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Salton Sea Area Trip Report: 7-8 February, 2015
Reeds and mountains (D. Roberts 2/8/15)
It was a great trip. The weather was near-perfect – no one would have complained if it were 5° lower – and no rain to turn the caliche roads to mud and tires into slicks. Our radios worked, no cases of food poisoning or scorpion stings, no one was seriously late, and many state, USA or life birds were found. Zone-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara and Crissal Thrasher were the only notable misses. It’s best to look for Crissal very early in the morning, difficult to do when you cannot be simultaneously everywhere.
The Davis Rd. salt works and/or salt bath spa (D. Roberts 2/8/15)
My general impression of the birdlife of the south end of the Salton Sea (SESS) is that overall numbers declined since 2012, but diversity is holding steady, or even up a little. We still had large numbers of certain species: Snow & Ross’s Geese, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Cattle Egret, White-faced Ibis, Ring-billed Gull and California Gull. Although our “counts” are extremely rough approximations, even these species seemed somewhat fewer. Other species definitely seemed reduced in numbers, for example: American White Pelican, Black-necked Stilt, Common Raven, and Red-winged Blackbird. Then again, most of those species are found in flocks – miss one flock and you miss most of that species. Perhaps such variances mean nothing at all.
Neotropic Cormorants – Note white border to gular pouch (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
We checked out two new areas. A few miles east of Brawley is the New River Wetlands Project, with scrub surrounding a pond about 100m X 300m. A large flock of Great Egrets roosted in some nearby trees. The Crested Caracara reported to be in the vicinity did not appear; later we learned it prefers late afternoon. While Marsh Wrens madly burbled in the reeds, we studied cormorants roosting on water-snags, trying to figure out which – if any – was a Neotropic. After much scratching of heads, Joyce cleverly noted that several had a varying amount of narrow white border to their orange gular pouches, a field mark I had forgotten. [Neotropic Cormorants are casual visitors to SE Calif; I last saw one here in 1986.]
We found some of our target birds at the Wister Unit parking lot: Gambel’s Quail, Verdin, Abert’s Towhee and the only Inca Doves of the trip. An immense amount of brush as well as the nature trail is gone from the west side of Davis Rd. for reasons we couldn’t guess, leaving a barren moonscape. A stop at the old salt works spa produced our first Burrowing Owl sitting on a concrete box-like affair, while a short distance away we found a large mixed flock of Rough-winged, Tree, Barn and Cliff Swallows resting on overhead wires and poking about in a muddy field. Many of the Tree Swallows were blindingly iridescent blue.
Burrowing Owl at his burrow (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
The Roseate Spoonbill, a major target bird for California, proved to be at the end of Garst Rd. as reported, albeit at a vast distance, tiny even in our best scopes. Its off-white, very pale pink plumage was spotted by David, I don’t know how. I suspect that some of our 16 birders – even after many minutes of viewing – remained unconvinced. I was fortunate to see it crane its neck, giving me a glimpse of its large gray spoonish bill.
Gambel’s Quail (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
The Salton Sea Park HQ at the west end of Sinclair Rd. is a great place for lunch. Bathrooms, shaded picnic tables, water, and viewing platforms to check out the geese, many of which are real – not cutout figures, pivoting on poles in the breeze. Several seed feeders bring birds in close, particular Abert’s Towhees, Gambel’s Quail and various doves. Verdin build their globular nests in the mesquite trees. I bumped into birding compatriot Roy Poucher who kindly mentioned that a Yellow-footed Gull was out on the sea-edge, within walking distance, and after lunch we make the trek.
Common Ground Dove – note scaly breast & brown-spotted wings
(J. Waterman 2/7/15)
As usual with rare gulls, they’re buried amongst thousands of similar gulls. David and I scoped the shoreline, starting from opposite ends of a long line of gulls disappearing into the distance in both directions, almost all Ring-bills with a few scattered Herring. Much to my surprise, I found it not far away, its large size and dark gray back obvious – well, sort of obvious– among hordes of lighter gulls. But it was lying down. So we all watched, wishing it would rise.
The Yellow-footed Gull stands among lesser mortals (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
It wouldn’t move, so we clambered down the stone embankment, the gulls beconing restive as we reached the edge of their comfort zone. Our target gull stood up, we all admired its bright yellow legs and congratulated ourselves on our good fortune, and left.
Sandhill Cranes (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
At Unit One – the Sonny Bono unit at the SW corner of the sea – we found a single White-fronted Goose within a large flock of Snow and Ross’s Geese, with Sandhill Cranes field-gleaning in the distance. Sundown approached. We made it back to Keystone Rd. SE of Brawley by 4:30, with plenty of time to watch Cattle Egrets and White Pelicans soar past enroute to the sea, gulls and ducks and White-faced Ibis splash down in the embanked pond nearby, and especially for the ululating of the Sandhill Cranes as they spiraled down to the water. It was, as always, a magical moment.
