia posted their list. There were observers in Iceland, several lists from New Zealand, multiple locations in Africa; people all over the world providing science with a snapshot of bird numbers and activity. Check out the GBBC map.

Malibu Lagoon State Park

I went out to Malibu Lagoon one morning and to Santa Barbara the next. It was a beautiful weekend for spending time outside. Several of us saw a peregrine falcon at Malibu Lagoon and the best sighting at the estuary wildlife refuge in Santa Barbara was two pairs of greater scaups.

My favorite birds this weekend, however, were in my own backyard. The Allen's hummingbird babies are feathering out. It won't be long before they start trying out their wings.

We found their nest in January.

And this weekend I spotted a second hummingbird nest. This female Allen's is sitting on two white eggs. The warm weather in California may bring us a series of nesting hummingbirds this year.

Allen's hummingbird on nest

Now that you've counted birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count, think about FeederWatch or eBird. 

• FeederWatch: Count birds in your backyard two consecutive days every week or bi-weekly, Nov. - April.
• eBird: Count birds where and whenever you see them and enter your lists in the largest citizen scientist database in the world.

A Watershed Gives Birth To Rivers

Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve

We think of streams and rivers as flowing bodies of water, but we tend to give little thought to where the the water comes from. For the Los Angeles River the water collects in rolling mountains high above the valley floor. But because our climate fluctuates between drought and flood, the water coming into the Los Angeles River is historically intermittent.

valley oak

I recently had the opportunity to explore the mountains and valleys of the Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve at the western end of the San Fernando Valley. These rolling hills with ancient oaks have been ranch land and also the testing grounds for all of the major rocket engines that have taken Americans into space.


Up until a few years ago this area was closed to the public and the land was in dispute between developers, conservation groups and activists concerned about toxins (nuclear and chemical) that had been left on the land. Unfortunately, technology often comes with a price and in this case toxins in and on the land are being cleaned up, but some of the waste is best left undisturbed. The positive side to that uncomfortable notion is that development plans were shelved and the land was purchased by the state to become parkland and a wildlife corridor. 

white-crowned sparrow

The Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve offers beautiful vistas and an opportunity to stroll a more wild side of California. In December, small flocks of migratory meadowlarks forage in the tall grass while a harrier hawk flies ominously just over their heads. A coyote watched us from the rim of a hillside. While acorn woodpeckers were so busy stashing acorns in every nook of a twisted valley oak, that they didn't even notice they were being observed. 


When the rains come and drops gather on this open area, tiny streamlets will flow in three different directions. Some will flow slightly north and down into the Simi Valley wash, some will head directly west toward Malibu Creek and the ocean, and some will flow down Bell Creek in Bell Canyon to become part of the Los Angeles River.


To reach the Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve drive west on Victory Blvd. until it dead ends. There is a nice gravel parking lot and a $3 fee helps to maintain this slice of open land. Walk the watershed are get a feeling for how important open land is for gather wildlife and water.

11/11/11 Calabasas Creek Park

Did you take a few minutes on 11/11/11 to go adventuring?

I’ve become fascinated by the Los Angeles River. I want to explore it from its trickle out of the mountains to its tumble into the sea. I think there is much to be discovered especially in relation to birdlife.

Yesterday morning we headed out to Calabasas Creek Park in old town Calabasas. It is a small bit of land tucked next to the Ventura Fwy just east of the Sagebrush Cantina. A hundred years or so ago, Calabasas Creek ran past Leonis Adobe and headed east to join with Bell Creek and Chatsworth Creek to form the headwaters of the Los Angeles River.

Forty years ago, Calabasas was a dusty half-block of old clapboard buildings and the creek was seasonal and forced into a cement drainage system. Today there seems to be a steady flow of water down the canyon. As long as that flow is a well-mannered creek, it is allowed to flow under the road and through Calabasas Creek Park.

A cement dam creates a gentle pond under wide-spreading ancient oaks and on this day the pond was dappled with mallards. The male mallards are just starting to take on their breeding plumage and they were looking quite smart.  As we overlooked the pond we noticed two fascinating things.

• Whenever the fox tree squirrels in the coast live oaks dropped an acorn into the pond, some of the mallards, mostly males, dashed to snatch it up. They were grabbing the inch-and-a-half long acorns and swallowing them down. It was amazing. I’d never heard of ducks eating acorns. And they weren’t all doing it. Some swam to the dropped fruit only to be disappointed and confused as to why others were eating these big hard things.
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• The second thing we noticed was the pattern of the ducks in the water. The spacing was amazingly regular. As we watched it became apparent that the male mallards were maintaining a minimum of 1.5 feet between themselves. A male that compromised that “personal space” was either chased away or was purposefully forcing other males to move. Females were allowed to swim in between the males without comment. This wasn’t just ducks floating on a pond, this was a very organized social gathering.

