Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - May 3, 2024

Long-tailed Duck | Inca Dove | Black Swift | American Oystercatcher | Red Knot | South Polar Skua | Common Murre | Yellow-footed Gull | Red-throated Loon | Western Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay | Brown Thrasher | American Dipper | Northern Waterthrush | Blackburnian Warbler | Palm Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Painted Bunting

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - April 26, 2024

Long-tailed Duck | Common Goldeneye | Red-necked Grebe | Black Swift | Western Cattle Egret | Franklin’s Gull | Yellow-footed Gull | Pacific Loon | SWALLOW-TAILED KITE | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Swainson’s Thrush | Brown Thrasher | Cassin’s Sparrow |Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - April 19, 2024

Long-tailed Duck | Red-necked Grebe | White-winged Dove | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Brown Booby | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Brown-crested Flycatcher | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Purple Martin | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Clay-colored Sparrow | Orchard Oriole | American Redstart | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler | Black-and-white Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - April 12, 2024

White-winged Dove | Red-necked Grebe | Franklin’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Western Cattle Egret | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Clay-colored Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Black-and-white Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Hepatic Tanager

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - April 5, 2024

White-winged Dove | Sabine’s Gull | Western Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Scissor-tailed Flycatcher | American Dipper | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Lark Bunting | Clay-colored Sparrow | FIELD SPARROW | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Hepatic Tanager

Vol. 87 No. 2

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Coronavirus Nature Opportunities

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Coronavirus Nature Opportunities

While the Coronavirus raises havoc, it has also created an unprecedented opportunity for everyone to truly note, appreciate, and enjoy our surroundings, and experience nature from our own homes, gardens, and environments.

I have my own little ecosystem on a 4’ x 10’ balcony just outside my city condo, where nature’s drama plays out every day. Most of my personal contact with the animal kingdom rests with dogs, cats, guppies, goldfish, and a mountain lion I met napping on the hood of my car! I have ridden hunter-jumper through Torrey Pines Park chasing ecstatic hounds posing as foxes. In grad school, there were red fox dens in our stone Civil War wall and a cardinal who made her nest against our dining room window. We left seeds for the birds and meat for the foxes in Winter.

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The Daily Commute of the Low-Flying Geese of Westchester California

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The Daily Commute of the Low-Flying Geese of Westchester California

The world-famous geese residing in Westchester, California, as everyone knows, love to hang out in the sunny green fields next to LAX airport during the day and watch the airplanes take off and land. They sit in amazement and discuss the size of the planes and try to distinguish between a Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, or Rolls Royce, etc. They spend hour upon hour pondering the cutting edge engineering and technology involved in running one of the busiest airports in the world.

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The Return of the White-crowned Sparrows

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The Return of the White-crowned Sparrows

This first day of October, I am addressing a small flock of White-crowned sparrows. They are feasting at the toyon bushes at the edge of the Japanese garden at Kenneth Hahn park. They have migrated here from as far away as Alaska. No wonder they are hungry!

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Wasp Puzzle

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As a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya a few (OK, “many”) years ago, I taught physics at a rural secondary school and maintained a rear, prep area stocked with cabinets and shelves of paraphernalia for classroom demonstrations and laboratory assignments. Since the school was only about 8 miles north of the Equator, classrooms usually were open-air for natural ventilation.

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OUTDOOR EDUCATION: Mentors

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OUTDOOR EDUCATION: Mentors

But there is one bird that has recently returned that always reminds me of a dear friend, and mentor, who literally changed the course of my life. Barbara Courtois was the coordinator of the Environmental Education Program at Ballona when I first became a volunteer at the wetlands, in 1999. She would proudly tell you that she was a “lifelong learner”.

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INTERPRETING NATURE—Birding Bikers and Biking Birders: An Intersection of Two Interests

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INTERPRETING NATURE—Birding Bikers and Biking Birders: An Intersection of Two Interests

Whatever the world post-Covid looks like — for me, I hope it includes more birding and more biking. Living in a world that has had and continues to have so much taken by Covid, it has also drawn into relief those things which matter a lot, and for me, I can confidently list: being outside and being active. These are the two no-brainer actions that make my “matter-most” list. Whenever anyone asks me if I want to do an outside activity I answer, “Let’s go!” Under my breath daily I offer thanks into the universe for my family and my job.

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MESSAGE FROM MARGOT: Considering the State’s Plan for the Ballona Wetlands

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MESSAGE FROM MARGOT: Considering the State’s Plan for the Ballona Wetlands

The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (BWER) is the last coastal wetland in Los Angeles. It is sandwiched generally between Marina del Rey to the north, Playa Vista to the east, bluffs to the south, and the double dune system to the west, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The wetlands are bisected by the Ballona Flood Control Channel, which carries rainwater and dry season urban flow from the upper Ballona Creek Watershed through the urban core to the ocean. The BWER is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), a State resource agency.

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A Swarm of Bees

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A Swarm of Bees

A swarm of thousands of bees swooped into our front yard on a recent hot afternoon in October. The sound was incredible, buzzing so loudly that it attracted the attention of my neighbors. The bees quickly formed a cluster about double the size of a large football, piling up one on top of another in our bracelet myrtle tree. Then the buzzing stopped and they were calm.

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