Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - September 26, 2025

Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Dunlin | Common Tern | Lesser Black-backed Gull | American Bittern | White-headed Woodpecker | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Phoebe | Green-tailed Towhee | Ovenbird | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - September 20, 2025

Hooded Merganser | Greater Roadrunner |  Black Swift | Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Ruff | Common Tern | Sabine’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Flesh-footed Shearwater | Red-footed Booby | American Bittern | Clay-colored Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Virginia’s Warbler | American Redstart | Blackpoll Warbler | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - September 13, 2025

Hooded Merganser | White-winged Dove | Common Nighthawk | Pacific Golden-Plover | Stilt Sandpiper | Common Tern | Sabine’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | American Bittern | Eastern Kingbird | Purple Martin | Clay-colored Sparrow | Baltimore Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Summer Tanager | Indigo Bunting

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - September 6, 2025

Hooded Merganser | Common Ground Dove | White-winged Dove | Greater Roadrunner | Pacific Golden-Plover | Stilt Sandpiper | Semipalmated Sandpiper | Sabine’s Gull | Red-billed Tropicbird | American Bittern | Western Cattle Egret | Clay-colored Sparrow | Northern Waterthrush | Lucy’s Warbler | Virginia’s Warbler

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - August 29, 2025

Pacific Golden-Plover | Stilt Sandpiper | Common Tern | Purple Martin | Clay-colored Sparrow | Baltimore Oriole | Virginia’s Warbler

Western Tanager

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The Daily Commute of the Low-Flying Geese of Westchester California

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The Daily Commute of the Low-Flying Geese of Westchester California

The world-famous geese residing in Westchester, California, as everyone knows, love to hang out in the sunny green fields next to LAX airport during the day and watch the airplanes take off and land. They sit in amazement and discuss the size of the planes and try to distinguish between a Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, or Rolls Royce, etc. They spend hour upon hour pondering the cutting edge engineering and technology involved in running one of the busiest airports in the world.

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The Return of the White-crowned Sparrows

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The Return of the White-crowned Sparrows

This first day of October, I am addressing a small flock of White-crowned sparrows. They are feasting at the toyon bushes at the edge of the Japanese garden at Kenneth Hahn park. They have migrated here from as far away as Alaska. No wonder they are hungry!

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Wasp Puzzle

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As a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya a few (OK, “many”) years ago, I taught physics at a rural secondary school and maintained a rear, prep area stocked with cabinets and shelves of paraphernalia for classroom demonstrations and laboratory assignments. Since the school was only about 8 miles north of the Equator, classrooms usually were open-air for natural ventilation.

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OUTDOOR EDUCATION: Mentors

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OUTDOOR EDUCATION: Mentors

But there is one bird that has recently returned that always reminds me of a dear friend, and mentor, who literally changed the course of my life. Barbara Courtois was the coordinator of the Environmental Education Program at Ballona when I first became a volunteer at the wetlands, in 1999. She would proudly tell you that she was a “lifelong learner”.

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INTERPRETING NATURE—Birding Bikers and Biking Birders: An Intersection of Two Interests

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INTERPRETING NATURE—Birding Bikers and Biking Birders: An Intersection of Two Interests

Whatever the world post-Covid looks like — for me, I hope it includes more birding and more biking. Living in a world that has had and continues to have so much taken by Covid, it has also drawn into relief those things which matter a lot, and for me, I can confidently list: being outside and being active. These are the two no-brainer actions that make my “matter-most” list. Whenever anyone asks me if I want to do an outside activity I answer, “Let’s go!” Under my breath daily I offer thanks into the universe for my family and my job.

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MESSAGE FROM MARGOT: Considering the State’s Plan for the Ballona Wetlands

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MESSAGE FROM MARGOT: Considering the State’s Plan for the Ballona Wetlands

The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (BWER) is the last coastal wetland in Los Angeles. It is sandwiched generally between Marina del Rey to the north, Playa Vista to the east, bluffs to the south, and the double dune system to the west, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The wetlands are bisected by the Ballona Flood Control Channel, which carries rainwater and dry season urban flow from the upper Ballona Creek Watershed through the urban core to the ocean. The BWER is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), a State resource agency.

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A Swarm of Bees

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A Swarm of Bees

A swarm of thousands of bees swooped into our front yard on a recent hot afternoon in October. The sound was incredible, buzzing so loudly that it attracted the attention of my neighbors. The bees quickly formed a cluster about double the size of a large football, piling up one on top of another in our bracelet myrtle tree. Then the buzzing stopped and they were calm.

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Western Tanager, Vol. 87 No. 1, Sep-Oct 2020

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PDF Vol. 87 No. 1 Sep–Oct 2020 Western Tanager

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

INTERPRETING NATURE — Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program Research Projects, By Stacey Vigallon & Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program Interns

OUTDOOR EDUCATION — “More on Perspective, Pandemic Changes”, By Cindy Hardin

YOUNG BIRDERS — “The Brown Pelican”, By Dessi Sieburth

WINGING IT: Discovering the Caribbean Birding Trail
Part 3—The Rare Birds of St. Lucia, By Lisa Freeman

BIRDS OF THE SEASON — August 2020, By Jon Fisher

BOOK REVIEW

A History of the World in 12 Maps AND Underland: A Deep Time Journey,
Written By Brandon Kim, Greenhouse Program Intern

FROM OUR READERS

The Spider and The Fly, By Ms. Sherry L. Roberts

A New Beginning, By Rachelle Arslan

Springtime in South Pasadena, By Mary Anne Lower and Julie Vogel

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