Fun Spring Birding

Libby and I had a great time birding Santiago Oaks Regional Park on Saturday. We had a good diversity of species in mild weather. It's strange; despite our two 100 degree hot spells, this spring seems cooler than normal. We've had clouds every morning - and most or all of the day - for more than a week, temperatures have struggled (often unsuccessfully) to reach 70, and this morning there was a heavy drizzle in La Mirada - enough that my face and helmet were dripping wet when I arrived to work.

Back to the main point, though. Migration seemed moderate for mid-May. There were a few warblers moving through; mostly Wilson's Warblers. One group of pine trees hosted a female Hermit, a group of Townsend's, and our only Yellow-rumped Warblers for the day. We were also happy to see a few on-territory Lazuli Buntings. The park has recently burned, and that makes the habitat perfect for Lazulis. Both Oriole species and many Western Tanagers rounded out the colorful show. We didn't bring our camera, though, so we missed out.

The bird of the day was a single male Blue Grosbeak. He was singing from the top of a very high Eucalyptus tree, and we couldn't make out his color well. Thankfully, he decided to be cooperative, and flew down into a burned oak in an arroyo below us; making it easy for us to appreciate his deep blue body and chestnut wings. That was a treat, as Blue Grosbeaks are a bird that we don't see very often.

As we were leaving the Blue Grosbeak, I pulled up with a gasp. A Mule Deer was descending the hillside into the wash! It disappeared behind a small bend, and I thought for a second that Libby would miss it. Luck was with us. Libby was already watching a buck following my doe. We stood stock-still and watched as the two deer emerged from the hills, stepping hesitatingly down the dry wash towards us. At first slowly, then more and more hesitantly, they approached within a couple of dozen feet. Every once in awhile the breeze would shift and they'd catch our scent. Then they'd stop, stare at us with their big liquid eyes, twitching their big ears. I think they would have eventually crossed the trail immediately below us, but a mountain biker puffed by going uphill, spoiling the scene. Off the deer bounded, stotting stiff-legged back up the wash and then up the hills to the left. They lingered there a moment, the doe approaching us again, but then a man walking his dog spooked them over the ridge for good. It was one of those magical one-with-nature kind of moments, where you almost feel outside of your humanity.

Incidentally, this is only our second trip to Santiago Oaks, and last time we visited we saw a Gray Fox. Pretty cool.

List below:

1. Wood Duck
2. Killdeer
3. Cooper's Hawk
4. Red-tailed Hawk
5. Red-shouldered Hawk
6. Turkey Vulture
7. Great Egret
8. California Quail (H)
9. Rock Pigeon
10. Mourning Dove
11. Red-crowned Parrot
12. White-throated Swift
13. Black-chinned Hummingbird
14. Anna's Hummingbird
15. Acorn Woodpecker
16. Nuttall's Woodpecker
17. Hammond's Flycatcher
18. Pacific-slope Flycatcher
19. Ash-throated Flycatcher
20. Warbling Vireo
21. Hutton's Vireo
22. Western Scrub Jay
23. American Crow
24. Common Raven
25. Barn Swallow
26. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
27. Cliff Swallow
28. Bushtit
29. Bewick's Wren
30. House Wren
31. Wrentit
32. Swainson's Thrush
33. Phainopepla - a single male flew out of a Pepper Tree we were approaching.
34. European Starling
35. Orange-crowned Warbler
36. Yellow Warbler
37. Townswend's Warbler
38. Hermit Warbler
39. Yellow-rumped Warbler
40. Common Yellowthroat
41. Wilson's Warbler
42. Western Tanager
43. Lazuli Bunting
44. Blue Grosbeak
45. Black-headed Grosbeak
46. California Towhee
47. Spotted Towhee
48. Song Sparrow
49. Hooded Oriole
50. Bullock's Oriole
51. Brown-headed Cowbird
52. House Finch
53. Lesser Goldfinch
54. American Goldfinch

I like to keep records of the birds we've seen, that's why I post these lists. One of the things I like about it is that I also see what birds we missed. This list is lacking any Kingbirds, which is weird, Oak Titmice, despite apparently good habitat, and Western Wood Peewees or Olive-sided Flcyatchers, although this is the time of year we ought to be seeing them. I had four Western Wood-Peewees in La Mirada last Tuesday, but none on Saturday! Weird. I wonder why - different habitat? Just not moving around that day?

Oh, and Santiago Oaks has an orange grove. Orchards are supposedly the most reliable place to find Common Ground-doves in Southern California, but we couldn't find any yesterday. I wonder if any are ever found there.