Dockweiler Beach State Park

March of the Whimbrels

I dropped Ben off at LAX. Hmm, pretty close to the coast... A quick scan for shorebirds?  I drove north up Vista Del Mar. I look to my left and see a large group of something. Worth checking out. I park my car, walk across the sand, and look up the shoreline. A ha!

Sanderlings! Not exactly unexpected, but I haven't been to the beach at all this summer so a pleasant sight.  I look up the shoreline some more. Oh!

Whimbrels! Never seen this many at once before. Another look up the beach. Wow!

Marbled godwits! In huge numbers! (We're lucky to see one or two a year on the East Coast). Up go the binoculars. There, between the Heermann's gulls and the Western gulls, what's that?

 Terns! What kind? I'm awful at tern identification, but they look like non-breeding royals. I was able to catch a noisy group of them flying around in chase. The leader has a fish.

 I liked the industrial backdrop. More the truth of this area than a pristine beach.

 I'm almost positive this is a group of royal terns. I think there may have been some elegants in the larger group but I don't have good photo evidence.

Such riches of whimbrels and godwits.

I managed to walk all the way around the shorebirds and took the following photo from the opposite side.

And did get this photo looking toward the north of what at least appears to be a pristine beach (mostly devoid of shorebirds too).

Well, this is the last Southern California post. Time to go discover again the riches of the East Coast.

Laguna Beach

Bird Rock, Laguna Beach, CA

A break between two Disneyland sessions (I was invited this time) to go down to Laguna Beach and hang with some California relatives. I was happy (of course) to have a built-in trip to the shore. And Laguna Beach did not disappoint. Pelicans and cormorants on aptly named "Bird Rock"

Bird Rock, Laguna Beach, CA

and a nice collection of non-breeding Heermann's gulls on another rock.

Heermann's gulls, Laguna Beach, CA

Plus a willet, a wandering tattler, and an active (and friendly) flock of black turnstones.

Black turnstones, Laguna Beach, CA

Stay in frame, black turnstone! Stay in frame!

But my favorite bird of the day was a super approachable black phoebe. I got three good close-ups so rather than choosing I'll share them all.

Quite a charmer, that one.

Peters Canyon Regional Park

Upper Peters Canyon Reservoir, Orange County, CA

Peters Canyon Regional Park is arranged around a large reservoir and features carefully cultivated and protected bird habitats. A large grove of willows is the home of the "least" subspecies of Bell's vireo and there is an ongoing effort to return the coastal sage scrubland to its pre-invasive species state. It was here that I saw a pair of California gnatcatchers (they will get an occasional blue-gray as well).

Lots of waterfowl on the reservoir but as usual impossible to get a true fix without a spotting scope. Above is what I believe to be a group of pie-billed grebes. There were also mallards, a bunch of coots, and some small ducks that I was hoping were cinnamon teals, but who knows...

It was hot with very little relief from the Southern California sun. Even the roadrunner was panting.

And I will warn folks who visit for the first time, the Lakeview Trail is deceptively long. Bring plenty of water.

And watch out for Mountain Lions!

Santiago Oaks Regional Park

The second stop on my while-the-family-is-at-Disneyland birding day was Santiago Oaks Regional Park. It is similar in many ways to Oak Canyon but much more expansive and wilder.

One neat aspect, a grove of orange trees, a symbolic gesture more than a real horticultural one. Orange County used to be orange country, but development is edging the orange groves out.

Acorn Woodpecker, Santiago Oaks Regional Park, Orange, CA

It was already noon by the time I arrived and the sun was out so I restricted my exploration to the short interpretive Windes Nature Trail and the adjacent hillside Pacifica Trail. Among the birds, mostly familiar (by now) friends, the California towhee

the lesser goldfinch

 and the oak titmouse.

Plus lots of fence lizards, the main cause of rustling sounds at the trail edge.

Narrow Santiago Creek, which gives the park its name, runs through the property.

 Here I encountered a green heron (!) and my first ever Western tanager.

Quite a beautiful bird, that one.

Oak Canyon Nature Center

Natural caves, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

Oak Canyon Nature Center is a lovely little sanctuary in the hills of Anaheim east of Disney.  Its relatively small scale makes it child-friendly and indeed a large group of campers noisily tramped through while I was there. I got there about 9 am on an overcast morning.

I was greeted by a family of acorn woodpeckers. These are common and very obtrusive birds in Southern California generally but this was my first encounter and I was astounded.

Acorn woodpecker, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

Social woodpeckers. Loudly vocalizing, flying about chasing each other, white wing spots flashing.

This was a good start.

Then I heard some loud sustained birdsong. Not particularly beautiful but very complex and coming from two spots at once. Up went the binoculars and...

California thrasher, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

a pair of California thrashers up in the oak trees, counter-singing, relentlessly.

I walked the Roadrunner Ridge trail on the dry (coastal sage scrub) hillside first.

Lots of bushtits, house finches, lesser goldfinches, California towhees, hummingbirds (I assume Anna's though I saw some tiny ones that may have been Costa's), some wrens (Bewick's and house), and the ever present "bouncing ball" song of the wrentit.

And many of what may be my favorite area bird, the black phoebe.

Just like the eastern phoebe (perching in the open, tail a-flipping)

but with higher contrast, especially while hovering over prey.

Near the end of the Roadrunner Ridge trail I explored a trail spur and was stunned to come upon a substantial reservoir (ringed by a housing development). And there in the middle of the water was an elegant western grebe.

How about that?

I walked a combination of trails through the oak woodland on my way back, getting good looks at oak titmice and the speckled breast of the Nuttall's woodpecker

Nuttall's woopecker, Oak Canyon Nature Center, Anaheim, CA

The oak woodland is maintained as a riparian environment, with a picturesque brook (fed by the reservoir, I guess) running through it.

And I was shocked, while crossing a bridge to see

a wood duck drake. He didn't even fly away.

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

August Bluebirds

Eastern Bluebird, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA

The last bluebird brood of the year at the Charles River Peninsula will probably fledge sometime next week. Meanwhile the parents are keeping busy feeding hungry noisy chicks.

They've found an ideal set up. The huge oak that Irene knocked down last year provides a couple of perfect snags for fly catching.

The parents can hunt from the snags.

And then make a quick delivery to the nest box nearby.