California Days 1 and 2: Coots in the Big City
My fall was fairly quiet birding-wise (mostly because it was very not-quiet work-wise and school-wise), but thankfully I had some travel plans for the winter vacation. A lot of travel plans actually- the original plan was to spend the holidays in the Philippines with Nikki, but delays in buying plane tickets meant that the day after Christmas was the only day it was affordable to fly out. Since my parents were already going to be in Oregon to spend Christmas with my sister, it made sense to head there first, as tickets were essentially the same price. A bit more investigation revealed that it was somehow cheaper to fly to Los Angeles first before heading to Portland, which mushroomed into a plan to spend a few days exploring southern California and its birding spots after the end of my final exams. One thing led to another, really.
I flew from DC to Los Angeles the night of December 19 and picked up a rental car at the airport before heading to my AirBnb in the town of Monrovia, north of the city proper (Los Angeles, like many big cities, is actually an agglomeration of various cities in a huge metropolitan area spreading out like the Blob to fill all available space). My host, a very nice German woman with two very nice dogs and some unfortunate political views, welcomed me there and I went straight to sleep.
Of course, the main purpose of my California trip was to see as many birds as possible. I've been to California a number of times before in a past life, but never as a birder, and the avifauna is different enough from the East Coast, or even Oregon, that there were lots of new things to see. In fact, I saw some new things even on the next morning's walk to find breakfast, when I saw a couple of Anna's Hummingbirds, American Bushtits, and my lifer California Towhee. I'm always surprised by how bold West Coast towhees like Spotted Towhee and California Towhee are, considering how difficult it is to get a good look at Eastern Towhees in DC.
My morning destination was Frank Bonelli Regional Park in northern LA County, a 20-minute drive from my AirBnb. It's not too much to look at, just some walking trails and fishing spots surrounding a small reservoir, but I'd seen some impressive lists there from eBird. It did, in fact, turn out to be a very, very good place for birding, and I saw over 50 species on my 2-hour walk along the lake shore. Nearby the parking lot was a large Red-tailed Hawk on the look out for smaller birds, while in the lake was a surprisingly large number of water birds, including American Coots, Western Grebes, and my lifers Black-necked Grebe and Clark's Grebe. The difference in sheer bird numbers between the West Coast and East Coast is striking- grebes and coots of any kind are fairly uncommon everywhere I've birded in Michigan and Virginia, but they were present here in dozens to hundreds, all fairly easy to see. I'm not sure what the cause of the difference is- LA doesn't exactly seem like prime wildlife habitat. Perhaps it's simply the warmer temperatures.
I took a trail going along the side of the reservoir, where I quickly saw some good West Coast specialties, including a very cute Black Phoebe, a friendly California Towhee, a flock of fluffy American Bushtits, and another Red-tailed Hawk. My lifers included a Cassin's Kingbird, a distant California Thrasher, and my favorite bird of the day, a Cactus Wren, appropriately singing from on top of a cactus, certainly one of the best-looking wrens in the US.
As the trail crested a hill, a large flock of White-throated Swifts was wheeling overhead, a lifer for me. I also saw a bedraggled Orange-crowned Warbler and many Yellow-rumped Warblers, and had some good flyovers from a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Harrier, and a pair of American White Pelicans looking like a squadron of feathery fighter jets.
Back by the parking lot, I came across my lifer Nuttall's Woodpecker foraging in a pine tree, as well as another Black Phoebe, a Great Egret, and a juvenile American White Pelican. I was just about to get in the car to leave when I saw a distant pair of Clark's Grebes doing their mating dance, running in tandem across the surface of the water- certainly one of the coolest mating rituals of any animal.
I got a quick lunch at In-N-Out Burger (of course), and then headed to my afternoon destination, the Santa Fe Dam Rec Area, yet another park around a reservoir. I suppose you need a lot of reservoirs if you're a city of 9 gajillion people in a semi-arid climate. The sun was setting early in LA, and I had just an hour and a half or so before dark. A Rock Wren had been reported in that area recently, but I wasn't sure where to look for it although I did see another Cactus Wren, which apparently wasn't apparently a common species there. Walking along the hiking trails by the side of the reservoir, I did add some new species to my California list, including a couple of California Quail and a noisy Belted Kingfisher, while there were lots of Audubon's Warblers, White-crowned Sparrows, and a cute Say's Phoebe in the area.
