Visit to Southern California - Sept 2010 (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone

I may be visiting Southern California from Wales for a week at the beginning of September 2010.

This would be a family trip, based in Santa Monica, but I will have a rental car and don;t mind travelling in search of birds.

I would really appreciate your views on the likelihood of my seeing the following birds at that time of year, please:

Lewis's Woodpecker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Vaux's Swift
Western Screech Owl
Common Poorwill
Red Knot
California Condor
Grey Vireo
Cassin's Vireo
Swainson's Thrush - Russet-backed form
Sage Thrasher
Bendire's Thrasher
Le Conte's Thrasher
Lawrence's Goldfinch
Sooty Fox Sparrow
Slate-colored Fox Sparrow
Large-billed Sparrow
Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Any suggestions about specific locations to search for these birds would be very gratefully received.

Also, can you recommend any bird guides based in that area who I may be able to hire to help me find these birds?

Finally, would you be able to suggest anyone I could contact with respect to pelagic seabird trips in that area at that time of year?

All help and suggestions would be extremely welcome.

Many thanks in advance

Gruff Dodd

Wow, this is an ambitious list. Short answer - ebird.org. This site will have a good amount of mostly reliable info. Also, check into the local yahoo groups for California. They are summarized at sialia.com, an excellent resource for rarity notices and to get an idea of the hotspots. You really need to track this daily. It's best to subscribe to them in gmail or yahoo mail and set up a folder and a rule to move all messages there from these groups. Then you can track them over time.

For all of these, verify with ebird. Others on here may be able to help.

Lewis's Woodpecker - a couple spots but seems highly variable - don't know of a reliable spot.

Red-naped Sapsucker - reported in Los Angeles and Inland Empire. Reliable in mountains but significant drive from Santa Monica

Vaux's Swift - I think that just might be a good time. I have seen them in wide open, marshy areas. Ballona Wetlands may be good for this.

Western Screech Owl - So easy to hear, so hard to see. No suggestion.

Common Poorwill - significant drive.

Red Knot - likely at the saltwater marshes. Bolsa Chica may offer excellent views - had them within 10 m on several occasions.

California Condor - they exist in Big Sur about 450 km N of LA but extremely difficult to see. Grand Canyon is far more likely and not much further. A wonder of the world to boot.

Grey Vireo - no knowledge

Cassin's Vireo - no knowledge

Swainson's Thrush - Russet-backed form - not aware of this form.

Sage Thrasher
Bendire's Thrasher
Le Conte's Thrasher
(all three a fair drive from LA unless extremely lucky)


Lawrence's Goldfinch - Highly variable

Sooty Fox Sparrow
Slate-colored Fox Sparrow
- will have to lookup which variant common here but these are difficult to find.

Large-billed Sparrow - go where there's lots of Savanna's and look for the oddball. Easy - Bolsa Chica. No guarantee but a very good shot.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow - no comment

Best of luck.

Matt

This link should help you

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?repo...states&continue.x=22&continue.y=12&continue=t

I got my Rufous-crowned Sparrow at Ocean Trails in Palos Verdes.

Ocean Trails is a Trump golf course that is open to the public. Like it's name implies it has several trails that run along the Pacific Ocean.

This is a fairly reliable spot for Rufous-crowned Sparrow as well as California Gnatcatcher.

I got my Red Knot at the Del Rey Lagoon in Playa Del Rey. The Del Rey Lagoon, Ballona Freshwater Marsh and the Marina Del Rey/Playa Del Rey jetties are very close to LAX and not far from Santa Monica. All three locations offer good birding.

I've heard Lawrence's Goldfinch is somewhat reliable at Hansen Dam in Sylmar. I've had them both times I've been there. However they have been flyovers both times.

You should subscribe to the Yahoo Group LaCoBirds. It's the Rare Bird Alert 'hot line' for Los Angels County. Some of the birds on your list will show up on the RBA if they are around. There are also Yahoo Groups for Orange County and Ventura County.

You also might try posting a message on LaCoBirds that you are looking for a guide. I believe the moderator of that group offers himself as a guide for hire.

Hello,

for Condors in California Pinnacles Monument should be the best place, but i did not found them there.
The people in Pinnacles told me Grand Canyon is more reliable for Condors.

http://www.nps.gov/pinn/




Best regards
Dieter

Gruff Dodd,

The National Audubon Society is a good place to start for information in the US. Each state has a chapter and there are regional/city sub-chapters as well. Los Angeles Audubon is a good resource, they have a nice website (http://losangelesaudubon.org/). I believe they run regular pelagic trips.

September is an odd time for birding in Southern California. Many shorebirds and gulls are back, and many spring migrants have left, but it's not really "Autumn", it's still late-summer.

Near where you will be are a bunch of good spots to see birds, though I can't say that the birds on your list will be there: Malibu Lagoon, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Bolsa Chica Wetlands, and I would guess that birding hotspots in Orange County would be good for many of the upland birds on your list.