A certainly strange and heartbreaking start to the year with the fires here in LA. Things are beginning to get back to semi-normal in the Pasadena area, though half of our neighborhood has evaporated completely into smoke, literally. My kid's school, friends' homes, some of our favorite restaurants and shops we regular, all gone - not to mention countless trails in the San Gabriel Mountains that I bird regularly from usual access in Altadena. We were very lucky for our house to not fall victim as well.
Birds from home/neighborhood, Jan 1st and 2nd:
1. California Scrub-Jay
2. House Sparrow
3. Yellow-rumped Warbler
4. Allen's Hummingbird
5. Acorn Woodpecker
6. Nuttall's Woodpecker
7. Red-crowned Parrot
8. Yellow-headed Parrot
9. American Crow
10. Common Raven
11. Western Bluebird
12. Cedar Waxwing
13. House Finch
14. California Towhee
15. Western Gull
16. Black Phoebe
17. European Starling
18. Rock Pigeon
January 2nd, short walk around Peck Rd Park to see what turned up:
19. Canada Goose
20. Mallard
21. American Coot
22. Western Grebe
23. Double-crested Cormorant
24. California Gull
25. Pied-billed Grebe
26. Spotted Sandpiper
27. Song Sparrow
28. Common Yellowthroat
29. Turkey Vulture
30. Bushtit
31. American Goldfinch
32. Great Egret
33. Phainopepla
34. Anna's Hummingbird
35. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
36. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
37. Northern Mockingbird
38. White-crowned Sparrow
39. Great Blue Heron
40. Lesser Goldfinch
41. Western Meadowlark
More from the neighborhood, early Jan:
42. Mourning Dove
43. White-breasted Nuthatch
44. Bewick's Wren
45. Dark-eyed Junco
46. Band-tailed Pigeon
47. Orange-crowned Warbler
48. Eurasian Collared-Dove
49. Cooper's Hawk
50. Red-whiskered Bulbul
January 5th LA CBC, covering Playa del Rey area:
51. Rose-ringed Parakeet
52. Snowy Egret
53. Lesser Scaup
54. Bufflehead
55. Willet
56. Marbled Godwit
57. Belted Kingfisher
58. Barn Swallow
59. Gadwall
60. American Wigeon
61. Black-necked Stilt
62. Long-billed Dowitcher
63. Ruddy Duck
64. Cinnamon Teal
65. Townsend's Warbler
66. Greater Yellowlegs
67. Green-winged Teal
68. Least Sandpiper
69. Blue-winged Teal
70. Red-tailed Hawk
71. Redhead
72. Long-billed Curlew
73. Osprey
74. Red-winged Blackbird
75. American Pipit
76. Cassin's Kingbird
77. American Kestrel
78. Eared Grebe
79. Northern Shoveler
80. Black-bellied Plover
81. Whimbrel
82. Savannah Sparrow
83. Say's Phoebe
84. Royal Tern
85. Brown Pelican
86. Black-crowned Night Heron
87. Common Loon
88. Horned Grebe
89. Surf Scoter
90. Sanderling
91. Brandt's Cormorant
92. Black Oystercatcher
93. Heermann's Gull
94. Black Turnstone
95. Ring-billed Gull
96. Glaucous-winged Gull
97. Northern House Wren
98. Killdeer
99. Western Sandpiper
100. Semipalmated Plover
Post fire, back in the neighborhood mid-Jan:
101. Red-shouldered Hawk
102. American Barn Owl
And beginning my New Year's resolution effort last week to attempt at least one year bird or county year bird each and every day:
103. Indian Peafowl
104. Scaly-breasted Munia
105. White-throated Swift
106. Lincoln's Sparrow
107. Mitred Parakeet
108. American Avocet
109. Northern Pintail
110. White-faced Ibis (my shamefully-late last bird of 2024, happy to get this in January this time around)
Wishing everyone a safe January, as even more fires pop off today in LA County...