There was a flock of mostly domestic-type geese on the opposite side of the reservoir, and looking through my binoculars I saw that some of them looked suspiciously wild. I walked back to the parking lot area to take a closer look, and sure enough two of them were Ross's Geese, which was a lifer for me. Surprisingly, there was also a Greater White-fronted Goose in with the flock, looking like a miniature version of the domestic-type Greylag Geese. It wasn't the most satisfying thing to see two lifers hanging out with some feral domestic birds- sort of like seeing a wild pheasant in with a flock of chickens or something. Still, they were presumably properly wild and within range, and a lifer is a lifer.
It was shaping up to be a pretty great sunset, and the light was spectacular. I entertained myself by taking artsy pictures of the landscape and birds, first the many American Coots and then the Black-crowned Night Herons that came in just before dark. Both beautiful birds regardless of light, and nice to appreciate at close quarters. A Black Phoebe made an appearance just after the sun set.
The next day, I decided to head into the San Gabriel Mountains in search of Rock Wren or Canyon Wren, both of which are quickly becoming my nemesis birds for the West Coast. I drove up to the Chantry Flats trails a ways above my Airbnb in Monrovia, paid the last $4.65 cents of cash in my pocket for parking, and started walking around. It was a large area, and I never did end up finding the wrens I was looking for, mostly because I wasn't sure where to look. There were, however, lots of Acorn Woodpeckers in the oak trees near the parking area, as well as a flock of smaller birds including Townsend's Warblers, a Hutton's Vireo, Audubon's Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and my lifer Oak Titmouse. Walking up the trail I got some great views of the canyon area and added Mountain Chickadee to my California list, but didn't see much else in the way of birds.
I returned to my AirBnb to grab my things and check out, then drove south through the LA metro blob toward the Irvine area. I was spending the night there, but before heading to my new lodging I did some late afternoon birding at the Irvine Regional Park, a nice municipal recreation area where Rock Wren and Phainopepla, two outstanding targets of mine, had been recently reported on eBird. Unsurprisingly I never saw Rock Wren, but the birding there was excellent regardless. There were more Acorn Woodpeckers near where I parked my car, and this time I got to see them stuffing palm trees full of acorns, their favored form of food storage. They're one of the best-looking woodpeckers in the US, with fascinating behavior, so it was nice to see them in such abundance in California. There were also feral Mandarin Ducks and Indian Peafowl in the park, which technically counted as lifers on my eBird list, but which I certainly won't count on my life list until I see them in their proper habitat.
I eventually found the main birding area for the park, some walking and biking trails on the opposite side of a dry riverbed. I spent a highly enjoyable hour birding that area in the beautiful evening light, enjoying the photography as much as the birding. I ran into a flock of sparrows including Golden-crowned Sparrows, Lincoln's Sparrows, and the ever-present White-crowned Sparrow. Western Bluebirds and a very cute American Kestrel were posing in the golden hour light, and on the mammal side I spotted a California Ground Squirrel and a Desert Cottontail.
The only disappointment was that I hadn't seen a Phainopepla, my main target for that site and one I didn't have much of a chance of seeing anywhere else. However, for whatever reason during my birding trips on the West Coast things have a tendency to just... kind of work out. This night was no exception, and just as the sun was about to set and I was about to give up, I spotted a beautiful Phainopepla on the top of a dead tree, flying out sometimes to hawk flying insects. Phainopeplas are the only silky flycatcher found in the US, and just really fascinating birds, migrating between the high desert and West Coast scrub and showing dramatic changes in behavior between the habitat, so it was the perfect end to the evening. A Red-shouldered Hawk also flew in, and I enjoyed last-minute looks at the American Kestrel and an Acorn Woodpecker as the light faded.
After the sun set I headed to my Airbnb, a house in the suburbs where I slept on the couch and watched the Democratic primary debates with one of my hosts, a very old and slightly batty woman who thought we were moving from a sharing economy to a caring economy, then finally a spiritual economy (don't ask).
Of course, the main purpose of my California trip was to see as many birds as possible. I've been to California a number of times before in a past life, but never as a birder, and the avifauna is different enough from the East Coast, or even Oregon, that there were lots of new things to see. In fact, I saw some new things even on the next morning's walk to find breakfast, when I saw a couple of Anna's Hummingbirds, American Bushtits, and my lifer California Towhee. I'm always surprised by how bold West Coast towhees like Spotted Towhee and California Towhee are, considering how difficult it is to get a good look at Eastern Towhees in DC.
My morning destination was Frank Bonelli Regional Park in northern LA County, a 20-minute drive from my AirBnb. It's not too much to look at, just some walking trails and fishing spots surrounding a small reservoir, but I'd seen some impressive lists there from eBird. It did, in fact, turn out to be a very, very good place for birding, and I saw over 50 species on my 2-hour walk along the lake shore. Nearby the parking lot was a large Red-tailed Hawk on the look out for smaller birds, while in the lake was a surprisingly large number of water birds, including American Coots, Western Grebes, and my lifers Black-necked Grebe and Clark's Grebe. The difference in sheer bird numbers between the West Coast and East Coast is striking- grebes and coots of any kind are fairly uncommon everywhere I've birded in Michigan and Virginia, but they were present here in dozens to hundreds, all fairly easy to see. I'm not sure what the cause of the difference is- LA doesn't exactly seem like prime wildlife habitat. Perhaps it's simply the warmer temperatures.
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| What I believe is a Western Grebe, as the black descends below the eye- although the bill color looks better for Clark's Grebe. I suppose it's possibly one of the Western x Clark's Grebe hybrids which frequently occur. |
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| Black-necked Grebes |
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| American Coot |
I took a trail going along the side of the reservoir, where I quickly saw some good West Coast specialties, including a very cute Black Phoebe, a friendly California Towhee, a flock of fluffy American Bushtits, and another Red-tailed Hawk. My lifers included a Cassin's Kingbird, a distant California Thrasher, and my favorite bird of the day, a Cactus Wren, appropriately singing from on top of a cactus, certainly one of the best-looking wrens in the US.
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| Black Phoebe |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| California Towhee |
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| American Bushtit |
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| Cassin's Kingbird |
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| Cactus Wren! |
As the trail crested a hill, a large flock of White-throated Swifts was wheeling overhead, a lifer for me. I also saw a bedraggled Orange-crowned Warbler and many Yellow-rumped Warblers, and had some good flyovers from a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Harrier, and a pair of American White Pelicans looking like a squadron of feathery fighter jets.
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| White-throated Swift |
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| Orange-crowned Warbler |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler (I think this is a Myrtle Warbler? So dull that it's hard to tell) |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Northern Harrier |
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| American White Pelican |
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| Northern Shovelers over the San Bernardino Mountains |
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| The snowy peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains |
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| The Frank G. Bonelli Park landscape |
Back by the parking lot, I came across my lifer Nuttall's Woodpecker foraging in a pine tree, as well as another Black Phoebe, a Great Egret, and a juvenile American White Pelican. I was just about to get in the car to leave when I saw a distant pair of Clark's Grebes doing their mating dance, running in tandem across the surface of the water- certainly one of the coolest mating rituals of any animal.
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| Song Sparrow |
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| Nuttall's Woodpecker |
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| Black Phoebe |
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| Great Egret |
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| Juvenile American White Pelican |
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| Clark's Grebes doing a mating dance |
I got a quick lunch at In-N-Out Burger (of course), and then headed to my afternoon destination, the Santa Fe Dam Rec Area, yet another park around a reservoir. I suppose you need a lot of reservoirs if you're a city of 9 gajillion people in a semi-arid climate. The sun was setting early in LA, and I had just an hour and a half or so before dark. A Rock Wren had been reported in that area recently, but I wasn't sure where to look for it although I did see another Cactus Wren, which apparently wasn't apparently a common species there. Walking along the hiking trails by the side of the reservoir, I did add some new species to my California list, including a couple of California Quail and a noisy Belted Kingfisher, while there were lots of Audubon's Warblers, White-crowned Sparrows, and a cute Say's Phoebe in the area.
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| Belted Kingfisher |
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| White-crowned Sparrow |
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| Say's Phoebe |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| The San Gabriel Mountains from the Rec area |
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| The reservoir |
There was a flock of mostly domestic-type geese on the opposite side of the reservoir, and looking through my binoculars I saw that some of them looked suspiciously wild. I walked back to the parking lot area to take a closer look, and sure enough two of them were Ross's Geese, which was a lifer for me. Surprisingly, there was also a Greater White-fronted Goose in with the flock, looking like a miniature version of the domestic-type Greylag Geese. It wasn't the most satisfying thing to see two lifers hanging out with some feral domestic birds- sort of like seeing a wild pheasant in with a flock of chickens or something. Still, they were presumably properly wild and within range, and a lifer is a lifer.
