Los Angeles River Field trip report for 12 September, 2015

A look at the list of 60+ birds seen on the lower Los Angeles River (with apologies for the late posting.)

I doubt Mr. Gehry’s much-ballyhooed plans are going to impact this stretch of the river since it handles the greatest volume of runoff along the river’s winding course before emptying into the Los Angeles Harbor at San Pedro. Years of drought have allowed a rich mix of algae, plants, and tree to grow in the riverbed. The concrete riverbed then becomes a thriving stopover for migrating shorebirds each summer into the early fall. We should be able to bird this area with similar species and at least this success in the years to come.

We visited four areas to focus on specific species and were successful in finding all of our “target” species! Thanks to Richard Barth and Jeff Boyd for sharing their local knowledge so generously!

Spots visited: River North of Willow Street Bridge, River South of bridge, River North of Alondra in Paramount, DeForest Park, River South of Rosecrans. Start 7:30AM, end 12:50PM.

Due to the back-and-forth movement of flocks of peeps, Dowitchers, & Stilts, any bird count would tend to be inaccurate. We can however confirm the relatively rare two Pectoral Sandpipers, and the solo Baird’s Sandpiper as minimum counts. For those who would bird this section we recommend you pick a day like today with a lovely permanent overcast that made the experience much less perspirant for all of us birders.

Canada Goose

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Green-winged Teal

Blue-winged Teal

Cinnamon Teal

Canvasback

Ruddy Duck

Pied-billed Grebe

Double-Crested Cormorant

Great Egret

Green Heron

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

White-faced Ibis

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Cooper’s Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Semi-palmated Plover

Killdeer

American Avocet

Black-necked Stilt

Willet

Spotted Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Baird’s Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

Ring-billed Gull

California Gull

Western Gull

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Mourning Dove

Yellow-chevroned Parakeet

Vaux’s Swift

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Gray Flycatcher

Black Phoebe

Warbling Vireo

AmericanCrow

Barn Swallow

Bushtit

House Wren

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Western Tanager

California Towhee

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Hooded Oriole

House Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

Northern Red Bishop

Scaly-breasted Munia