March Bird Banding

We had an exciting morning yesterday as we got an unusual bird. Walt has been banding in Zuma Canyon for, I think, 20 years, and he has never caught this bird. It is a rare stray to the Western U.S., and to think it landed in one of our nets!

It's the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. If you look at the range map on the right in the link, you will see it is an eastern bird, but there are records of it straying this far west.

This is a male in his winter plumage. This is his breeding plumage.
Here's Walt getting the band ready for the bird. You have to do that and hold it at the same time, which can be tricky.
Here in the west we have more commonly have the Black-headed Grosbeak.

The canyon also seemed to be suddenly flooded with singing Orange-crowned Warblers. Two weeks ago I didn't hear any, which makes me think they are migrating north right now. Though Walt says there is a resident population, too. I was really excited I heard one on a net run. I tried to find it for a while to get visual confirmation (I had heard its song and was positive, but wanted to be extra-positive about the ID). Well, I couldn't find it, but I got back to the station and said, "Walt, I know I hear an Orange-crowned Warbler." Lo and behold, one had been caught in a net already and was being processed. Old news to everyone already back at the station.
It's hard to see the orange crown in the field with binoculars. You have to have it in your hand and actually move the feathers around on his head to see it.

These plants were in bloom all over the place. It's a ribes. I think the common name is some kind of gooseberry; I'm not sure. I got this info from other people as I'm not so great at plants.

And, I was saving the daintiest for last. We got a few Anna's Hummingbirds. Here is one. I think it was a female.
Oh - and we got a few Bewick's Wrens. I love its eye stripe.

February Bird Banding + Griffith Park

I'm far behind. These pictures are from our session two weeks ago. It was kind of slow; we only had 28 birds.
One of them is this gorgeous warbler - the Common Yellowthroat. I know I've had pictures of him before, but I never get tired of his Lone Ranger look.
Here is a California Thrasher's tail. Its tail gets very beat up because they spend a lot of time in scrubby bushes.
Here I am with a male Spotted Towhee.
And here is a Hermit Thrush. They have one of the loveliest songs. I hear them when I work in Yosemite. This one is migrating north.
Wildflowers were starting to come out. Lupine.
And, some yellow flowers near Net 08.


I went on a hike in Griffith Park a week ago and wildflowers were out there, too, in the recent fire areas.

January Bird Banding

It rained the whole way to the coast. I didn't catch a break until somewhere in Malibu, and it didn't seem to want to hold. It was misty at Zuma Canyon, which made for a pretty slow day; we only had 26 birds total. The last two were huge treats, though. I always hear the Red-shafted Flickers calling when I am in the canyon, and this time we actually got one in a net. In fact, we hit the jackpot; we got both a male and a female.

You can see his deep red eye in the following picture (click to enlarge):


The usual Audubon's Warblers.
We caught as many of the Audubon's as we did Wrentits. This is unusual as we normally catch way more Wrentits. Maybe they were hunkered down because of the cool temperatures?

The always impressive California Thrasher, which really likes to kick. That's how they look for food, by kicking the leaf litter and uncovering tidbits to eat. Look at those feet.

Here is what the nets look like.

Redondo Beach Pier

A little So Cal Christmas day trip to the ocean.



Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican which doesn't like the looks of me

Black-Crowned Night Heron

December Bird Banding

It was a cloudy, cool day in Zuma Canyon. We were told the ticks were out.
We caught several interesting birds, most of which I have no (or bad) pictures of. Here are the few that are ok.

This is an Anna's Hummingbird. The first picture is blurry, but you can still see the beautiful colors on its gorget.
Clearly visible here are the growths around the hummer's left eye.
He had survived this long with them, so we could only release him and hope for the best. We do not actually band the hummingbirds. It is possible, but you have to have a special permit for it (and some very small tools). We take them back to the station and process them, meaning that we identify them and then age, sex and weigh them. Weighing them is kind of fun as you lay them on the scale on their backs and they don't put up a fight. They docilely stay there. They usually weigh a gram or so. All the other birds we put upside down in pill bottles to weigh (this keeps them from flying off).

Here is a female Nuttall's Woodpecker. She was aged as a hatch year bird (meaning she was born in the summer this year).
Her flight feathers had not molted yet as she was a hatch year bird, and they had been bleached through use/exposure to the sun.
Those feathers were much darker at the tips when she was born.

November Bird Banding

We had another session this month. It was back to standard time, so I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to make it out to the coast for our 6:34 a.m. start time. I actually was a little early.
My favorite bird yesterday:
We usually don't catch Western Scrub Jays as they are "too smart" (the Master Bander's words) to fly into a mist net. He said only the young ones are stupid enough to do it, and it only happens once. Alas, I aged this bird as an adult. Perhaps s/he (sex difficult to determine unless it's breeding season) was having an off day.

In spite of its large size and fierce appearance, it was very tame in the hand.
When I let it go, it gave a classic jay squawk and shat. Glad it didn't do that in my hand. Handling bird poop is definitely a side effect of banding, but the mostly small birds we handle make small effluvia. This is ... palatable. The jay is not a small bird.

We had another Oak Titmouse, which, again, endlessly abused the fingers of those who handled it. Wasn't me this time! Walter, the Master Bander, said that this bird's raised crest was the avian equivalent of the primate's raised middle finger.
Here's part of our setup; that's Walter on the left, with the canyon behind him.

A Few Election Observations

This blog is and has been apolitical, but I feel compelled to speak today.
Yesterday I witnessed a few things I never have seen in Los Angeles:

- I had to wait in line an hour to vote. All very patiently & quietly waited their turn.
- I was out on the street around 8 p.m. PST when the city gave a collective yell. Barack Obama had just been named the winner, and our 44th president.
- I waited in line to get into a club were we could see Obama's speech, and the majority of the cars driving by were honking and there were people literally dancing in the streets.
- Later, on the way home, several corners were full of crowds of people yelling with joy.

A fine moment in U.S. history to be alive.