My first stop on Sunday afternoon was Lancaster, CA which is about an hour Northeast of LA just over the mountains in the desert. I was actually headed to Piute Ponds to chase a Sabine's Gull but I quickly found out the ponds are off limits on Andrews Airforce base. Wish the poster had said that. Anyway it was worth it because I had always wanted to visit Apollo Park in Lancaster.
Apollo Park is an oasis in the middle of the desert and apparently on the migration flyway.
This Ruddy Duck was not a year bird but I liked the definition in his coloring.
Greater White-fronted Goose - it looked to have a messed up right wing which probably explains why it was hanging out with a bunch of domestics in a public park. If I did not read about this bird on the list serv postings, I would have questioned its origin. Year bird but I really want one in North Carolina. By the way, I think the best way to distinguish domestic vs wild birds is how high the rump sits in the water. Domestics seem to be fat and consequently their big rumps make their tail feathers point to the sky. This GWFG's tail feathers were horizontal.
I walked to the far side of the park and was about to pull the plug due to lack of interesting birds but then I ran into a really nice flock.
Bell's Sparrow - this bird was somewhat recently a result of a split. The Sage Sparrow was split into Sagebrush and Bell's. This was the first one I have seen after the split. I wasn't about to try and identify the difference because its not easy but luckily the only ones seen in this area of California are Bell's with some rare exceptions.
Then I started seeing warblers....on the ground.
I think this was a Yellow Warbler. It was tough because there were Yellows and Wilson's. Yellows have more streaking on the breast and the eyebrow or supercilium is less defined than on a Wilson's.
Bell's Sparrow - handsome bird.
Bell's Sparrow - If you don't see them up close, you can identify them by their behavior. They run between bushed with their tail raised. Beep..Beep...
Olive-crowned Warbler
There were Olive-crowned all over these low bushes. This particular one looked like an East Coast bird. My Sibley's indicated there is no gray headed ones out West but this one was trying to prove them wrong. Anyone think I have this ID wrong?
Here is a photo so you can see his back.
I couldn't get enough of the Bell's Sparrows and they were everywhere.
Then I started scrutinizing all the little brown job sparrows to see if I could find a Brewer's Sparrow. I knew that they could easily be seen at this park. However, there were plenty of Savannah Sparrows and maybe even some Chipping making it tough. I knew I needed an adult bird to be sure. I think the above was a Savannah.
Wilson's Warbler! I need one of these in NC badly.
Wilson's Warbler - Looks like a Yellow Warbler with a toupe.
Based on previous posts by other folks at this park I was calling this a Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. However, now that I look at the pictures, I think it may be a Western Wood Pewee that is out of his habitat. The above picture looks better for Pacific-Slope but the different lighting was producing different looks.
See the vest?
And wing bars. Hard to believe this is the same bird as above, but it is.
What do you think?
Another LBJ - probably Savannah? These birds were lacking the yellow wash in supraloral (spot between bill and eye) I am used to seeing on Savannahs. The above bird had a fairly defined eye ring but I don't think he was big enough for a Vesper.
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Audubon Subspecies - see yellow on throat.
Townsend's Warbler - the bandit of the warblers.
Savannah I think.
Townsend's - I love birding in the Desert where the trees are low and warblers hang out on the ground.
Sigh....
Black-throated Gray Warbler!!
Doesn't quite look like the Savannah's I am used to seeing but I can't seem to place it anywhere else.
Then..... this guy showed up to the Savannah party... or were the other birds immature Brewer's?
The light was starting to fail so the pictures are not great but I think they are good enough for a Brewer's Sparrow. Less definition between crown and supercilium but good contrast between cheek and nape.
He looked different in every picture I took. Here Brewer's in foreground and Savannah in background.
Here is nice back streaking good for a Brewer's.
Booyah!
This Black-throated Gray just had to join the dirt party.
Western Grebes!!!
Vocalizing!
I love a Western Grebe.
Then I saw the other Goose I was hunting that I knew was here from previous posts.
Ross' Goose - very small and dainty bill with no grin patch. So weird to see these wild geese hanging with a bunch of domestics.
I need to work on my photography skills, I was trying to prevent the ultra white from this bird from blurring the photo but I was not successful.
Brewer's Blackbird - Female. Huge flocks of these feeding on the lake shore.
Then finally I found the last stray goose to complete my Goose Hat Trick.
Snow Goose - again a little questionable as this bird was hanging with domestics but no doubt it is a Snow Goose.
Here you can see the classic grin patch.
Brewer's Blackbird - male.
I tried my hand at gulls. There appeared to be California and Ring-billed at this location.