Gila Woodpecker (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
Sunday morning began with a drive through the tree-filled SW Brawley residential neighborhood, which yielded our first pair of Gila (Hee-laa) Woodpeckers. Cattle Call Park had more, plus Cedar Waxwings and other small birds. No Zone-tailed Hawks appeared. We checked out another new area, known locally as Carter & Fites, a small undeveloped brushy forest, mostly mesquite, where Crissal Thrashers could be found. Alas, none were. And not much else, either, except a few Phainopeplas, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, some Verdin, and a honeybee who was obsessed with my hearing aids.
We shot back over to the east side of Brawley to revisit the Neotropic Cormorants with Saturday’s late-arriving contingent. That done, we headed home via Hwy 111 on the now-closer east side of the sea, which led us to try for the Lesser Black-backed Gull at Salt Creek, halfway up the sea’s eastern edge. It was a virtual repeat of the prior day’s Yellow-footed Gull search, with two differences: the thousands of other gulls were mostly California, and I incautiously wore sandals to stroll upon what I thought to be a sandy
Birders on the shelly beach at Salt Creek (D. Roberts 2/8/15)
beach. Not. Sand. Tiny razor-sharp shells, trillions of them, knee-deep in places. Despite this, we actually found the gull, dark-backed among the pale gray gulls, heavily streaked on head and neck, bright light eye and yellow feet, dark wing-tipped below, a dead ringer for one of the pictures in Gulls of the Americas. I’ve searched for this annually reported gull at the sea several times before, often wondering if it was someone’s hypnogogic hallucination.
Celebratory date shakes all around.
The gorget of the male Costa’s Hummingbird is purple with long side ‘extensions’ (J. Waterman 2/7/15)
Useful Resources:
Finding Birds at the Salton Sea and in Imperial County, California; Henry Detwiler & Bob Miller; 2012; $18.
Available at Buteo Books and elsewhere.
Southwest Birders Web Site
Links to prior trips: February 2012 February 2010
Trip list counts from 1 to 10 are reasonably accurate. All larger numbers are estimates intended only to reflect relative abundance. [Chuck Almdale]
H – Heard Only
In Bold – Bird of Special Interest
| Salton Sea Trip Lists | 2/7-8/15 | 2/11-2/12 | 2/6-7/10 |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | 1 | ||
| Snow Goose | 1000+ | 1000+ | 6000+ |
| Ross’s Goose | 200+ | 300+ | 500+ |
| Gadwall | 50 | 40 | 10 |
| Eurasian Wigeon | 1 | ||
| American Wigeon | 80 | 200 | 30 |
| Mallard | 30 | 100 | 60 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 2 | ||
| Cinnamon Teal | 4 | 25 | 4 |
| Northern Shoveler | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ |
| Northern Pintail | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ |
| Green-winged Teal | 200 | 400 | 30 |
| Redhead | 1 | 60 | 4 |
| Lesser Scaup | 1 | 3 | 100 |
| Bufflehead | 10 | 5 | |
| Common Goldeneye | 6 | ||
| Ruddy Duck | 70 | 80 | 300 |
| Gambel’s Quail | 40 | 30 | 16 |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 4 | 5 | |
| Horned Grebe | 1 | ||
| Eared Grebe | 80 | 50 | |
| Western Grebe | 3 | 2 | |
| Neotropic Cormorant | 3 | ||
| Double-crested Cormorant | 1000+ | 200 | 200 |
| American White Pelican | 100 | 1000+ | 300 |
| Brown Pelican | 50 | 100 | 20 |
| Great Blue Heron | 15 | 30 | 10 |
| Great Egret | 60 | 20 | 20 |
| Snowy Egret | 5 | 50 | 4 |
| Cattle Egret | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ |
| Green Heron | 1 | ||
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 | 20 | 1 |
| White-faced Ibis | 1000+ | 1000+ | 400 |
| Roseate Spoonbill | 1 | ||
| Turkey Vulture | 15 | 20 | 15 |
| Osprey | 1 | 1 | |
| White-tailed Kite | 5 | 1 | |
| Northern Harrier | 25 | 30 | 20 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | ||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 1 | |
| Zone-tailed Hawk | 1 | 1 | |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 40 | 40 | 25 |
| Ridgway’s Rail | H1 | ||
| Sora | H1 | 1 | |
| Common Gallinule | 1 | ||
| American Coot | 100 | 50 | 500 |
| Sandhill Crane | 400+ | 300 | 185 |
| Black-necked Stilt | 50 | 400 | 100 |
| American Avocet | 100 | 500 | 30 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 10 | 10 | |
| Killdeer | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Mountain Plover | 60 | ||
| Spotted Sandpiper | 5 | 1 | |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 1 | ||
| Long-billed Curlew | 50 | 75 | 500 |
| Marbled Godwit | 30 | 30 | 40 |
| Least Sandpiper | 70 | 20 | 50 |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 20 | 100 | 200 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 3000+ | 1000+ | 5000+ |
| Yellow-footed Gull | 1 | 4 | |
| California Gull | 1000+ | 500 | |
