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. 90 No. 4 Mar-Apr 202, Volume 90
Susan Castor
Western Tanager March–April 2024, Vol. 90 No.4

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Attack of the Azolla!

Birds of the Season-March 2024

Bird Walks & Field Trips

Western Tanager March–April 2024, Vol. 90 No.4

Vol. 87 No. 4

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Adventures in Nature Wherever We Are

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Adventures in Nature Wherever We Are

My first close encounter with a whale was at SeaWorld in San Diego, California, currently home to many orphaned and injured ocean inhabitants. I took the back scene tour that raised funds for animal rescue and welfare including “Lunch with Shamu,” one of several generations of Shamu-named orcas. Seated at a table alongside Shamu, I bit into my peanut butter sandwich only to have Shamu leave the water and slide down our eight-person table to my sandwich. Whales have huge, muscular tongues they use to lick food off of their baleen, much as we lick peanut butter off of the roofs of our mouths. From the response of the trainer, this was an unplanned snack.

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An Unexpected Gift

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A black phoebe has taken a liking to our backyard, perching variously on the spent orchid stem, the tomato plant cage, the long slender stem of the Agapanthus, and the telephone wire. She visits often throughout the day, feeding on the small yellow moths she spies in the grass, swooping down to snatch them and gliding back up to her perch to swallow them.

Amateurs and Experts — Ballona and Bulldozers

Amateurs and Experts — Ballona and Bulldozers

At the moment, the State has approved a plan that would disrupt much of the Ballona Wetlands and that is a ‘restoration’ in name only. A section of habitat, known as Area A, is slated to be bulldozed beyond recognition in a misguided attempt to “reconnect” the wetlands to the open ocean. However, historical records indicate that Ballona Creek only very occasionally reached all the way to the sea, and only during extremely heavy rain years. The plan, known as Alternative One, would create a full tidal habitat that never existed previously on the site.

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Birds of the Season — February 2021

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Birds of the Season — February 2021

Los Angeles is one of only two counties in the state— indeed in the country— that span the breath of habitats from offshore waters to coastline to mountains to deserts. The other is San Diego County; geographically next door to us. This situation naturally translates to a high diversity of birds, with both counties being closely matched and both having recorded over 520 species. The layperson is unlikely to think of Los Angeles as a great birding destination, but it is certainly that. Every year and every season demonstrate that clearly.

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Ralph W. Schreiber 2021 Ornithology Research Awards

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Call for Applications

The Los Angeles Audubon Society presents an annual research grant, the Ralph W. Schreiber Ornithology Research Award, to support research relevant to the biology of birds.  Award recipients are limited to students and amateur ornithologists with limited or no access to major granting agencies and who reside in southern California (from San Luis Obispo, Kern and San Bernardino Counties south) or are currently enrolled in a southern California academic institution.  There is no geographical restriction on the research area.

One or more awards will be given out in 2021.  Between $1500 and $5000 are awarded each year. The application deadline for the 2021 Research Award is April 30, 2021; grants will be awarded in June, 2021.

Direct any questions to Ryan Harrigan, Grants Committee Chairman, @ Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, La Kretz Hall, Suite 300, Box 951496, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1496, By email: iluvsa@ucla.edu

Dr. Schreiber was curator of birds and mammals at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, known for his research on Pacific seabirds, including the impacts of the pesticide DDT on Brown Pelicans, who died in the prime of his career.

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