Birding in Serrania Avenue Park

An important element of bird conservation is being aware of trends regarding population numbers, migration patterns and nesting success.

In February I focused my sustainable living practices on understanding my local biodiversity - Green Action #2. Since then I have been doing weekly bird counts at my local Serrania Avenue Park.

When you look at these photos, it may be hard to imagine that this park is in a suburb of Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, with over 1.75 million people. But less than a half mile away, at the base of the hill in the distance, is one of the busiest freeways in the world. The trees mask the houses between the park and the Ventura Freeway (101).

Despite its proximity to a large human population this park is an important habitat for a variety of birds, like the Anna's hummingbird (pictured), Nuttall's woodpecker and northern flicker. I typically see 25 - 35 species in an hour walking along a half mile path.

A number of species nest here including: oak titmouse, bushtits, Anna's and Allen's hummingbirds, black phoebe, lesser goldfinch, Northern mockingbirds, California towhee, spotted towhee, Bewick's wren, mourning dove, California quail and scrub jays.

The park was an important area of survival for the scrub jays (pictured) when populations living in the surrounding suburbs were killed by West Nile virus several years ago.

Migrating birds also have been arriving and nesting as well, including: western bluebird, Cassin's kingbird, California thrashers, and recently Bullock's and hooded orioles. This year we also have a nesting pair of blue-gray gnatcatchers. The male phainopepla arrived last week, but he is still without a mate.

Because fingers of the park reach up into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, there is a crossover of suburban and chapparal bird species. Large birds of prey, red-tailed and red shouldered hawks, as well as Cooper's hawks and great horned owls hunt here. Once I even saw a bobcat stalking desert cottontails.

I am logging in my observations every week on eBird and NestWatch. Not only am I discovering the patterns of migration and nesting at my local park, I am also acting as a citizen scientist. My data is available to scientists and biologists looking at localized patterns and continental patterns. More Citizen Science Projects.

One thing I have realized is that nests in the park are threatened by predators either introduced or increased because of human activity. So far I have documented two bushtit nests and both have been destroyed by predators. One nest may have been robbed by ravens, which have increased dramatically in our area over the past 5 years. The other was destroyed by a fox tree squirrel, which is an introduced species. Our tree nesting birds did not evolve with these aggressive squirrels.

These fox tree squirrels are cute, but feeding them increases their population and expands their territory. With that comes increased threat to nesting native birds.

Serrania Avenue Park is a wonderful place to bird for California chapparal species. Access is easy and the birding is bountiful. Check out your local park, you may be surprised at the number of wild animals in your own neighborhood.

Documenting Life With E-Bird

Two more Allen’s hummingbird chicks fledged today. L-1 is sitting at the top of the Lady Banks’ rose chirping for mom to bring lunch. It can’t quite fly, but it can hover a few inches at a time.

This afternoon the mother Bewick’s wren brought the first youngster of 2010 into the yard on a foraging expedition. She showed it a few prime hunting areas then went off to take care of the younger kids still in the nest. Junior Bewick’s wren has been left in the yard. Sometimes it feels like our yard is a playpen. Today there are 3 young hummingbirds and 1 young wren safely hidden in or exploring the confines of our yard.

This month I’ve been trying to increase my awareness of local biodiversity and participate in making others more aware as well.

I’ve started to really participate in e-bird. This on-line birding site allows birders across the country to document bird species. What you see in your backyard is recorded with the same scientific interest as rare species migrating through a wilderness area.

I’ve committed myself to expanding my observations from Project FeederWatch to e-bird as well. For e-bird I am making a weekly observation in my yard, a weekly observation at my local foothill park and a monthly observation at a state park.

E-bird offers a variety of ways to look at the data you collect and to see compiled information from other birders as well.

The program compiles the data you enter and it creates histograms showing when species are most likely to be seen at your location. It keeps lists of the species you’ve seen annually and life list.

Looking at everyone’s entered data, e-bird offers a way to search a species and see where it has been seen by other people. For example if you wanted to see a red-shouldered hawk, you could use the data to find out which month of the year it was most likely to be seen and then view a map with specific locations.

It is kind of fun that I can go to the map and see a specific location where I made an observation. My contribution to documenting the bird species in my neighborhood is right there on the map for everyone to see.

The young hummingbirds and the young wren were all inputted into e-bird as well. All three of these Allen’s hummingbirds are the offspring of Fik, the male hummingbird that my dog and I rescued in the summer of 2008.

Check out e-bird. Become a citizen scientist. It is hard not to care about local wildlife when you know their family stories as well as your own.