| Herring Gull | 20 | 10 | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 | ||
| Glaucous-winged Gull | 2 | ||
| Caspian Tern | 5 | 60 | 30 |
| Forster’s Tern | 1 | ||
| Black Skimmer | 1 | ||
| Rock Pigeon | 60 | 50 | 10 |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | 100 | 70 | 60 |
| Inca Dove | 2 | 2 | |
| Common Ground-Dove | 20 | 12 | 20 |
| White-winged Dove | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| Mourning Dove | 40 | 50 | 300 |
| Greater Roadrunner | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Burrowing Owl | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Costa’s Hummingbird | 5 | 1 | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Gila Woodpecker | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Ladder-backed Woodpecker | 2 | ||
| Northern Flicker | 10 | 4 | 1 |
| American Kestrel | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 | 1 | |
| Prairie Falcon | 1 | ||
| Black Phoebe | 35 | 12 | 10 |
| Say’s Phoebe | 10 | 6 | 3 |
| Vermilion Flycatcher | 1 | ||
| Western Kingbird | 2 | ||
| Loggerhead Shrike | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Common Raven | 25 | 200 | 20 |
| Horned Lark | 100 | ||
| No. Rough-winged Swallow | 10 | ||
| Tree Swallow | 50 | 60 | 20 |
| Barn Swallow | 40 | 200 | |
| Cliff Swallow | 80 | ||
| Verdin | 10 | 9 | 3 |
| Marsh Wren | 2+H20 | H4 | 3 |
| Bewick’s Wren | 1 | ||
| Cactus Wren | 2 | ||
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 8 | 2 | |
| Mountain Bluebird | 2 | ||
| American Robin | 2 | 20 | |
| Northern Mockingbird | 30 | 25 | 2 |
| European Starling | 150 | 100 | 50 |
| American Pipit | 30 | 40 | 100 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 5 | ||
| Phainopepla | 2 | ||
| Lapland Longspur | 1 | ||
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 2 | 3 | |
| Common Yellowthroat | 2 | ||
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 40 | 31 | 20 |
| California Towhee | 2 | ||
| Abert’s Towhee | 20 | 10 | 12 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 1 | ||
| Savannah Sparrow | 1 | 4 | |
| Song Sparrow | H2 | 4 | 4 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 50 | 60 | 50 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 200 | 1000+ | 10,000+ |
| Tricolored Blackbird | 1 | ||
| Western Meadowlark | 20 | 60 | 200 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | 5 | 30 | |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 40 | 40 | 200 |
| Great-tailed Grackle | 60 | 50 | 40 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 6 | 30 | 20 |
| House Finch | 30 | 100 | 30 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 10 | 4 | |
| American Goldfinch | 7 | ||
| House Sparrow | 30 | 100 | 30 |
| Total Species – 130 | 100 | 103 | 92 |
Selasphorus Hummingbirds in Southern California
Less green on the back of this Allen’s Hummingbird
(R. Ehler 1/25/15)
Lots of green on the back of this Allen’s Hummingbird
(J. Waterman 1/25/15)
This could be a photo quiz, but isn’t. Instead, I’ll use these two photos of a Selasphorus hummingbird to make a comment. Local birders often refer to these rufous-flanked (-tailed, -backed, etc.) hummers as Selasphorus because 1) that’s their genus, and 2) they’re often impossible to tell apart in the field, especially the two most common in SoCal, Rufous and Allen’s. [Broad-tailed prefers the Rockies, while Volcano, Scintillant and Glow-throated are only in Central America.] There are differences between these two in their vocalizations, courtship displays and central tail feathers if you can witness them. Both males have rufous flanks and overlap considerably in the amount of green on the back. Allen’s subspecies sedantarius is resident along our coast, while both Rufous and Allen’s subspecies sasin migrate through to northern nesting grounds. Except during migration, any local selasphorus is likely to be an Allen’s. [Just to complicate things, Rufous begin migrating north as early as late January.] The point is that they are very hard to tell apart. I sent these two pictures to Kimball Garrett, bird collection manager at the Natural History Museum of L.A. County, as I wasn’t certain the “smaller-appearing” left (or first) bird wasn’t a Rufous. He replied, “Yes, both adult male Allen’s….Notice how the extent of visible green on the back varies with the [viewing] angle — this has tripped up lots of observers….Allen’s can appear to have very little green above if viewed from the sides (as there is rufous lateral and posterior to the green); I think a lot of late fall/early winter claims of Rufous are from inadequate views of typical male Allen’s.” These two photos might be of the same individual Allen’s – viewing angles, feather position and lighting differences play tricks on our eyes – but I strongly doubt it. Many thanks to Randy & Joyce for the photos.
[NOTE: This comment was originally part of the “Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 25 January, 2015” blog.] [Chuck Almdale]
Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 25 January, 2015
NOTE: The comment on Selasphorus hummingbirds was relocated to a separate blog.
“This seems really hot for January,” I said to Lillian upon arriving at the beach before 8:30am and it was already 73°. I then remembered thinking that exact same thing in previous Januarys. So I checked. [This is the sort of thing we retired accountants find amusing.] The Pt. Mugu temperatures below are from Weather Underground.
| Year | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| High | 62 | 59 | 64 | 57 | 59 | 59 | 55 | 81 | 60 | 68 |
| Low | 50 | 56 | 39 | 48 | 48 | 37 | 46 | 55 | 42 | 46 |
| Year | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| High | 68 | 55 | 59 | 57 | 57 | 75 | 59 | 61 | 66 | 85 |
| Low | 39 | 48 | 52 | 46 | 42 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 48 | 57 |
This distribution looked a little odd, so I ran a few calculations and got the following results. For those who may be a little fuzzy about “standard deviation,” your school years long vanished in the rear view mirror, it’s often called the “mean of the mean.” The “mean” being what most people call “average”, it’s a measure of how far away from the average of a data point collection do the individual data points wander. In the case of our set of temperature highs, they wander a long way.
| Temp. Range Distribution | |||||||||||||
| Mean | Standard Deviation | 35- 39 |
40- 44 |
45- 49 |
50- 54 |
55- 59 |
60- 64 |
65- 69 |
70- 74 |
75- 79 |
80- 84 |
85- 89 |
|
| High | 63.3 | 8.2 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Low | 46.6 | 5.4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
In the table above, the distribution of lows are roughly centered on the middle range of 45-49°F. If graphed, they would look like the typical “bell curve.” [Feel free to Google these phrases.] But the highs are whacky, or “skewed.” Half of the highs are in the lowest range of 55-59° with 3 outliers in the top ranges. Why, you ask? Very well, here’s my guess. Santa Anas! Hot winds out of the desert, raising temperatures high enough and often enough to skew the average upwards. If we eliminate the top three numbers, which were certainly Santa Ana conditions, the mean drops to 60.3° and the standard deviation drops to 4.0, which is a “heck of a drop” (a technical statistical term).
Now we’re not proving global warming (cue screams of terror) here, but this sort of thing does give us some insight into what over 99% of climatologists now find alarming. It’s not just that global temperature averages are creeping upward, which they are, but that the number of record highs are increasing while numbers of record lows are decreasing. Thus lows, means and highs are all shifting upwards. That’s something to think about the next time you stomp on the accelerator. Few of those old enough to be reading this blog will be greatly affected. But your kids, grandkids and great-grandkids will be around and will no doubt think of you often (e.g. “Why didn’t those lazy, greedy morons do something when they had the chance!”)
That said, it was a warm January day at the beach, hitting 73° before 8:30am and 81° before noon. I wonder if the high of 85° was a record?
Gull flock, Pepperdine in background (R. Ehler 1/25/15)
Speaking of records, around forty birders showed up, possibly a record. We dallied, answering many questions, and by the time we reached the beach, many had wandered off in various directions.
And now it’s time for the puzzle!
The bird below is not rare at the lagoon, so you can put away that Field Guide to the Birds of Bezerkistan. Send us your guess and reasoning why. Honor and fame shall ever be yours!
Mystery bird (J. Waterman 1/25/15)
Gull numbers were still high but diversity remained at six species, as the Boneparte’s was replaced by a Herring. The 42 Royal Terns set a new high, beating 32 Boyals on 2/28/10. More kept arriving as morning passed; my guess is that fishing was good offshore and they were coming in to rest.
Oak Titmice are more often heard than seen (R. Ehler 1/25/15)
We don’t get a lot of Oak Titmice at the lagoon – only 15 visits totaling 19 birds – as the habitat is not great for them, but photographer Randy Ehler got proof that they do appear. (Encyclopaedia Britannica claims the plural is titmice, not titmouses.)
Dwarfed by a footpring – Snowy Plover GA:OY (R. Ehler 1/25/15)
Among the 24 Snowy Plovers on the beach we found banded bird: GA:OY (Left: green over aqua; Right: orange over yellow), his/her third appearance this year. That it fits easily into a human footprint shows just how small these birds are.
The Sanderling (foreground) is often mistaken for a Snowy Plover, their winter roost-mate (J. Waterman 1/25/15)
We had some good experiences with how sunlight affects our view of birds; e.g. they’re a lot more colorful and easy to see when the light is behind you. Photographers know this, of course, but birders are often surprised by it.
No dark wing-tips on this Glaucous-winged Gull, a winter visitor in small numbers
(Glaucous: having a powdery or waxy coating that gives a frosted appearance and tends to rub off. – Merriam-Webster) (R. Ehler 1/25/15)
Birds new for the season were: Pintail, Surf Scoter, Pelagic Cormorant, Herring Gull, Mourning Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Oak Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Townsend’s Warbler, House Finch. We’ve not consistently gotten over to Adamson House the past few months, which may be why birds that are always around like Mourning Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird and House Finch have been missed.
