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The 2025 Lancaster Christmas Bird Count
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
This interesting write-up for the Lancaster Christmas Count was posted a few weeks ago on our local bird sighting listserve, LACoBirds (anyone from anywhere can join). I contacted the poster, Nick Freeman, and after some discussion, he agreed to my placing it here. Most CBC reports in the “popular press” merely cite the total count and a few special sightings. This one is different.
So, to demonstrate that data can be interesting, that data need not hurt, and to encourage field trip and Christmas Count compilers to go deeper and report their findings a little more widely, here’s Nick & Mary Freeman’s report.
2025 Lancaster CBC Breakdown
Prepared by Nicholas & Mary Freeman, Lancaster Christmas Bird Count Compilers. Count date: 20 December, 2025
LA Audubon Society, Lancaster CBC Sponsor
Contact: Nicholas Freeman mnfreeman@earthlink.net
First, a special note about L.A. County
As counties go, Los Angeles is quite remarkable. Yes, there are a huge number of CBC’s in LA county – ten, with at least two more crossing county lines; but also, in all of the United States, San Diego County is the only other county that can lay claim to pelagic birds, montane birds, and desert birds, all residing comfortably in their own ecosystems. Yes, seeing a Verdin, a LeConte’s Thrasher, and a Mountain Bluebird on one LA County CBC; then turning around the next day and seeing a Parasitic Jaeger, a Black Oystercatcher, and a Lewis’ Woodpecker on another LA County CBC, is entirely possible – although not easy!
The 47th Lancaster CBC held on Saturday, Dec. 20 was a remarkably calm (winds at start: 0 mph, finish: 0 to 20 mph) and temperate (45°- 75°F) affair, under light (0-30%) cirrus skies. Mary and I would once again like to thank all who came out to tally birds in the Lancaster area. We had 24 participants this year, about spot-on with our Count Average of 25 participants. While some people had very good reasons for cutting the day short – which is nonetheless appreciated and acceptable – only two teams counted after lunch. While Lancaster can be blowing like a banshee by afternoon, this was a remarkably calm (mostly 0 – 12 mph) afternoon. Participants, please consider urging your teams to count into the afternoon next year, if possible.
How the Lancaster CBC did this year:
Total Species Count:
105 Species were tabulated this year, which is 5 under the Count Average of 109.8, and 20 under the maximum of 125 species seen in 2020. 105 species betters only 8 other years (17%) of this long and illustrious count, so…not much to boast about.
Total Bird Tally:
18,466 Birds were tallied for the 2025 Count. Not many birds compared to a corrected 47-Yr. Count Avg. of 36.7K over the years. Recently 2017 – 2019 had an Avg. of 13.3K (15K, 13K, and 12K), which were especially low years for this CBC. More recently, including this year, 2020 – 2025 came in with an average of 18.9K (26K, 15K, 19K, 16K, 19K, and 18.5K); so hopefully overall numbers are stabilizing or turning around a bit. Total Birds is down only 500 from last year with 7 less participants in the field (and probably a few more half-days this year), so I think we are at least treading water.
(Mary Freeman, Lancaster CBC, 12-20-25)
New Species: Never Before Seen on the Lancaster Christmas Bird Count – NONE!
Now for the Highlights, Lowlights, and Remarkable Sightings, or Lack Thereof:
Remarkable Sightings:
Wood Duck (1), most recently seen 2011. Only (2) others ever for the Count. Valerie Anderson & David Barr in the Apollo Park Area. Excellent find!
Costa’s Hummingbird (1), of only (4) ever for the Count. Most recently 3 yrs. ago (’97, ’11, ’22). Kevin Lapp in Apollo Park, South Area.
Clark’s Grebe (1), Average (0.4). David Koeppel at the Lancaster Sewage Ponds. Most recent: ’00 (1). (15) of (19) ever seen were in ’86 – the only year with over 2 CLGR recorded. Is this an I.D. issue?
