A foray to San Diego

My dad and I made a quick run down to the San Diego area this morning to chase the Bar-tailed Godwit at Famosa Slough, which has become quite a celebrity over the past week. We found it within minutes of driving up. Bar-tailed Godwits are normally found in Eurasia, and a few breed in Alaska, but they are very rare in southern California. A lifer! The bird was quite cooperative, but it was rather distant and the light was poor so I couldn't get any decent shots. You can tell what it is, though! There were tons of birders there enjoying the bird - some drove down from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles! Here's another shot of the Bar-tailed Godwit:

There were plenty of other interesting birds at the slough, including a single Little Blue Heron and at least four Blue-winged Teal, both decent birds for California. Other more common birds there included Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Black-bellied Plover, both Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers, and many more.

On the way home we briefly stopped at La Jolla Cove, about five miles north of San Diego. There are lots of scenic cliffs, and the area was jammed with people. It was jammed with birds, too! I actually got three lifers here - Brandt's Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, and Wandering Tattler. It was my first time birding rocky cliffs/shoreline, hence the relatively common lifers. There were lots of Brandt's Cormorants, a handful of Double-crested Cormorants, and one Pelagic Cormorant. Also present were a bunch of seals. Here's a shot of a Wandering Tattler with two Black Turnstones and a Willet:

There were a few Whimbrels hanging around as well - this one was resting on a shelf, preening.

Lastly, here's a shot of several Brandt's Cormorants loafing on a rock offshore. The leftmost bird is a Double-crested Cormorant.

More Hermit Warblers

This morning I briefly birded at Santiago Hills Park, which is a small urban park about half a mile from my house. It is a grassy park with lots of tall exotic trees, which migrants love as I found out today. I saw a Hermit Warbler in a row of conifers near the intersection of Newport and Chapman on the way to the park (yes, I do screech my bike to a halt and whip out binoculars whenever I hear warbler chips). The park had lots of Yellow-rumped, Yellow, Orange-crowned, and Wilson's Warblers, along with two Black-throated Gray Warblers and a single Townsend's Warbler. I found another Hermit Warbler poking around in a small pine tree, providing excellent looks from just ten feet away.

Also, yesterday I birded Peters Canyon. I didn't see anything unusual, and no birds cooperated for photos. I did add five new birds to my PCRP list - White-faced Ibis, Western Wood-Pewee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chipping Sparrow, and Lincoln's Sparrow - bringing the list up to ninety-nine. Just one more...

The Rare and Elusive Redstart

Yep, that's an American Redstart - I saw it this afternoon at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach. Even though I've seen countless numbers of them in the East, I was still very excited to see it. American Redstart is probably the most common "vagrant" warbler in California - but still notable. Huntington Central Park had quite a few warblers this afternoon, but there didn't seem to be as many as at Irvine Regional Park yesterday. There were good numbers of flycatchers (lots of Pacific-slope Flycathers, three Western Wood-Pewees, lots of Black Phoebes, some Cassin's Kingbirds, and a couple unidentified empids), and I also saw my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Hermit Thrushes of the season. A couple Great Horned Owls were sitting right above the footpath, attracting quite a crowd of passersby. Back in the parking lot, just as we were about to leave, a couple of gorgeous Townsend's Warblers were foraging at eye level. This lovely guy/gal came in with a short bout of pishing, posing cooperatively in good light.

Rainy Day Misadventures

Rain? What's that?! We got heavy showers several times today, and I birded right through it. I rode my bike to Peters Canyon, giving myself and my bike a generous coating of mud. The trails were muddy, it was cool, breezy, and drizzling - lovely birding weather! The birds didn't seem to mind the rain, however. The lake had many of the same birds as on Wednesday, but the Pectoral Sandpiper didn't show up. I found a couple Wilson's Warblers and a single Townsend's Warbler along the Willow Trail, both overdue Peters Canyon firsts for me. As I walked around south of the dam, the weather got nastier. A Vaux's Swift (new Peters Canyon bird) and some swallows flew overhead. I resorted to crawling under some bushes to wait out the rain. By stripping off my shirt and wrapping up my camera, cell phone, and list pad, I was able to keep these objects safe and dry. When I finally got back to my bike in the parking lot, things had dried out and the sky was clear, so I biked up to Irvine Regional Park.

Irvine Regional Park is home to the abundant and noisy Acorn Woodpeckers. You can't help but enjoy their striking plumage and crazy antics. This bird above flew in to investigate my pishing, peering out from behind the branch...

