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

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

6. 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

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

8. 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

11. 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

14. 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

15. 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 (!!!!)

16. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

22. 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

24. 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

28. 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

30. 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

31. 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.