1 / 31

A Year of Birding in Los Angeles County David Bell 19 March, 2014

A Year of Birding in Los Angeles County David Bell 19 March, 2014. What is a Big Year?. See as many birds as possible in LA county during 2013. Rules: The bird must be in LA County Identify every bird myself

Download Presentation

A Year of Birding in Los Angeles County David Bell 19 March, 2014

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. A Year of Birding in Los Angeles CountyDavid Bell19 March, 2014

  2. What is a Big Year? • See as many birds as possible in LA county during 2013. Rules: • The bird must be in LA County • Identify every bird myself • Only count birds on both the ABA and LA County lists. (Some people like to count only count native/non-introduced birds) • Don’t break the law

  3. January What to look for: • Wintering rarities • Raptors • Winter pelagics • Gulls Where to look • Coastal gull spots (Malibu, Ballona) • Large inland lakes • Nearshorepelagics • City parks Most Memorable: • Arctic Loon • Tundra Swan • Trumpeter Swan • Swamp Sparrow invasion • Vermillion Flycatcher • “Common” Teal • Long-tailed Duck

  4. February What to look for: • Winter Rarities • Sage Thrasher Where to look • Coast • Large inland lakes • Nearshorepelagics • City parks Most Memorable • Brown Booby • Northern Shrike • White-winged Scoter

  5. You may be wondering … Why play games? Are big years a good thing?

  6. March Targets • Swainson’s Hawk • Sage Thrasher • Rufous Hummingbird • Winter Rarities Where to look • Desert • Foothills • City parks Most Memorable • Wilson’s Plover • Blue-headed VireoVirginia’s Warbler • Baltimore Oriole • “Prairie” Merlin • GlaucousGull • Pacific Wren

  7. April What to look for • Calliope Hummingbird • Inca Dove • Western migrants Where to look • City parks • Foothills • Desert parks Most Memorable • Clay-colored Sparrow • Calliope Hummingbird

  8. May Targets • Franklin’s Gull • Lesser Nighthawk • Black Tern • Western migrants • Spring vagrants Where to look • Apollo Park • Piute Ponds (permission required) and Lancaster Sewage Ponds • Foothills • Pelagic • North slope of San Gabriels Most Memorable • Sabine’s Gull • Tennessee Warbler • Palm Warbler • Indigo Bunting • Ovenbird

  9. June What to look for • Owls • Black-chinned Sparrow • Late spring vagrants • Yellow-billed Cuckoo (just kidding) • Black Swift • High elevation breeders Where to look • High elevations (Throop, Blue Ridge) • Owling in the San Gabriels Most Memorable • Arctic Loon (!!!!)

  10. July Targets • High elevation breeders • Pigeon Guillemot • Shorebirds Where to look • LA River • Piute Ponds (permission) • Lancaster STP • High elevations Most Memorable • Red-eyed Vireo • Black Swift • Red-necked Stint • Ruff • Reddish Egret

  11. My Goals for 2013 • Go birding 365 days in a row • Learn something new every time I go birding • Find as many species of birds myself as possible • Try to bird places that don’t get a lot of coverage • Try to notice, identify and record every free-flying bird I encounter

  12. August Targets • Rarer shorebirds • Chimney Swift • Red-billed Tropicbird • Cook’s Petrel • Pigeon Guillemot • Scripps’s Murrelet • Common Tern • Storm-petrels • Early fall vagrants Where to look • LA River • Piute Ponds (permission required) • Lancaster STP • Deep-water pelagic (Cortez bank) Most Memorable • Chimney Swift

  13. September Targets • Storm-petrels • Buller’s Shearwater • Arctic Tern • Long-tailed Jaeger • White-winged Dove • Fall Vagrants Where to look • Apollo Park • Piute Ponds and Lancaster Sewage Ponds • Deep-water pelagic (Cortez bank) • Foothills Most Memorable • Blue-footed Booby • Masked Booby • Dickcissel • Ruff • Hudsonian Godwit

  14. October What to look for: • Storm-petrels • Bobolink • Red-throated Pipit • Longspurs • Fall Vagrants Where to look • Catalina and San Clemente Islands • Immediate coast • Desert fields Most Memorable: • Red-throated Pipit • Masked Booby • Philadelphia Vireo • Canada Warbler • Lark Bunting

  15. November What to look for: • Late fall vagrants • Longspurs • Rough-legged Hawk • Mountain Plover • Migrant diving ducks • Arriving winter rarities Where to look • Immediate coast and islands • Desert fields • Large inland lakes Most Memorable • Lapland Longspur • Short-eared Owl • Blackburnian Warbler • Rusty Blackbird • Hepatic Tanager • Barrow’s Goldeneye • Black-throated Green Warbler

  16. December Targets • Christmas bird counts • Mountain Plover • Sapsuckers • Winter Rarities Where to look • City parks, especially those with with water • Desert • Coast • Large inland lakes Most Memorable • Orchard Oriole • Eastern Phoebe

  17. LA County Birding Resources • BirdLog: birdseyebirding.com • track sightings in eBird • Update your list • Find the county boundary • Yahoo! groups.yahoo.com • Los Angeles County RBA: /LACoBirds • Pasadena Audubon: /PasadenaAudubon • BirdsEye: birdseyebirding.com • Figure out where to go birding today based on a list of “needs” • Easy access to eBird checklists in the field • See local status and distribution • eBird.org • Manage your year and life lists • Review process (Kimball Garrett and John Garrett) • “Needs” and Rare Bird alerts • Bar Charts to decide what birds are priorities in each month • Birds of Southern California by Garrett and Dunn • North American Rare Bird Alert NARBA.org • List of Birds of Los Angeles County by Kimball Garrett (available via groups.yahoo.com/LACoBirds) • FaceBook: Los Angeles County RBA facebook.com/groups/lacobirds

  18. Final Tally for LA ABA Countable: 354 Found myself: 317 eBird: 373 Native, non-introduced: 348 Biggest Misses: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Spotted Owl, Chukar, Semipalmated Sandpiper, American Bittern, Leach’s Storm-petrel, Pigeon Guillemot, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red Knot, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-billed Tropicbird, Pacific Golden-Plover, Northern Waterthrush, Black-footed Albatross, Long-tailed Jaeger, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Arctic Tern, Stilt Sandpiper, Ashy Storm-Petrel, Short-tailed Shearwater, etc.

More Related