Osprey (1), Avg. (0.1). Only (5) ever, most recent in ’16. Flyover at the Country Club, heading S, as seen by Nick & Mary Freeman, Paul Weers.
Pygmy Nuthatch ! ! ! (1), Avg. (0.1). Only (2) others ever seen, both in 1987 on the 9th year of the CBC. It’s been a long time. Once again, the Freemans & Paul Weers. Probably the Bird of the Count!
Maximum for the 47-Year Count:
Ring-necked Duck (214), Avg. (34). Only over 100 thrice, including 2007 (143). This maximum is more than twice the Avg. of the last 7 yrs. Percent increase in numbers like Redhead!
Anna’s Hummingbird (28), old Max. (25) from 2 yrs. ago. Avg. (10), which ANHU hit in 2000, missing this mark only three times since.
Allen’s Hummingbird (3), ties Count Max. in ‘20. Of 11 ever seen, all were recorded in the last 9 yrs. Here to stay! Note: first 4 yrs seen, always at one feeder. This year, in 3 separate areas.
Black Phoebe (59), Avg. (22). Beats out the Max. of (50) from 2 yrs. ago, and (47) from last year. Irrigation and matured plantings in urban & suburban areas likely to account for continued success of this species.
Scenic, often very birdy, and even more often, quite hot.
(iSportsman – Piute Ponds)
Some history on the marsh.
Remarkably High or Trending Up (*see below):
(* designates California Species of Special Concern)
Canvasback (24), Avg. (9). Only 2 counts over (20) since 1983 (153 seen).
Redhead* (13), Avg. (12). Over Avg. all of last 7 yrs., but only 5 times in previous 39 yrs. Change in wintering distribution? High counts 1983 (110), and 2003 (53); irruptive.
Rock Pigeon (1,398), Avg. (490). Max. of (2,214) in ’96. Only over 1K twice before (’88, ’96). Both over 2K. 1K ROPI were in Agricultural (Ag) & Dairy lands. Doing well!
Verdin (10), Avg. (3.4). High (15). All 5 counts over (9) in last 7 yrs. These tiny desert obligates seem able to make a go of it while the desert habitat and all other desert birds are struggling. Fascinating.
shaded by friendly Joshua Trees. Your editor spent many happy hours here over the decades, spotting birds all around while dodging slices from the duffers.
Historic Minimums for the Count:
Loggerhead Shrike (10), Avg (40). Previous minimums of (13) were both in last 6 yrs. Max. (97)! Should be fairly common in healthy Joshua Tree and Atriplex scrub, Ag windbreaks. Victim of depressed groundwater?
(Photo by Todd Keeler-Wolf, California Native Plant Society)
White-crowned Sparrow (494), Avg. (1.5K), Max. (3.9K). 4 of the 7 counts below 800 have been in the last 8 yrs., although the other 4 yrs. in the last 8 tallied over 1K WCSP, so hopefully this trend can turn around. Decreased Ag, seed bank in the soil, struggling scrub not seeding well – Idle speculation. Maybe the heavy rains this year will turn things around?
Western Meadowlark (40), Avg. (270), Max. (875)! Previous Min. was (88) in ’89. Numbers fluctuate considerably on this CBC. Our areas in both Lancaster & Malibu CBCs were skunked here, so maybe something regional/climate-related is going on.
Notable Misses and Underachievers:
Northern Harrier* (10), Avg. (29), Max (73). Second Lowest tally for the Count. Low of (3) in ’99 is only count less than (11). Appears somewhat cyclical, but numbers have been lower on average lately.
California Scrub-Jay (0), Avg (1.9). Skunked 2 yrs. running, and 3 of last 4. Unheard of since the first 11 yrs. of the 47-year CBC. Not generally urban or suburban birds, so probably unable to take advantage of most in-town irrigation or feeders.
LeConte’s Thrasher* (0), Avg. (2.9). While we have been skunked by LETH 7 times over the history of the Count, 3 times were over the first 9 yrs, one in the middle and 4 over the last 8 yrs. of the Count. As LETH prefers undeveloped, dense Atriplex scrub and desert washes, I suspect that early skunks were due to lack of surveying in “desert wasteland,” and not lack of birds. The habitat was likely better then. It is disconcerting that we are often not finding LETH now, which seems likely to stem from poor scrub quality, caused by lack of groundwater.
If helping with the Lancaster Christmas Count intrigues you, especially if you live in the area, contact the organizers, Nick & Mary Freeman. More eyes make better counts.
National Audubon Society has their CBC historical and current-year count on-line here.
Current year accounts by CBC Count Circle are here.
The Lancaster count circle code is CALN.
Backyard Birds Revealed | Cornell Lab
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
These short films are fun to watch and the photography/filming is excellent. So far there are at least five of them. Watch one, and if you want more, another one pops up in a couple of seconds, or you can select from their on-screen list. The picture below was snipped from “Are Birds Fighting at the Feeder?” They also have a YouTube channel with a boodle of films. Wild Birds Unlimited, purveyors of megatons of bird seed, feeders, binoculars and the like, sponsors these films, so there’s a 5-second ad near the start.
Ripening Rimu berries means Kakapo mating frenzy | The Guardian
[Posted by Chuck Almdale, suggested by Lillian Johnson]
Berry nice to meet you: bumper fruit crop could lead to huge mating season for NZ’s endangered kākāpō
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/13/nz-kakapo-mating-season
After a four-year wait, the abundant fruiting of the rimu tree could inspire the world’s heaviest parrots to boost their population.
The Kakapo is unusual in many ways: flightless, world’s heaviest parrot, nocturnal, mate in leks (like grouse and manakins), long-lived (up to 80 years), highly endangered (down to 51 birds in 1995), live only on small temperate offshore islands of New Zealand, and mate every two to four years, when the berries of the rimu tree ripen. The trees may well have a bumper crop this year.
The Guardian not only lets you read their articles for free, without forcing you to give them your email address, credit card number or firstborn child, but they have a lot of other interesting articles on science and nature subjects, all of of which can be read for free. They also have ordinary news. When I see a link to an interesting article on NYT, WaPo, LAT and other $$$ sites, I check The Guardian. They often have it.
Have a thing for rare, hard-to-see nocturnal parrots?: Read about Australia’s Night Parrot, unseen by anyone between 1912 and 1979 and thought extinct, and still one of the world’s poorest-known birds. Link The finding and radio-tagging of a live Night Parrot in 2015 was deemed, “The bird-watching equivalent of finding Elvis flipping burgers in an outback roadhouse.”
Bette Davis Park & Glendale Narrows Riverwalk, 10 Jan. 2026
[Chuck Almdale; photos by Chris Tosdevin, and Marquette Mutchler]
(Chris Tosdevin, Los Angeles River, 1-13-24)
Perhaps because this is a low point in the east end of the San Fernando Valley it’s a bit cooler here, next to the Los Angeles River as it moves southward towards downtown L.A.. It was 46°F at 8am and climbed all the way to 63° by 11am. A bit windy too, and the rustling leaves and quivering grass made it a little harder spotting the smaller passerines, but of course had no noticeable affect on the birds in the riverbed.
We had no photographers present, so the photos in this posting are from previous postings, most by Chris Tosdevin at our prior Bette Davis & Riverwalk field trip on 13 Jan. 2024.
As with last year, the first birds was a large mixed flock of Red-winged and Brewer’s Blackbirds and European Starlings. But the loud squawks of a pair of Lilac-crowned Amazons (formerly Lilac-crowned Parrots) in the nearby sycamores were too enticing to ignore for long.