Our next three scheduled field trips: Salton Sea Weekend, 7-8 Feb, 9am; Malibu Lagoon, 22 Feb, 8:30 & 10am; Hiker Lu’s Santa Monica Area Explorama, 14 Mar, 8:30am.
Our next program: Tuesday, 3 Feb., 7:30 pm. The Trancas Lagoon Restoration Project, presented by Clark Stevens. PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR MEETING PLACE HAS CHANGED TO DOUGLAS PARK, 2439 WILSHIRE BLVD.
NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk meets at the shaded viewing area. Watch for Willie the Weasel.
Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon from 9/23/02.
Prior checklists:
2014: Jan-July, July-Dec
2013: Jan-June, July-Dec
2012: Jan-June, July -Dec
2011: Jan-June, July-Dec,
2010: Jan-June, July-Dec.
2009: Jan-June, July-Dec.
The 10-year comparison summaries created during the project period remain available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page. Very briefly summarized, the results unexpectedly indicate that avian species diversification and numbers improved slightly during the period Jun’12-June’14. [Chuck Almdale]
| Trip List 2014-15 | 8/25 | 9/28 | 10/26 | 11/23 | 12/28 | 1/25 |
| Temperature | 72-80 | 68-75 | 62-72 | 60-70 | 39-61 | 73-81 |
| Tide Lo/Hi Height | H+4.52 | H+5.35 | H+5.93 | H+6.41 | L+1.70 | L+1.32 |
| Tide Time | 0954 | 1149 | 1044 | 0849 | 0903 | 0705 |
| Gadwall | 2 | 3 | 26 | 22 | ||
| American Wigeon | 10 | 18 | ||||
| Mallard | 12 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| Northern Shoveler | 4 | |||||
| Northern Pintail | 2 | |||||
| Green-winged Teal | 1 | 12 | 25 | |||
| Surf Scoter | 13 | |||||
| Bufflehead | 8 | 4 | ||||
| Hooded Merganser | 4 | |||||
| Red-brstd Merganser | 2 | 25 | 25 | 4 | ||
| Ruddy Duck | 2 | 36 | 42 | 38 | ||
| Red-throated Loon | 3 | |||||
| Pacific Loon | 6 | 1 | ||||
| Common Loon | 1 | |||||
| Pied-billed Grebe | 6 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| Horned Grebe | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Eared Grebe | 6 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 3 | |
| Western Grebe | 1 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 5 | |
| Brandt’s Cormorant | 2 | 1 | 2 | 130 | ||
| Dble-crstd Cormorant | 58 | 45 | 26 | 9 | 120 | 35 |
| Pelagic Cormorant | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Brown Pelican | 29 | 42 | 26 | 32 | 95 | 50 |
| Great Blue Heron | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Great Egret | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Snowy Egret | 12 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 16 |
| Blk-crwnd N-Heron | 4 | 1 | ||||
| Turkey Vulture | 1 | |||||
| Osprey | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| White-tailed Kite | 1 | |||||
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | |||||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | |||||
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| American Coot | 9 | 85 | 20 | 100 | 135 | 88 |
| Blk-bellied Plover | 93 | 95 | 40 | 45 | 38 | 62 |
| Snowy Plover | 39 | 40 | 34 | 40 | 25 | 29 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 3 | |||||
| Killdeer | 5 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 12 |
| Spotted Sandpiper | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | |||||
| Willet | 14 | 45 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 4 |
| Whimbrel | 17 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Marbled Godwit | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 12 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 9 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Black Turnstone | 3 | |||||
| Sanderling | 2 | 10 | 32 | 32 | 28 | 8 |
| Least Sandpiper | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Western Sandpiper | 1 | |||||
| Boneparte’s Gull | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Heermann’s Gull | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 17 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 3 | 60 | 65 | 150 | ||
| Western Gull | 89 | 95 | 40 | 81 | 230 | 170 |
| California Gull | 1500 | 1650 | ||||
| Herring Gull | 1 | |||||
| Glaucous-winged Gull | 3 | 5 | ||||
| Least Tern | 2 | |||||
| Forster’s Tern | 2 | 3 | ||||
| Royal Tern | 6 | 8 | 22 | 42 | ||
| Elegant Tern | 4 | 18 | 17 | 4 | ||
| Rock Pigeon | 5 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 4 | |
| Mourning Dove | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Vaux’s Swift | 3 | |||||
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Allen’s Hummingbird | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 | |||||
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| American Kestrel | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 | |||||
| Yellow-chevroned Parakeet | 2 | |||||
| Willow Flycatcher | 1 | |||||
| Pac.Slope Flycatcher | 1 | |||||
| Black Phoebe | 9 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Say’s Phoebe | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Cassin’s Kingbird | 1 | |||||
| Warbling Vireo | 2 | |||||
| Western Scrub-Jay | 1 | |||||
| American Crow | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 4 | |