This one fit the bill (pardon the pun) for a California. The only thing that threw me is that I couldn't decide if the iris was truly dark. It seemed to have a bit of a gleam that was giving the impression of a light iris.
Next morning in between conference calls and my primary job objective at the hospital I was able to go down to one of my favorite spots at Ballona Marsh and the adjacent Playa Del Rey beach. Its only 5 minutes from LAX and has some good birds if you are ever at LAX with a layover.
Among the White-crowned Sparrows I found this Lincoln's Sparrow. I got good looks in the open on the ground before he flew into this tree and skulked. Very gray head markings and nice yellowish buff in the streaking on breast and flanks.
Hello!
Ok there is a story behind this nasty Western Willet. I saw him flapping around near the water's edge like a crazy bird and saw something struggling under his feet. At first I though some fish or shark has a hold of his legs. Then I saw there was another bird under his feet. He was attempting to drown the other bird. I sat there watching for a bit thinking this was interesting behavior. The other bird was 100% under water for several seconds. I was about to snap a photo but I thought if I did not intervene the other bird would drown for sure so instead I ran towards this nasty bird and shouted at him. He flew off the other poor bird which was another willet that appeared to be almost at his end. He was water soaked and exhausted but he made it up on the rocks and looked to be ok. You may wonder as I did were the birds mating? Sometimes that can look pretty frantic. However, I assure you this bird was not mating, it was only touching the other bird with his feet and was clearly trying to drown it.
What would you have done? Let nature take its course?
Heermann's Gull
Western Gull
Western Gull? Gulls are tough. This bird had a much lighter colored mantle than the one above, but it just doesn't look good for a California which would have yellow legs.
American Coot - love the lobed toes. Wish I could bring him home with me and make him a pet.
Black Turnstone.
Heermann's Gull.
White Crowned Sparrow - these were all over.
Whimbrel.
Even the squirrels out west are better. Maybe I am just a little jaded with NC after being so immersed in it for the past 9 months. I usually travel quite a bit and get the travel bug out so when I am home I really enjoy it. However, this past year with my recent promotion travel has become really rare. This has been good for my NC big year attempt but really caused my wanderlust to come back full force.
In the evening I managed to head over to Palos Verdes for a sunset on the bluffs. It took a while to find an open park, they were not marked well.
Say's Phoebe.
I went down one of the bluffs hoping for some shorebirds but instead at the bottom of a rock slide I found this guy.
Rock Wren!!
Then last day I planned a trip to the LA arboretum in Arcadia which is one of my favorite places in the world. However, once I got on the road after a teleconference the traffic was horrendous. I saw a sign for State Park from the highway and thought better to bird some random park then sit in traffic and I pulled off. And boy was I glad I did. Kenneth Hahn State Park ended up being a great place to get some birds while knocking out some teleconferences and waiting for my flight.
Most of these birds were photographed while I was walking around with my iPhone crooked in my neck and talking shop.
White-crowned Sparrow
Lesser Goldfinch
California Towhee.
Western Scrub Jay
Western Bluebird.
Bushtit!!! I love these guys. Usually when you find one you have found a large flock. This particular flock had about 35 birds in it.
This one snag had 5 Western Kingbirds in it!!!! Unfortunately an unidentified falcon busted up the party before I could picture all 5 birds in same tree. Luckily this one came back after the falcon flew through.
Western Scrub Jay.
Cooper's Hawk
There was a tons of raptors at this park. Red-shouldered, Coopers, Red-tailed and a presumed Peregrine.
Golden Crowned Sparrow!! I think these are relatively scarce here but I was almost sure on the ID. I got great looks at his crown which was golden in color. My photos are not the best but I think diagnostic.
The light was not hitting the crown well in this shot but you can still barely make out the nice golden stripe in middle.
Black Phoebe.
Black Phoebe in the Japanese Garden.
Red-tailed Hawk - even without the red tail, the diagnostic black shoulders are evident.
Long tailed - Coopers I think.
A true California or western subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk. Very colorful.
My parting gift was found in a nice flowering bush. My dad would be disappointed that I don't know the name of this flower, especially since I have one blooming in my yard in NC right now.
Now both Rufous and Allen's are the possible HBs with rufous flanks and tails which these birds had. However, Allen's are resident and Rufous is only caught while migrating. I searched eBird for this area and really only Allen's are being reported so I felt comfortable in calling these birds Allen's Hummingbirds. I did not see any that had a full rufous back like would be expected for at least one of the bunch if they were Rufous.
Orange-crowned Warbler.
California Flame Skimmer? Don't worry I am not going to get into Dragonflies, I just thought this one one nice.
Now back to NC where getting a year bird is becoming increasingly difficult.
Great times.
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