 |
| Ross's Goose- the size difference between it and domestic geese is pretty obvious |
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| Greater White-fronted Goose |
It was shaping up to be a pretty great sunset, and the light was spectacular. I entertained myself by taking artsy pictures of the landscape and birds, first the many American Coots and then the Black-crowned Night Herons that came in just before dark. Both beautiful birds regardless of light, and nice to appreciate at close quarters. A Black Phoebe made an appearance just after the sun set.
 |
| American Coot |
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| Sunset and coots |
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| Black-crowned Night Heron |
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| Trash heron! |
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| Black Phoebe |
The next day, I decided to head into the San Gabriel Mountains in search of Rock Wren or Canyon Wren, both of which are quickly becoming my nemesis birds for the West Coast. I drove up to the Chantry Flats trails a ways above my Airbnb in Monrovia, paid the last $4.65 cents of cash in my pocket for parking, and started walking around. It was a large area, and I never did end up finding the wrens I was looking for, mostly because I wasn't sure where to look. There were, however, lots of Acorn Woodpeckers in the oak trees near the parking area, as well as a flock of smaller birds including Townsend's Warblers, a Hutton's Vireo, Audubon's Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and my lifer Oak Titmouse. Walking up the trail I got some great views of the canyon area and added Mountain Chickadee to my California list, but didn't see much else in the way of birds.
 |
| Acorn Woodpecker |
 |
| Townsend's Warbler |
 |
| Oak Titmouse |
 |
| The Chantry Flats landscape |
I returned to my AirBnb to grab my things and check out, then drove south through the LA metro blob toward the Irvine area. I was spending the night there, but before heading to my new lodging I did some late afternoon birding at the Irvine Regional Park, a nice municipal recreation area where Rock Wren and Phainopepla, two outstanding targets of mine, had been recently reported on eBird. Unsurprisingly I never saw Rock Wren, but the birding there was excellent regardless. There were more Acorn Woodpeckers near where I parked my car, and this time I got to see them stuffing palm trees full of acorns, their favored form of food storage. They're one of the best-looking woodpeckers in the US, with fascinating behavior, so it was nice to see them in such abundance in California. There were also feral Mandarin Ducks and Indian Peafowl in the park, which technically counted as lifers on my eBird list, but which I certainly won't count on my life list until I see them in their proper habitat.
 |
| Acorn Woodpecker stocking its pantry |
 |
| Feral Mandarin Duck |
 |
| Feral Indian Peafowl |
I eventually found the main birding area for the park, some walking and biking trails on the opposite side of a dry riverbed. I spent a highly enjoyable hour birding that area in the beautiful evening light, enjoying the photography as much as the birding. I ran into a flock of sparrows including Golden-crowned Sparrows, Lincoln's Sparrows, and the ever-present White-crowned Sparrow. Western Bluebirds and a very cute American Kestrel were posing in the golden hour light, and on the mammal side I spotted a California Ground Squirrel and a Desert Cottontail.
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| Lincoln's Sparrow |
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| Western Bluebird |
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| American Kestrel |
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| California Ground Squirrel |
 |
| Desert Cottontail |
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| The Irvine Regional Park trails |
The only disappointment was that I hadn't seen a Phainopepla, my main target for that site and one I didn't have much of a chance of seeing anywhere else. However, for whatever reason during my birding trips on the West Coast things have a tendency to just... kind of work out. This night was no exception, and just as the sun was about to set and I was about to give up, I spotted a beautiful Phainopepla on the top of a dead tree, flying out sometimes to hawk flying insects. Phainopeplas are the only silky flycatcher found in the US, and just really fascinating birds, migrating between the high desert and West Coast scrub and showing dramatic changes in behavior between the habitat, so it was the perfect end to the evening. A Red-shouldered Hawk also flew in, and I enjoyed last-minute looks at the American Kestrel and an Acorn Woodpecker as the light faded.
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| Phainopepla! |
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| American Kestrel |
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| Acorn Woodpecker |
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| Red-shouldered Hawk |
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| Sunset along the dry riverbed. |
After the sun set I headed to my Airbnb, a house in the suburbs where I slept on the couch and watched the Democratic primary debates with one of my hosts, a very old and slightly batty woman who thought we were moving from a sharing economy to a caring economy, then finally a spiritual economy (don't ask).
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