| Rough-wingd Swallow | 15 | 3 | ||||
| Barn Swallow | 45 | 1 | ||||
| Cliff Swallow | 3 | |||||
| Oak Titmouse | 1 | |||||
| House Wren | 1 | |||||
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | |||||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Wrentit | 1 | |||||
| Northern Mockingbird | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| European Starling | 55 | 115 | 60 | 60 | 25 | 45 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 2 | |||||
| Ornge-crwnd Warbler | 3 | |||||
| Nashville Warbler | 2 | |||||
| Common Yellowthroat | 3 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Yellow Warbler | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Yellow-rumpd Warbler | 40 | 2 | 15 | 7 | ||
| Townsend’s Warbler | 1 | |||||
| Spotted Towhee | 1 | |||||
| California Towhee | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Savannah Sparrow | 3 | |||||
| Song Sparrow | 8 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| White-crwnd Sparrow | 15 | 15 | 35 | 4 | ||
| Bobolink | 1 | |||||
| Western Meadowlark | 6 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 24 | |
| Great-tailed Grackle | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| House Finch | 8 | 22 | 4 | |||
| Lesser Goldfinch | 6 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Totals by Type | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan |
| Waterfowl | 16 | 26 | 5 | 64 | 141 | 138 |
| Water Birds – Other | 106 | 193 | 102 | 166 | 516 | 187 |
| Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 23 | 20 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 18 |
| Quail & Raptors | 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Shorebirds | 198 | 240 | 127 | 135 | 144 | 139 |
| Gulls & Terns | 111 | 128 | 66 | 151 | 1839 | 2035 |
| Doves | 6 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Other Non-Passerines | 5 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Passerines | 172 | 242 | 150 | 76 | 114 | 106 |
| Totals Birds | 638 | 884 | 489 | 623 | 2794 | 2635 |
| Total Species | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan |
| Waterfowl | 16 | 26 | 5 | 64 | 141 | 138 |
| Water Birds – Other | 106 | 193 | 102 | 166 | 516 | 187 |
| Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 23 | 20 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 18 |
| Quail & Raptors | 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Shorebirds | 198 | 240 | 127 | 135 | 144 | 134 |
| Gulls & Terns | 111 | 128 | 66 | 151 | 1839 | 2035 |
| Doves | 6 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Other Non-Passerines | 5 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Passerines | 172 | 242 | 150 | 76 | 114 | 106 |
| Totals Species – 104 | 638 | 884 | 489 | 623 | 2794 | 2630 |
Poisonous Plants
Poisonous plants are in!….Very in! Alnwick Castle in Northumberland (used as Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter movies) now has a two-acre poison garden…everything in it is poisonous. 
As an aside, I pronounced every letter in Alnwick, but was corrected by those who “Brit-speak”… seems it is pronounced Ann-ic (rhymes with panic) and has silent L, W, and K. Back to the Castle…the poisonous plants are used as a educational and suggestion-making resource for visitors and some of the plants have a license from the Home Office to be “in public.”
There are many web sites – Witches’ gardens, (U.S. & Australia), Live Science’s Top 10 Poisonous Plants (their #1 is Narcissus, #10 is Wisteria), University of California’s
Narcissus – #1 on LiveScience (LiveScience.com
Safe and Poisonous Garden Plants (common name order & scientific name order)… what fun… Univ. of Cal. rates the plants 1 to 4 with 4 being rashes and 1 being serious illness or death – toast! – our beloved coral trees on San Vicente Boulevard rate as a 1….and there are 3 Deadly Nightshade genera and a Death Camas on the list (which are all 1’s).
My favorite site is GreenBuzzz’s Nine Most Toxic Plants for Humans.
For example: #1 is The Calamitous Castor Bean Plant which can be seen in an occasional garden and in Malibu Creek State Park; #4 is The popular, poisonous Oleander plant, found all over Los Angeles and on freeway dividers; #6 is The not-so-jolly Jimson weed plant, also know as the Devil’s Trumpet found in many gardens….. you get the idea…
Oleander – Just because it’s “natural” doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat
(GreenBuzzz)
So… take this number 1-800-222-1222 – the National Poison Control Center, keep an eye on pets, friends, and grandchildren and think twice about some of those “pretty plants” in your house and garden. [Ellen Vahan]
Antelope Valley Raptor Search Report: 10 January, 2015
Driving in the Antelope Valley can be hairy: drivers who know where they’re going rocket up behind us as we poop along, scanning for perched raptors and Mountain Plovers standing motionless in barren fields. Pulling off onto a dirt shoulder – if any – can be risky; rain turns the soil into glue which clogs your tire treads, your tires become slicks, and suddenly you’re bogged. We were lucky as the soil was nearly dry after the prior week’s rains.