It’s been recently discovered that Red-crowned and Lilac-crowned Amazons have been hybridizing in our area. These two species are closely related, but in the wild they live in separate regions, don’t meet and don’t hybridize. When they were imported to L.A. and escaped captivity in sufficient numbers, they didn’t see enough of a difference between themselves, began mating and – voilà – hybrids appeared. We posted an article and link about this event last month, based on work done by the Moore lab at nearby Occidental College . The Bette Davis pair look like Lilac-crowned to me; although the lilac is not stunningly obvious, it’s certainly not red. And as with all the Amazona species, when they fly their wingbeats are very shallow and rapid. Other parrots don’t fly like this, so you can quickly narrow a poorly-seen parrot flying in this manner down to this genus.
This portion of the L.A. River channel does not have a cement bottom and a lot of birds appreciate the dirt bottom; the channel islands are well rooted, making it much birdier than most other sections of the river channel which are entirely cement. I was surprised to see that our recent 9″ of rain hadn’t appeared to affected these islands at all, other than strewing pieces of plastic and a few remnants of furniture onto them. Black-necked Stilts are very reliable here and are scattered all up and down the channel, although about 75% were downstream of the long brushy sand island at the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk section which goes under the #5 freeway. Just like in prior years.
Our entire route, all on the north (upper) side of the river channel can be followed on the satellite photo below. Starting at Bette Davis Picnic, eastward through Bette Davis Park towards Riverside Dr., south through a fence gate to the concrete walk along the river, westward to where two river branches come together below where it says Rancho Ave. back through the park to the cars, drive across Riverside to Garden, then south towards the river, walk around the streetside park to the west entrance of the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk, then eastward and under the #5 freeway to where the river bends to the right, then back to the car. From the west entrance to Riverwalk, it’s 15 minutes of steady walking to the river bend.
(Chris Tosdevin 1/13/24)
All along this stretch are the vegetated islands, with plenty of rocky areas in between. Birds in the channel tended to stay close to these long narrow islands, and the eastern (downstream) ends of these islands were particularly good for birds. The Greater Yellowlegs was at the east end of the island running under Riverside Drive while the Blue-winged Teal were all at the east end of the island under the #5 freeway. The Spotted Sandpipers were all widely separated solo birds, poking about along the edges of the various islands. Low damp areas likely for snipe were diligently checked, but none were seen.
note the long brush- & tree-covered islands in the stream. (Google Maps)
The freeways provide a constant background of traffic, a rushing roar or “wall of sound” with few discernible individual sounds, much like birding next to a large waterfall like Niagara or Iguazú. Surprisingly, perhaps, you could still hear plenty of birds like the Black Phoebes in the branches, Yellow-rumped Warblers in the grass and Crows and Ravens overhead. The flock of blackbirds and starlings whistled and croaked, while ducks in the river whistled and quacked.
2nd-most-common bird (Chris Tosdevin, L.A. River 1-13-24)
When you walk the Narrows Riverwalk under the #5 freeway, it’s like passing through the gates of Hades, with ominous discordant groans falling from the roadway above and piteous shrill cries from Good Lord Knows What. Be forewarned, but do not despair. As the south end of the south island usually has some uncommon ducks, as with today’s sleeping Blue-winged Teal and active Buffleheads diving, one feels compelled to go and check anyway.
(Chris Tosdevin, L.A. River, 1-13-24)
Today’s Ring-necked Duck was a female, so the above photo of a male will have to suffice.
This is a good birding spot for a place surrounded by city and “freeway-close.” I suspect that in the spring it functions as a small oasis for passerines passing through our concrete jungle, and the L.A. River channel provides a migration route for waterbirds in both fall and spring.
