Red-necked Grebe | Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Solitary Sandpiper | Black-legged Kittiwake | Glaucous Gull | Neotropic Cormorant | Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Zone-tailed Hawk | Rough-Legged Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Phoebe | Swamp Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Orchard Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager
Rare Bird Alert - March 11, 2022
Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Solitary Sandpiper | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Neotropic Cormorant | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Zone-tailed Hawk | Rough-legged Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Least Flycatcher | Dusky Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | American Redstart | Painted Redstart
Open Wetlands at Ballona Young Birders
In addition to our regular Ballona tour on Sunday, March 13th, we will offer a new tour for Young Birders! Our very own Emily Lamb will be leading her fellow Young Birders on a tour at 10 am. Come learn about the birds of Ballona, upcoming migration season, and hunt for Owl pellets with Emily. RSVP to Cindy Hardin at cindyhardin@laaudubon.org or give a call at 310-301-0050.
Rare Bird Alert - March 4, 2022
Pacific Golden-Plover | Solitary Sandpiper | Red Knot | Neotropic Cormorant | Zone-tailed Hawk | Rough-legged Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Least Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Orchard Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | American Redstart | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager
Western Tanager, March-April 2022, Volume 88 Number 4
Bird Haiku
Hummingbird Experience
I found a hummingbird on the ground where I live. I was afraid that the cats would harm it so I picked it up in the palm of my hand. It was alive but very still in my hand, giving me the opportunity to pet it and comfort it. The bird stayed in the palm of my hand for a short time. I walked with it (in my hand) inside my building and then transferred the hummingbird to an employee where I live. She walked with it (in the palm of her hand) through the hallway and outside where the hummingbird then flew away.
It was an incredible experience!
March–April 2022 — Bird Walks
Camels In California?
Yes, there are camels in California! It all started when the U.S. Army at Camp Verde in Texas imported several hundred camels from Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece to deliver supplies to the arid Southwest. The United States was on the cusp of the Civil War, and southwestern California was strategic, but had various local groups with questionable allegiance to the Union. A detachment of thirty-one camels ended up at Fort Tejon at the northern end of the Tejon Pass, also known as the Grapevine in Kern County, California. It was the western terminus of the experimental U.S. Camel Corps. From June 24, 1854, to its abandonment on September 11, 1864, Fort Tejon was home to U.S. Dragoons followed by California Volunteer Troops, including companies of the 2nd California Volunteer Cavalry.
INTERPRETING NATURE The Park to Playa Trail — Walk Your Watershed
Adapting to pandemic conditions has pushed many of us to seek outdoor adventures close to home, visiting spots we may have overlooked or even dismissed in the past. The Park to Playa Trail is an ideal candidate to visit for a walk in a local watershed here in Los Angeles, with 13 continuous miles traversing the Ballona Creek Watershed from the Baldwin Hills all the way to Dockweiler Beach. Plan it right, and you can have your own birding big day, visiting coastal sage scrub habitat, manicured parklands with established tree cover, paved and less-paved stretches of Ballona Creek, and then beach habitat. Basically, gnatcatchers to oystercatchers on a single urban trail.