6 California Statebirds in Los Angeles County, January 2014

I’ve tried to squeeze in at least a little birding time on most of my recent California business trips.  It gives me a little bit to look forward to on an otherwise arduous trip away from home.  In January my trip was to the Los Angeles area, where in winter there are invariably a number of staked out rarities that tend to stick around for a while.  So with some research using an e-bird Rare Bird Alert for Los Angeles County, and the Los Angeles County listserve, I came up with 6 potential statebird targets just in LA County.  But with limited time they would have to be real cooperative if I would end up having a chance to try for each of them.  And I’d have to map out efficient routes to get to the locations without too much LA traffic.

Day 1 -

Work was done late afternoon giving me just a couple hours of daylight for birding.  My key target was a male Orchard Oriole that had been coming to some blooming bushes in one portion of the LA County Arboretum, though it wasn’t necessarily very reliable.  I spent a little while walking around the area with no luck as I especially watched for the Oriole to fly in or for it to perch on the bushes.  But then I started talking with a local birder who said it was actually a skulker, staying deep within or even below the bushes.  And sure enough she spotted the Oriole just a couple minutes later just about a foot off the ground drinking nectar from the flowers.  Great advice!  Orchard Oriole was my fifth oriole species for CA – the only state where I’ve seen more orioles is TX where I have 8.  And CA is my first state western state with Orchard Oriole as a rarity (see my statebird map below).

 

Since that worked out pretty quickly, I still had time to head to Compton and Gonzales Park where a female Hepatic Tanager was being found high in the eucalyptus trees.  The park had only about 6 eucalyptus trees so I was hopeful that this one would be pretty easy.  I arrived at the park, walked to the small grove of trees, and had the Tanager within 15 minutes.  That was easy.  And with only a few minutes of daylight to spare.  CA is my second state to get this species as a rarity, having also seen this bird in a migrant fallout in NV.

Day 2 -

My next target was a stakeout White-throated Sparrow at Bonelli Park very close to the location of my meetings that day.  So I headed there at dawn and met local birder Rod Higbie who had helped me find the Arctic Loon there this past spring.  In a couple minutes we arrived at the sparrow’s preferred location – a brush pile where Rod had been putting out some seed.  And within a minute the adult male White-throat popped into the open to get its breakfast.  Perfect!  With plenty of time to get to work.  Now I've seen this species in WA and CA and a rare winterer.

At the end of work that day I once again had just a couple hours of daylight.  The first target was an Eastern Phoebe that was seemingly quite reliable around a small pond at a park.  And sure enough, it took me less than 5 minutes to find the Phoebe perched on a rock by the pond; CA is now my first western state where I've seen it as a rarity.  I ended up seeing all 3 phoebe species that day.

And since I got the Phoebe so quickly there was likely time to try for the next target – a Virginia’s Warbler that was reasonably reliable at the Veteran’s Administration complex in west Los Angeles.  I wasn’t quite sure of the location within the VA facility, but I actually found the correct spot right away, which was confirmed by a worker who told me exactly which tree the bird was most often seen in, and that he had seen the bird there that morning.  I waited in this area for about 45 minutes and watched many Yellow-rumps and House Finches, but no Virginia’s.  Dusk was fast approaching and I was about to give up when I heard some high pitched chip notes behind me and saw a small bird fly into a nearby hedge – it was the Virginia’s.  It continued to call as it feed very cooperatively just a few feet away.  Five for five – wow!  CA is just my sixth state for this species - I still need it in a few states where it is a regular breeder.

Day 3 -

My last target was likely to be the most difficult – a Palm Warbler that had been seen for some time along the paths surrounding the Ballona Wetlands.  I had been to this spot in Spring 2013 in a successful search for the local “Belding’s” Savannah Sparrow.  But I was unsuccessful finding the stakeout Palm Warbler there.  Wonder if this winter’s bird was the same individual.  The challenge with birding this location is that although there is a lot of good habitat, only the small portion adjacent to a path along the perimeter of the park is accessible.  I arrived pre-dawn and began to slowly walk along the path, finding lots of sparrows and Yellow-rumps but no Palm.  But on my third pass I ran into a small group of birds feeding on the ground, including the Palm Warbler.  By 8:30 I had 50 species and my last target for the trip.  My statebird map shows that I still need Palm in a couple eastern states where it is a regular migrant, and now have it in one state as a rarity.

That gave me all 6 of my target birds.  Really didn’t think I would have had enough time to go after them all, let alone actually find them.  Yet another very successful trip into southern CA finding eastern and desert rarities.  That gives me 370 in CA – my third highest state total.