While the mallards commanded the pond and the creek flowing out of the park, overhead bushtits, oak titmice, yellow-rumped warblers and an unusual sight, a summer tanager moved through the trees. A downy woodpecker feasted on insects in an oak gall. While in the well-manicured front garden a western tanager and house finches bathed in the fountain. In all there were 11 species of birds, a western fence lizard, a huge orb spider, one gardener and us in the park.

Calabasas Creek Park offers easy access, manageable size and a quiet escape. Discover one of the watery fingers that reaches down to become the Los Angeles River.

Calabasas Creek Park is open 1 PM - 4 PM Wed. - Friday & Sunday, and 10 AM - 4 PM Saturday. For more information visit www.leonisadobemuseum.org

The Big Year - Movie Review

A Big Yes for "The Big Year" with Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson. Finally a movie that offers intelligent humor with realistic characters and conflict. Three men with the goal to see the most bird species in North America during a calendar year. While it may seem crazy to some, it was a real contest of perseverance, character and skill. Yes, the facts have been aided to enhance the dramatic structure and this drama isn't giant transforming robots or explosive terrorist plots, its what most of us really can relate to: transforming moments in our lives and the plot twists in our personal relationships.


Personally I'm tired of outlandish comedies aimed at teens that are based on ridiculous hyperbole. It is a pleasure to travel along with these characters on an adventure that you can take with any member of your family and not be worried about the language or situations on the screen. Hopefully this film will stay on screens long enough for family holiday movie going.


I was out birding with some people this morning and everyone was eager to see this movie, but they couldn't find places where it was playing. This is a quiet movie that has the potential to build an audience, but only if the marketing people understand that not every film brings in its biggest box office in the first weeks.


There is more to "The Big Year" than birding. Everyone has a dream that is important to them that might be seem absurd to someone else. Maybe I'm biased because I am a birder and the notion of doing a Big Year seems like a holy grail, but even if you look beyond the birding quest, the characters in this movie are seeking personal fulfillment. They are trying to find something within themselves. Maybe we would all be better off if we stopped reaching for the bright and shiny things that got our economy into the mess it is in and started looking at our own internal goals. There is no big villain and no crazy slapstick in this film, instead there is wit, creative imagery, beautiful locations and wonderful characters played by a cast of experience actors that know what it is really like to be flawed humans all trying to find the best of themselves.


Plus it motivated me to go birding this morning. 54 species at Malibu Lagoon State Park!

A Birding Jewel in Los Angeles

The wonderful thing about birding is that you can do it anywhere. I saw my first green woodpecker on the lawn of a hotel just under the wingtips of planes landing at London Heathrow Airport and a Eurasian jay in the ruins of Troy, in Turkey.


But I identified my first white-crowned sparrow in my backyard in the suburbs of Los Angeles. You can travel all over the world looking for exotic bird species, but sometimes the places close to home can offer even greater diversity.

great blue heron

One of my favorite birding locations is in the middle of the suburban bustle of the San Fernando Valley. The Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge is a flood basin along the Los Angeles River. Formerly a sod farm, the low-lying area has been set aside by the Army Corps of Engineers to collect water in the years when we have unusual amounts of rain and the basin floods. 

The sod farm is gone and now native scrub surrounds a pond and riparian habitat. The refuge has become an amazing location to see a wide variety of southern California's bird life and a major stopover for migrating birds. Recently on a Saturday morning in early October, I spotted 37 bird species during a short 2-hour walk.  There were the locals: California and spotted towhees, lesser goldfinch, Anna's hummingbird and black phoebe. The pond provides feeding areas for five species of herons and egrets, and now a belted kingfisher pair. There was even a lone white-faced ibis hanging out with some mallards.


The travelers have begun to pass through and the wildlife area provides important refuge, food and water for migrating species. A beautiful adult male yellow warbler came within a few feet; close enough that I could see the red streaking on his breast without my binoculars. The first of the white-crowned sparrows were in the underbrush, while double-crested cormorants were sizing up the island for nesting and three species of grebe were patrolling the water.


Birds of prey are numerous here as well. I can't think of too many locations where in two hours time you can see an osprey, red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk and an American kestrel.


Sepulveda Basin never disappoints me. Whether it is the osprey diving for fish or a family of 22 bushtits making their way through the underbrush, there is always something to thrill and amaze. Take a Mini Birdwalk with video. This birding jewel in the middle of Los Angeles offers numerous bird species anytime of the year and provides easy access to some of California's unique species. Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in Feb.

Oct. 8,  2011 Species List
mallard
domestic mallard
pied-billed grebe
eared grebe
western grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
great egret
snowy egret
green heron
black-crowned night heron
white-faced ibis
turkey vulture
osprey
red-shouldered hawk
red-tailed hawk
American kestrel
American coot
mourning dove
yellow-chevroned parakeet
Anna's hummingbird
belted kingfisher
Nuttall's woodpecker
black phoebe
Say's phoebe
bushtit
Bewick's wren
northern mockingbird
European starling
common yellowthroat
yellow warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
spotted towhee
California towhee
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
house finch
lesser goldfinch 

Other So. Cal birding areas: Bolsa Chica, Malibu Lagoon, Serrania Park