(Chris Tosdevin 1-13-24)
The lists below combine sightings from both locations, which are adjacent and have nearly the same species.
| Bette Davis Picnic Park & Glendale Narrows Riverwalk | |||
| 1/10/26 | 1/18/25 | 1/13/24 | |
| Canada Goose | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Egyptian Goose | 4 | 1 | |
| Blue-winged Teal | 7 | 3 | |
| Cinnamon Teal | 3 | ||
| Gadwall | 2 | ||
| American Wigeon | 206 | 200 | 20 |
| Mallard | 96 | 30 | 25 |
| Green-winged Teal | 2 | 2 | |
| Ring-necked Duck | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Bufflehead | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Feral Pigeon | 20 | 30 | 18 |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | 4 | 20 | 4 |
| Mourning Dove | 30 | 6 | 6 |
| White-throated Swift | 10 | 15 | |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Allen’s Hummingbird | 2 | 1 | |
| American Coot | 55 | 70 | 25 |
| Black-necked Stilt | 270 | 400 | 100 |
| Killdeer | 4 | 6 | |
| Wilson’s Snipe | 3 | ||
| Spotted Sandpiper | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 1 | ||
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Peeps | 100 | ||
| Ring-billed Gull | 3 | 1 | |
| Western Gull | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Gull sp | 24 | ||
| Pied-billed Grebe | 6 | ||
| Double-crested Cormorant | 7 | 3 | |
| Black-crowned Night Heron | 16 | ||
| Snowy Egret | 1 | 1 | |
| Great Egret | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Great Blue Heron | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Turkey Vulture | 2 | 2 | |
| Osprey | 1 | ||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 2 | ||
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | ||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 2 | |
| Acorn Woodpecker | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 | ||
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 1 | ||
| Merlin | 2 | ||
| Lilac-crowned Parrot | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Black Phoebe | 15 | 10 | 6 |
| Say’s Phoebe | 1 | 1 | |
| Hutton’s Vireo | 1 | ||
| California Scrub-Jay | 2 | ||
| American Crow | 14 | 6 | 6 |
| Common Raven | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Oak Titmouse | 3 | ||
| Bushtit | 8 | 6 | |
| Wrentit | 1 | ||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 3 | 8 | 4 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 | 1 | |
| European Starling | 23 | 40 | 20 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 | ||
| Western Bluebird | 18 | 4 | |
| American Robin | 1 | ||
| House Sparrow | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| American Pipit | 1 | ||
| House Finch | 2 | 8 | |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 2 | 4 | |
| Chipping Sparrow | 6 | ||
| Lark Sparrow | 3 | ||
| Dark-eyed Junco | 1 | 6 | |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 4 | ||
| Song Sparrow | 1 | 3 | |
| California Towhee | 1 | 1 | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 8 | 80 | |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 28 | 40 | 8 |
| Great-tailed Grackle | 1 | ||
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | ||
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 33 | 40 | 20 |
| Total species – 75 | 47 | 48 | 57 |
| Total birds | 921 | 1206 | 410 |
Fire-setting Hawks | BBC Discover
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Firestarter: They set the land ablaze from the sky – and then wait for their prey to run
by Helen Pilcher, 11 Jan 2026
Humans may not be the only species to deliberately control fire. Birds of prey have been observed picking up burning sticks from wildfires, then using them to ignite new fires so they can feast on the animals that flee.
This article about raptors in the Northern Territory of Australia reminded me of a similar event we personally witnessed.
Decades ago while driving through the Kimberley region of far northwest Australia, we drove past a slow-moving grass fire, not uncommon in this grassy region with very sparse bushy vegetation. Along it’s very narrow (5-20 ft. front-to back) front, above the flames and “kiting” along the long rising plume of smoke were several kites, I forget which of the five local kite species they were. They were darting down to the ground, both in front of the flames and behind them. When we mentioned this later to one of the local birdos, he said this was common in the outback; birds, primarily if not exclusively raptors, hunting along the flame fronts, both for small creatures fleeing the flames, and for now-roasted creatures, primarily large insects, left behind on the smoking ground. This seemed very clever. We didn’t see the kites carrying burning sticks, but I can easily believe they’ve figured this out.
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 