Cactus Wren pair in a Joshua Tree (C. Bragg 1/10/15)
It was still cool and quiet at our first stop just south of Palmdale Airport (birthplace of many UFO’s) at 10th St. East and Blackbird Lane. [I think the blackbirds referred to are not the feathered sort.] We found a few Sparrows including a singing Black-throated and Golden-crowned, a Northern Flicker, some House Finches, the first of many families of Ravens, and a cooperative family of Cactus Wrens, but no LeConte’s Thrashers. The leafless trees of Desert Aire Golf Course were barren of birds as well, and the settling ponds on 40th St. E. were tumbleweed dry. Not an auspicious beginning.
Savannah Sparrow (note yellow lores) on a rolling irrigator (C. Bragg 1/10/15)
As an aside, my recollection is that Crows are nearly non-existent in the valley, but we did see a few hanging around the McDonald’s parking lot were we got coffee (aka rest stop).
Mountain Bluebird in hot pursuit of an insect (C. Bragg 1/10/15)
Rounding the bend from 40th onto Ave. N, things picked up. We spotted the first of several sightings of Mountain Bluebirds, then flocks of Horned Larks and Savannah Sparrows in the short grass. We couldn’t find any Mountain Plovers around 50th & Ave. L, where they’d been reported – in fact we never did find any anywere. We walked along the edge of Little Rock Wash just south of its intersection with Ave. K, but apparently the pair of LeConte’s Thrashers that used to nest there have moved. The vegetation looked thirsty.
Dark phase Ferruginous Hawk flew directly overhead (J. Waterman 1/10/15)
Dark phase Ferruginous Hawk (C. Bragg 1/10/15)
We hit pay dirt out at 110th St. E and Ave. J, as the reported Ferruginous Hawks were in relative abundance, with a dozen in the air, on the ground, on the irrigation equipment, on phone poles. The reason? Voles! They were picking off any vole who foolishly showed its head. I watched one dark morph Ferruginous Hawk rise from its perch on a rolling irrigator wheel, glide out 75 yards, snatch a vole in its talons and glide back to its wheel. An added treat were more Horned Larks, Savannah Sparrows, a few Red-tailed Hawks, a Northern Harrier and over 100 pensive-looking Killdeer.
A Stunning Light Phase Ferruginous Hawk
(C. Bragg 1/10/15)
By the time we reached Apollo Lake for lunch, it had started to rain. A covered picnic area gave us shelter and a good spot to scan the lake, where we picked up most of the trip’s water birds, including Double-crested Cormorant, 4 species of goose, 7 of duck, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Ring-billed & California Gulls, a hungry flock of Dark-eyed Junco and the usual Great-tailed Grackles whistling from the lakeside trees. Those who needed to return to L.A. headed home, while the rest of us headed off towards the Poppy Preserve in search of Rough-legged Hawk.
Alas, none were found, but we did see a very nice Prairie Falcon and a few more American Kestrels. Continuing to Holiday Lake we crossed the California Aqueduct and spotted some Common Goldeneyes (Barrow’s Goldeneye are occasionally found among them, or so I’ve heard) and Ring-billed – I mean Ring-necked Ducks. [See the picture below.]
Ring-necked Duck: Did you see the ring? Look more closely. At the neck!
(J. Waterman 1/10/15)
Holiday Lake proved to be a desert mirage; I kept thinking I’d found it when it would disappear and reappear elsewhere, always a quarter-mile away. Just when some people were starting to complain – Oh ye of little faith! – I found it. A lot of reeds and not much water, another near-victim of the drought. Many flocks of Blackbirds, mostly Red-winged and a few Tricolored, kept falling and rising in and out of the golden reeds, rustling in the wind. What little water there was held a few ducks. The trees held no owls, although we did find pellets containing tiny skulls and bones.