Irvine Park was also loaded with warblers - they were everywhere! I didn't see any unusual ones, but I got crippling views of an adult male MacGillivray's Warbler, and there were lots (15+) of Black-throated Gray Warblers present. Probably the best bird there was an adult male Summer Tanager foraging up in the tops of the eucalyptus trees near parking lot thirteen. I also spotted this gorgeous Barn Owl tucked away in a hollow sycamore.

Here's a close-up digiscoped shot. After I got home, my dad was so jealous of my sighting that we went back so he could see it, and I brought my scope to digiscope it.

So, it was a fun morning, even if the weather was less than perfect. I got eighty-two species total for the day, and two state birds (Summer Tanager and Barn Owl). I'm tired, muddy, sweaty, and wet after biking and walked many miles through mud and rain. But happy. :-D

Peters Canyon XIV

This morning I again birded Peters Canyon. I walked the Lakeview and Cactus Point Trails as usual, but also the Willow Trail, which has been closed due to nesting Bell's Vireos and other birds over the summer. It was a bit slower than usual, especially with passerines - the cool, cloudy, breezy weather might have had something to do with it. However, the lake continues to be excellent for birding. Numbers of coots and ducks were roughly the same as last week, and the number of Ring-necked Ducks jumped from two to five. However, the best bird was a single Pectoral Sandpiper that I found. It's an annual bird in fair numbers in southern California, and one of the most common shorebird "vagrants", but it was still fun to find. It was a state bird for me! I didn't get a good look of it on the ground, but it made a couple close fly-bys, giving me good looks at its "bibbed" appearance, near lack of a wing stripe, rather chunky feel, and wide dark stripe down the middle of the rump. It was slightly smaller than the Killdeer it was associating with, and it called several times. I've pretty much given up hope of finding lots of migrant warblers at Peters Canyon - they seem to prefer lush, exotic plantings over the dry riparian willows. I also found a couple White-crowned Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers, which were both new Peters Canyon birds for me. These, along with the Pectoral Sandpiper, pushed my Peters Canyon list to ninety-one! I also got good looks at a beautiful Say's Phoebe - very neat birds, and one of my favorites - you can't beat the subtle pink on the underparts and the jet black tail. Here's a shot of one that I took in June in New Mexico:

Hermit Warbler!

This morning I found a Hermit Warbler at Irvine Regional Park. Apparently it's a pretty good bird for the fall here. I managed really great looks at it as it foraged fairly low down in some sycamores - I could clearly see the yellow face and pale, unstreaked underparts. It had a small amount of black on the throat. There were lots of other warblers there - I had nine species! Other birds of note included my first White-crowned Sparrows of the fall, Western Tanager, California & Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and a lot more. It was cool and mostly cloudy, with a fairly stiff breeze - really felt like fall!

Swarming hummers!

The last few days there have been more hummingbirds at my feeders in the backyard than usual. The Black-chinned are gone, but Allen's and particularly Anna's remain abundant. At one point this morning, there were about a dozen buzzing around one of the feeders! It's fun to sit on the patio and watch the resultant "Hummer Wars". I've found them to be very tame - to the point where they will come and drink while I'm holding the feeder! Here's a shot of a female or young male Anna's. I'm inclined to think it is a female, because a lot of the young males are growing in their gorgets, making them look patchy! Next, here's a short movie of a male Anna's Hummingbird visiting the feeder. Listen for its smacking call notes!

I also spent some time birding the neighborhood this morning. I found a beautiful Townsend's Warbler, a Marsh Wren, and a Willow Flycatcher. All three were new neighborhood birds for me. I found the flycatcher behind the stables. I heard its call note - a liquid whit - then tracked it down. After a bit of chasing and much frustration, I managed to get some good looks at it. It didn't have much of an eye ring, was mostly grayish-brownish overall, had two buffy wing bars, lacked yellow on the underparts, had moderate primary projection, had a relatively broad bill with an orange(ish) lower mandible, and didn't wag its tail. I also saw a couple "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers, which was neat. I'm sure the novelty will wear off within a week or so...

On Saturday morning, my dad and I twitched an Arctic Warbler (!) that showed up at DeForest Park in Long Beach, a forty minute drive from my house. We dipped, and so did the dozens of birders who were there looking for it. There were lots of warblers there, including Black-throated Gray, Townsend's, Wilson's, etc. If nothing else, I got a start to my Los Angeles county list, with forty-eight species for the effort.