Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - February 27, 2025

White-winged Dove | Sandhill Crane | Pacific Loon | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Cocos Booby | Zone-tailed Hawk | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Clay-colored Sparrow | Sagebrush Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | Green-tailed Towhee | Baltimore Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Palm Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Painted Redstart

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

White-winged Dove | Sandhill Crane | Pacific Golden-Plover | Solitary Sandpiper | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Pacific Loon | Zone-tailed Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Ash-throated Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Least Flycatcher | Lapland Longspur | Thick-billed Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | Sagebrush Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | Green-tailed Towhee | Baltimore Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Pine Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Painted Redstart | Hepatic Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak

BIRDS OF THE SEASON
Jon Fisher
Birds of the Season—January 2025

Though we enjoyed two drought-busting winters in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, the current rainy season has been anything but.  In December and January, most of Los Angeles County was suffering from record dry conditions and extreme drought.  Vegetation, having increased significantly over two wet years, had not received any measurable rain for over eight months. 

Birds of the Season—January 2025
Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - January 15, 2025

Sandhill Crane | Pacific Golden-Plover | Solitary Sandpiper | Vega Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Pacific Loon | Swainson’s Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Short-eared Owl | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Ash-throated Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Least Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Bell’s Vireo | Lapland Longspur | Thick-billed Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | Sagebrush Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | Green-tailed Towhee | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Pine Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Painted Redstart

Rare Bird Alert
Jon Fisher
Rare Bird Alert - December 31, 2024

Common Ground Dove | Sandhill Crane | Pacific Golden-Plover | Solitary Sandpiper | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Vega Gull | Least Bittern | Swainson’s Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Short-eared Owl | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Hammond’s Flycatcher | Dusky Flycatcher | Western Flycatcher | Eastern Phoebe | Bell’s Vireo | SIBERIAN PIPIT | Lapland Longspur | Thick-billed Longspur | Sagebrush Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Hooded Oriole | Virgina’s Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Pine Warbler | Painted Redstart | Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rare Bird Alert - October 1, 2021

Rare Bird Alert - October 1, 2021

Eurasian Wigeon | American Oystercatcher | Pacific Golden-Plover | Ruff | Sabine's Gull | Common Tern | Manx Shearwater | Red-footed Booby | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Zone-tailed Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | Purple Martin | Bobolink | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy's Warbler | American Redstart | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Palm Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert - September 24, 2021

Rare Bird Alert - September 24, 2021

Pacific Golden-Plover | Common Tern | Manx Shearwater | Red-footed Booby | Little Blue Heron | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Tropical Kingbird | Bell's Vireo | Purple Martin | Clay-colored Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Bobolink | Ovenbird | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy's Warbler | Virginia's Warbler | Hooded Warbler | American Redstart | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Prairie Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Dickcissel

Rare Bird Alert - September 17, 2021

Rare Bird Alert - September 17, 2021

White-winged Dove | Pacific Golden-Plover | Sabine's Gull | Common Tern | Nazca Booby | Neotropic Cormorant | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Zone-tailed Hawk | Purple Martin | Clay-colored Sparrow | Lapland Longspur | Northern Waterthrush | Lucy's Warbler | Virginia's Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Northern Parula | Blackpoll Warbler | Canada Warbler | Bobolink

Rare Bird Alert - September 10, 2021

Rare Bird Alert - September 10, 2021

Spotted Dove | White-winged Dove | Pacific Golden-Plover | Stilt Sandpiper | Semipalmated Sandpiper | Sabine's Gull | Common Tern | Neotropic Cormorant | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Zone-tailed Hawk | Eastern Kingbird | Purple Martin | Green-tailed Towhee | Northern Waterthrush | Lucy's Warbler | Virginia's Warbler | Magnolia Warbler | Summer Tanager | Painted Bunting

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The Circus Is In Town

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The Circus Is In Town

I am witness to some especially exciting hawk activity in the backyard this morning, along with a circus of dark-eyed juncos, mockingbirds, Black Phoebes, California Towhee’s, house finches, and squirrels. The hawk startles an adult squirrel, who has been camping out on the squirrel-proof feeder, sphinxlike, for nearly half an hour, into a sudden and urgent leap to safety in the neighbor’s magnolia grandiflora. The feeder swings madly back and forth from the shock.

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The Los Angeles Cardinal

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The Los Angeles Cardinal

From the time I was a teenager, the Northern cardinal has held a special place in my heart. When my family was forced to move from Los Angeles to the mid-west when I was 15, I was heartbroken to leave my home. However, the first time I saw a bright red male Cardinal on a black iron fence against the stark white snow, I felt a sense of hope, renewal and peace. I cannot explain why. It was just a natural, emotional and spiritual response to this unique and beautiful bird in such a desolate, barren setting.

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