Weather: 63° at the start, warming to 72° sunny and calm.
A wonderful group of 27 (humm, should have been 20) participants enjoyed great birds and conversation on this beautiful winter Sunday morning. As usual, the male Wood Ducks never fail to impress, but even they were upstaged by the presents of a male Mandarin Duck - nature in all of its glory right here in this urban park. The aerial acrobatics performed by a Cooper's Hawk while harassing a Red-tailed Hawk was fun to watch and allowed for a good size comparison between those two raptors. And with the first Northern Rough-winged Swallows of 2016, woodpeckers drumming their tunes and thrashers singing their complicated songs, spring must surely be on its way. When you tune into birdlife you really can experience seasons in L.A.!
Birds - 45 species (+2 other taxa*):
Muscovy Duck (Domestic type)*
Wood Duck
Mandarin Duck
American Wigeon
Mallard
Mallard (Domestic type)*
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser -
male and female California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird -
males doing mating displays Allen's Hummingbird -
males doing mating displays Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Wrentit
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
California Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Mammals:
Brush Rabbit
California Ground Squirrel Eastern Fox Squirrel
Male Mandarin Duck with his Wood Duck girlfriend. Photo: Scott Logan
4337 Woodman Ave. Sherman Oaks CA 91423 818-995-0022
