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
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - March 28, 2026

Brown Pelican | Western Cattle-Egret | “Prairie” Merlin | Tropical Kingbird | GREATER PEWEE | Clay-colored Sparrow | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler | Summer Tanager

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A Splendidly Spooky Avian Encounter

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A Splendidly Spooky Avian Encounter

Recently, at my home in Mar Vista, I began noticing some unusual sounds. As dusk fell and darkness drew its blanket across the sky, I’d hear intermittent hissing, cries, and croaking sounds. At times, the eerie sounds would increase with such intensity that I’d walk outside to listen. It seemed to be coming from the unlit alley behind our house. Was it some kind of Cicada? A rare type of tree frog? Frightful spirits rising up from the dead for Halloween? One night around 11 PM, I heard a bloodcurdling shriek and felt a chill go down my spine! What was going on in Mar Vista?

Rare Bird Alert - October 20, 2023

TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE | Pacific Golden-Plover | Red-billed Tropicbird | Manx Shearwater | Nazca Booby | Zone-tailed Hawk | Northern “Yellow-shafted” Flicker | Tropical Kingbird | Pacific Wren | Gray Catbird | Clay-colored Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Prothonotary Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager

Rare Bird Alert - October 13, 2023

TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE | White-winged Dove | Solitary Sandpiper | Red-billed Tropicbird | Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Broad-winged Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | Lapland Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | Black-and-white Warbler | Prothonotary Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Magnolia Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert - October 6, 2023

TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Cattle Egret | Zone-tailed Hawk | Brown-crested Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Yellow-throated Vireo | Sage Thrasher | Lark Bunting | Clay-colored Sparrow | Bobolink | Orchard Oriole | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Prothonotary Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Virginia’s Warbler | Northern Parula | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager

Rare Bird Alert - September 29, 2023

TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE | Pacific Golden-Plover | Dunlin | Sabine’s Gull | Common Tern | American Bittern | GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER | Eastern Phoebe | Pinyon Jay | Red-throated Pipit | Vesper Sparrow | Orchard Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Virginia’s Warbler | American Redstart | Magnolia Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Summer Tanager | Painted Bunting | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert - September 22, 2023

TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE | American Oystercatcher | Pacific Golden-Plover | Common Tern | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Kingbird | Purple Martin | Lark Bunting | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Virginia’s Warbler | American Redstart | Magnolia Warbler | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Summer Tanager | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert - September 15, 2023

TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE | White-winged Dove | Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Black Tern | Common Tern | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Kingbird | Purple Martin | Red Crossbill | Lark Bunting | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Virginia’s Warbler | Blackburnian Warbler | Canada Warbler | Summer Tanager

Arctic-Breeding Greater Yellowlegs Tracked to Los Angeles River

Arctic-Breeding Greater Yellowlegs Tracked to Los Angeles River

How do you know when a Greater Yellowlegs is near? It'll tell you. These gregarious shorebirds (Tringa melanoleuca) breed in boggy forest edges in the subarctic, along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska and in central Canada. Despite their conspicuous behavior both on the breeding grounds and during migration, Greater Yellowlegs are a particularly poorly understood species. While on-the-ground observations help us understand their range and habitat use at a species-level, until this year their migration had never been tracked from a bird's eye view. We didn't know the routes different populations use, what stopover sites are important, how they are connected and what an individual bird's migratory strategy looks like. Tracking data fills these gaps and informs our conservation priorities for populations.

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