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Our third annual field trip along the banks of the lower reaches of the L.A. River turned out to be relatively quiet.  Our leader Dick Barth had urged us to set an early start time of 7:30 to avoid the seasonal heat. We were glad we did–it was quite warm by mid-morning. Some of us were stuck behind an accident clearing traffic break on the I-405 and we didn’t make it for the official start time near the Willow Street bridge.

This first stop features a look at the most vegetated area of the River, where the willows and other plants have succeeded in blocking most of the view of the Harbor’s huge derricks only a couple miles downstream. The brushy habitat provides cover and food for bush birds, and sediment makes many pools and sandbanks for ducks and waders.  Even though there were fewer ducks than last year, almost all expected species were there. Hundreds of Black-necked Stilts browsed in the shallows of the river. The treat was a number of Wilson’s Phalaropes, in and out of the water. As we moved back toward the cars, we got to compare the features of a Red-necked Phalarope – juvenile moulting into basic plumage (see slideshow photo) – and compare it to the Wilson’s.

The most uncommon bird for this location was – oddly enough – a Brandt’s Cormorant. We see this normally pelagic species  in small numbers on most Malibu Lagoon trips, swimming or sitting on the offshore rocks. Dick said he is unaware of any prior records of Brandt’s this far (3 miles) up the river.

Hoping to see some of the rarer

sandpiper species that have been spotted in the past few weeks, at 9AM we skipped all the way upstream to the Allondra bridge in Paramount. Our 40 minutes there gained us a few new species and we were able to spend time studying the proportions of the Lesser Yellowlegs which – at 3-4 birds –  were almost abundant.

We then traveled back down river by car to De Forest Park. The park trees held only a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and our observations of the river were a repeat of the earlier species of our walk. At 11AM, just as we were preparing to leave, we saw a two-minute hunt from a juvenile Peregrine Falcon, followed by a Red-shouldered Hawk overflight.

We didn’t try to estimate numbers this trip. The most abundant birds, by far, were Black-necked Stilts and Long-billed Dowitchers.

Many thanks to Richard Barth who knows this area better than anyone. His knowledge and enthusiastic explanations of difficult plumage are invaluable, especially during migration season!

Link to 2011 LA River Trip Report
Link to 2010 LA River Trip Report
Link to Map of Trip
[Lucien Plauzoles]

Los Angeles River Trip	8 Sept., 2012 – 56 species
Mallard	Long-billed Dowitcher
Cinnamon Teal	Wilson’s Phalarope
Northern Shoveler	Red-necked Phalarope
Northern Pintail	Ring-billed Gull
Green-winged Teal	Western Gull
Ruddy Duck	California Gull
Pied-billed Grebe	Rock Pigeon
Brandt’s Cormorant	Eurasian Collared-Dove
Double-crested Cormorant	Mourning Dove
Brown Pelican	Anna’s Hummingbird
Great Blue Heron	Peregrine Falcon
Great Egret	Black Phoebe
Snowy Egret	Western Scrub-Jay
Green Heron	American Crow
Black-crwned Night-Heron	No. Rough-winged Swallow
Turkey Vulture	Cliff Swallow
Red-Shouldered Hawk	Barn Swallow
American Coot	Bushtit
Semipalmated Plover	Northern Mockingbird
Killdeer	European Starling
Black-necked Stilt	Common Yellowthroat
American Avocet	Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Sandpiper	California Towhee
Greater Yellowlegs	Song Sparrow
Lesser Yellowlegs	Red-winged Blackbird
Western Sandpiper	House Finch
Least Sandpiper	House Sparrow
Short-billed Dowitcher	Orange Bishop