LA Birding

Condors!

So I finally managed to see the condors in the San Gabriels. After a 1/2 hr wait during which time I seriously doubted that I was in the right place, 2 birds appeared above the ridge and sailed around one of the radio towers before landing. Pretty huge! They were far off and there was a heat haze and I was unable to read their tags. I took some record shots. A little while later further down the road, I stopped to take some scenic pics and the same pair (presumably) sailed over me. This is a good site to see these birds - perhaps only 1.5 hrs (or less) from LAX?

Land of the Condors

Los Angeles in the background

Driving a little further down, I was stunned to see an adult bird by the side of the road. I managed to get a couple of shots before it took off.

Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley in the background

And a little further on this young bird

Directions - take 405 north to 5 north to 14 north. Exit Sand Canyon and head south east in to the mountains. After about 15mins drive, turn right on Bear Divide. Continue up this narrow road for a few miles until you reach Camp 9 fire suppression station. Birds hang out on road up to camp 9 and also on the radio towers. Do not try to feed the birds - they need to be kept wild and afraid of humans.

Ruff, Plovers and Condors (almost)

Haven't been birding for weeks so on hearing of some good birds on the Oxnard plain late in the afternoon on Saturday, I decided to go for a drive. The Pacific Golden Plovers were meant to be on the sod fields along Casper Rd. Driving along and scanning the fields yielded nothing more than a couple of Black-bellied Plovers on a wet patch by the roadside. Looks like I was too late. I decided to have a look for the Ruff at the end of Arnold Rd and come back to check this patch if I had time.

Almost immediately I got out of the car, a shorebird flew past looking for all the world like a Ruff. It paused briefly by a pool and shot off again. I grabbed my scope and found some yellowlegs and dowitchers at a distance. And there was the Ruff. It was getting dark and it was windy so the shots are more record shots (there's another one also posted on the Stop Press Page)

Light was running out, so I decided to head back to look one more time for the plovers. It was obvious that many more plovers had showed up and I quickly found the 3 Pacific Golden Plovers amongst 20 or so Black-bellied Plovers. I managed to get some record shots as the sun was going down.

Sunday afternoon found me looking for Condors in the San Gabriel mtns above the San Fernando Valley. Many birders had seen birds most of the morning and as I was driving up I met a birder who had just seen a young bird by the side of the road. However, something wasn't right. I started to doubt I was in the right place. I searched extensively but no luck. It's not out of the realm of possibility that I'm just not very observant and wouldn't know a condor if I drove right past one...Perhaps, next weekend I'll have time to give them another try.