Southern Californian Birding

Western Scrub Jay (and two acorns, at least), Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA

An end-of-summer family adventure to Los Angeles and environs. The kids were excited to see Hollywood and Disneyland. I shared their excitement but had (obvious) additional interests.  I had one day of real birding (while the rest of the family were at Disney) and a couple of stops along the coast. I didn't end up seeing anything particularly unusual (except for a "Code 2" California gnatcatcher pair in an area cultivated to attract California gnatcatchers) but it was nice to get to know the common locals.

Which include:

California Towhee, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

the ubiquitous peeping California Towhee

Bushtit, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

the multitudinous bushtit (if you see one, you will see dozens)

Anna's humingbird, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

and the original angry bird, Anna's hummingbird.

I used Brad Schram's A Birder's Guide to Southern California as my guide and found it extraordinarily useful, even if didn't get to visit 99.9% of the sites listed in it. In coming days I'll do individual posts about the places I visited, which included

Oak Canyon Nature Center
Santiago Oaks Regional Park
Peters Canyon Regional Park
Laguna Beach
Dockweiler Beach State Park