Common Goldeneyes like the California aqueduct (J. Waterman 1/10/15)
Re-crossing the aqueduct yielded more buffleheads, goldeneyes and Ring-necked Ducks plus an unexpected Common Loon. We continued down to Quail Lake and from an overlook scanned the outlet stream. No Barrow’s Goldeneyes, but lots of ducks trying to go to sleep. We headed home. [Chuck Almdale]
Prior Trip Reports: Jan 2014 Jan 2013 Jan 2012 Jan 2011 Jan 2010
Link to Antelope Valley Birding Locations
| Antelope Valley |
Raptor | Search | Trip | Lists | ||
| Species | 1/10/15 | 1/11/14 | 1/12/13 | 1/14/12 | 1/8/11 | 1/9/10 |
| Tundra Bean-Goose | 2 | |||||
| Gr. White-fronted Goose | 1 | |||||
| Snow Goose | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Ross’s Goose | 2 | 2 | 2 | X | ||
| Canada Goose | 20 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 6 | X |
| Gadwall | 1 | X | X | |||
| American Wigeon | X | |||||
| Mallard | 40 | 10 | 30 | 30 | X | X |
| Northern Shoveler | 20 | 30 | 10 | 6 | X | X |
| Green-winged Teal | 20 | X | X | |||
| Redhead | 1 | |||||
| Ring-necked Duck | 40 | |||||
| Greater Scaup | 1 | |||||
| Lesser Scaup | 30 | 1 | 30 | 3 | X | |
| White-winged Scoter | 1 | |||||
| Bufflehead | 30 | 20+ | 2 | 80 | 3 | X |
| Common Goldeneye | 50 | 2 | 20 | 1 | ||
| Hooded Merganser | 6 | |||||
| Common Merganser | 4 | |||||
| Red-breasted Merganser | 10+ | |||||
| Ruddy Duck | 8 | 40+ | 2 | 30 | X | X |
| California Quail | 9 | 110 | ||||
| Common Loon | 1 | |||||
| Pied-billed Grebe | 2 | 1 | 10 | X | X | |
| Horned Grebe | 1 | |||||
| Eared Grebe | 3 | 5 | X | |||
| Western Grebe | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Dble-crested Cormorant | 80 | 25 | 6 | 2 | X | |
| American White Pelican | 1 | 8 | ||||
| Great Blue Heron | 1 | 2 | X | |||
| Great Egret | X | |||||
| Black-crwnd Night-Heron | 1 | X | ||||
| Turkey Vulture | X | |||||
| Golden Eagle | 1 | |||||
| Northern Harrier | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | X |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | 2 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | X | |||||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 30 | 30+ | 50+ | 50+ | 12 | X |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 15 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 8 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 1 | |||||
| Sora | 1H | |||||
| American Coot | 200 | 25 | 40 | 40 | X | X |
| Killdeer | 100 | 50 | 100 | 100 | 75+ | X |
| Mountain Plover | 10+ | 70 | 90 | X | ||
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | |||||
| Long-billed Curlew | 17 | X | ||||
| Ring-billed Gull | 100 | 5 | 10 | 30 | X | X |
| California Gull | 200 | 35 | 225 | 30 | X | X |
| Rock Pigeon | 300 | 35 | 35 | 80 | X | X |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | X | |
| Mourning Dove | 50 | 1 | 6 | 4 | X | X |
| Great Horned Owl | 1 | |||||
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Allen’s Hummingbird | X | |||||
| Red-breasted Sapsucker | X | |||||
| Downy Woodpecker | X | |||||
| Northern Flicker | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1H | ||
| American Kestrel | 4 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 6 |
| Merlin | 3 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Prairie Falcon | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | |
| Black Phoebe | 1 | X | X | |||
| Say’s Phoebe | 5 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 3 | X |
| Cassin’s Kingbird | X | |||||
| Loggerhead Shrike | 6 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 6 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 2 | X | ||||
| American Crow | 5 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Common Raven | 100 | 100+ | 100+ | 150+ | 5 | X |
| Horned Lark | 300 | 600+ | 1500+ | 1500+ | 1400+ | X |
| Rock Wren | X | |||||
| Marsh Wren | X | |||||
| Bewick’s Wren | 1H | X | ||||
| Cactus Wren | 6 | 2 | 8 | X | ||
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | |||||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | X | |||||
| Mountain Bluebird | 40 | 500+ | 1 | 20 | 18 | 100+ |
| Le Conte’s Thrasher | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Sage Thrasher | 4 | |||||
| Northern Mockingbird | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| European Starling | 500 | 25 | 25 | 45 | flocks | X |
| American Pipit | 150 | 150 | 30 | 120+ | ||
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 4 | 12 | 16 | X | ||
| Spotted Towhee | 1 | |||||
| California Towhee | X | |||||
| Brewer’s Sparrow | 2 | |||||
| Lark Sparrow | X | X | ||||
| Black-throated Sparrow | 2 | |||||
| Bell’s Sparrow | 2 | 2 | 20 | 2 | ||
| Savannah Sparrow | 10 | 75 | 75 | 50 | 26 | X |
| Song Sparrow | 4 | 1 | 1 | X | ||
| Lincoln’s Sparrow | 1 | |||||
| White-crowned Sparrow | 200 | 100 | 100 | 300+ | 6 | X |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Dark-eyed Junco | 50 | 14 | X | |||
| Red-winged Blackbird | 200 | 60 | X | X | ||
| Tricolored Blackbird | 10 | 500 | X | |||
| Western Meadowlark | 100 | 100+ | 100 | 80 | flocks | X |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 1000 | 150 | 150 | 60 | 20 | X |
| Great-tailed Grackle | 4 | X | ||||
| House Finch | 1000 | 200 | 200 | 300+ | 3 | X |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 1 | X | ||||
| American Goldfinch | 4 | X | ||||
| House Sparrow | 20 | 60 | 60 | 30 | X | X |
| Total Species 102 | 58 | 41 | 46 | 60 | 67 | 56 |
| X = Present, not counted | ||||||
| + = more than | ||||||
| flocks = large numbers, not counted |
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