Boy howdy, La Mirada is seeing a real rush of Spring migrants at the moment! Biola's been besieged by swarming flocks of Cliff Swallows, Barn Swallows, Vaux's Swifts and White-throated Swifts. The Vaux's Swifts actually appear to be outnumbering their cousins, though Cliff Swallows make up the biggest portion of the flocks. It's an exciting time of year to just walk outside of my office - yesterday and today there have been mixed flocks between my building and the gym. It's really something!
On my way to work this morning, I had the normal migrants - nothing too unusual - Warbling Vireos, Black-throated Gray Warblers (they seem to be outnumbering the Yellow-rumps right now), Wilson's Warblers, etc., but there are quite a few of them. There was a pair of Caspian Terns circling around La Mirada Park's lake, dipping to test the waters from time to time with a tremendous splash. One of them successfully bagged a trout bigger than its head, which it swallowed whole in flight. Caspian Terns are gull-sized, so it was something to see them fishing in a lake. I'm used to watching them over the ocean, where their size doesn't seem out of place at all.
Last night, Libby and I found two unusual birds at La Mirada Park - a Lazuli Bunting and a Gray Flycatcher. Libby says I'm truly a bird nerd, now. When we saw the Gray Flycatcher, I was really excited (they're a rare migrant here in the city) and called, "Ooh, a tail-pumping Empid!" Which means that I saw a flycatcher in the Empidonax genus that was wagging its tail - a distinctive behavior for Gray Flycatchers. I admit this made me both a little chagrined and a little proud.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment