Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - October 24, 2026

Stilt Sandpiper | Sabine’s Gull | Nazca Booby | Cocos Booby | Western Cattle-Egret | Broad-winged Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | Pacific Wren | White Wagtail | Grasshopper Sparrow | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Ovenbird | Black-and-white Warbler | Prothonotary Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Northern Parula | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | American Redstart | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - October 17, 2026

Broad-billed Hummingbird | Ridgway’s Rail | Sabine’s Gull | Nazca Booby | White-headed Woodpecker | Tropical Kingbird | Gray Catbird | Evening Grosbeak | Cassin’s Finch | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | American Redstart | Northern Parula | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager | Indigo Bunting

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - October 12, 2026

White-winged Dove | Ridgway’s Rail | Arctic Tern | Sabine’s Gull | Nazca Booby | Masked / Nazca Booby | Cocos Booby | WHITE IBIS | Western Cattle-Egret | Broad-winged Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Flammulated Owl | White-headed Woodpecker | Tropical Kingbird | Plumbeous Vireo | Pinyon Jay | Clarks Nutcracker | Gray Catbird | Sage Thrasher | Varied Thrush | Evening Grosbeak | Red Crossbill | Chestnut-collared Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Swamp Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | American Redstart | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - October 3, 2026

Ridgway’s Rail | Sabine’s Gull | Manx Shearwater| Nazca Booby | Cocos Booby | Western Cattle-Egret | Williamson’s Sapsucker | Tropical Kingbird | Least Flycatcher | Pinyon Jay | Clark’s Nutcracker | Yellow-green Vireo | Evening Grosbeak | Lark Bunting | Clay-colored Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Orchard Oriole | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | American Redstart | Northern Parula | Magnolia Warbler | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Palm Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - September 26, 2026

Ridgway’s Rail | Semipalmated Sandpiper | Red Phalarope | Common Tern | Little Gull | Least Bittern | Reddish Egret | Williamson’s Sapsucker | Tropical kingbird | Least Flycatcher | Bell’s Vireo | Yellow-Green Vireo | Pinyon Jay | Clark’s Nutcracker | Purple Martin | Evening Grosbeak | Black-throated Sparrow | Clay-colored Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Orchard Oriole | Ovenbird | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Prothonotary Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | American Redstart | Cape May Warbler | Northern Parula | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting | Painted Bunting | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert - November 20, 2020

Rare Bird Alert - November 20, 2020

Eurasian Wigeon | White-winged Scoter | Black Scoter | Long-tailed Duck | Red-necked Grebe | Pacific Golden-Plover | Mountain Plover | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Pacific Loon | American Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Swainson's Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Ash-throated Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Phoebe | Verdin | Grasshopper Sparrow | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed "Gray-headed" Junco | Dark-eyed "Pink-sided" Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Scott's Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Nashville Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager

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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.

Rare Bird Alert - November 13, 2020

Rare Bird Alert - November 13, 2020

Tundra Sawn | White-winged Scoter | Black Scoter | Long-tailed Duck | Sandhill Crane | MASKED BOOBY | American Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Swainson’s Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Northern “Yellow-shafted” Flicker | “Prairie” Merlin | Ash-throated Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Hammond’s Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Cassin’s Vireo | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Dark-eyed “Red-backed” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Orchard Oriole | Scott’s Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Nashville Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager | Painted Bunting

Rare Bird Alert - November 6, 2020

Rare Bird Alert - November 6, 2020

Eurasian Wigeon | Surf Scoter | American Oystercatcher | Pacific Golden-Plover | Mountain Plover | American Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Broad-winged Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | GREATER PEWEE | Eastern Phoebe | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | Dark-eyed “Red-backed” Junco | Swamp Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Palm Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Canada Warbler | Summer Tanager | Lazuli Bunting

Rare Bird Alert - October 30, 2020

Rare Bird Alert - October 30, 2020

Pacific Golden-Plover | Neotropic Cormorant | American Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Short-eared Owl | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Northern "Yellow-shafted" Flicker | GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER | Tropical Kingbird | GREATER PEWEE | Red-throated Pipit| Lapland Longspur | Chestnut-collared Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed "Pink-sided" Junco | White-throated Sparrow | "Large-billed" Savannah Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy's Warbler | American Redstart | Bay-breasted Warbler | Palm Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Summer Tanager

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Western Tanager, Vol. 87 No. 2, November-December 2020

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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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