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

White-winged Dove | Solitary Sandpiper | Brown Pelican | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Clay-colored Sparrow | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Summer Tanager | Indigo Bunting

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - April 16, 2026

Red-necked Grebe | Inca Dove | White-winged Dove | Pectoral Sandpiper | Solitary Sandpiper | Red-throated Loon | Brown Pelican | Western Cattle-Egret | CRESTED CARACARA | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Ovenbird | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Summer Tanager | Indigo Bunting

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - April 4, 2026

Red-necked Grebe | Brown Pelican | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Lucy’s Warbler | Northern Parula | Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Summer Tanager

Field Trips
Susan Castor
4th of July Weekend 2026—Owl Prowl Adventure in ...

We will be leading a Southern Sierra Nevada Owl Prowl July 3-6 Friday to Monday (departure day). Three nights of owling, (and days of birding) SWEEEETTTT!! We have been leading this trip for 20 years or so. If you can’t bear to stay up after midnight, or sleep in a bit, please reconsider.

John Schmitt, illustrator of the National Geographic Field Guide will join us as a co-leader.

4th of July Weekend 2026—Owl Prowl Adventure in the Southern Sierra Nevada
BIRDS OF THE SEASON
Susan Castor
Birds of the Season March 2026

February and early March offered typically pleasant weather, with many continuing rare birds and a handful of new ones, as well as the arrival of a few Neotropical migrants.  By late March these migrants were becoming more obvious and widespread, with some already on territory.  Breeding activity for resident birds was underway well before that. 

Birds of the Season March 2026

Rare Bird Alert - December 4, 2020

Rare Bird Alert - December 4, 2020

Trumpeter Swan | Tundra Swan | White-winged Scoter | Black Scoter | Long-tailed Duck | Pacific Golden-Plover | Mountain Plover | Lesser Black-backed Gull | American Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | "Black" Merlin | Tropical Kingbird | Western Kingbird | Scissor-tailed Flycatcher | Hammond's Flycatcher | Pacific-slope Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Cassin's Vireo | Lapland Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed "Gray-headed" Junco | Green-tailed Towhee | RUSTY BLACKBIRD | Black-and-white Warbler | Lucy's Warbler | American Redstart | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager | Black-headed Grosbeak | Blue Grosbeak

Rare Bird Alert - November 27, 2020

Rare Bird Alert - November 27, 2020

Tundra Swan | Black Scoter | Long-tailed Duck | Broad-billed Hummingbird | Sandhill Crane | Pacific Golden-Plover | Mountain Plover | American Bittern | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Swainson's Hawk | Short-eared Owl | "Black" Merlin | Tropical Kingbird | Dusky Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Gray Vireo | Clay-colored Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Dark-eyed "Gray-headed" Junco | Dark-eyed "Pink-sided" Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Lucy's Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager | Black-headed Grosbeak

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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