Mokka mit Schlag » Birding

Before I get on the plane to China I thought I’d try to catch up on recent birding events, since hopefully even with Beijing’s notoriously poor birding and my inability to recruit a local guide, I’ll pick up quite a few species I’ve not seen elsewhere.

Saturday, April 5, I woke up at 5:00 A.M. to get out to Huntington Beach at 6:00. The occasion was the quarterly bird census at the Huntington Beach Wetlands Center. This is about 100 acres of mostly salt panne habitat along Pacific Coast 1, mixed in with industrial plants, housing, and roads. Somehow several large and small parcels have been saved from the sprawling development of Huntington Beach, and the hope is to save more. Restoration projects are scheduled planned to improve the habitat, so we’re counting the birds to track the effects of this eventual work. Plans are to dig a channel to flood some of the areas starting this September. Censuses have been ongoing for about a year and a half now to establish a baseline to measure the success against.

My team of four people (me + Tom Dixon, Pat Cabe, and Dick Cabe) covered the first three parts of Magnolia Marsh. This is a contiguous rectangle divided by habitat into zones 1, 2, and 3. Zone 1 is a narrow riparian strip along Pacific Coast 1. Zone 2 is mostly salt panne in the middle of the plot, and zone 3 turns from the centerline of the levee, southwest to the border of the salt panne. A small canal borders Zone 3 parallel to Pacific Coast 1, but was not included in our territory. Other teams covered zones 4 through 19, including several areas not usually open to the public.

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California Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi
William R. Mason Regional Park, 2008-04-11

Many-spotted Angle Moth, Hodges #6395, Digrammia irrorata
San Joaquin Wildlife Refuge, 2008-04-13

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It’s definitely nice being in a new location this year where I can see almost 50 species in under two hours on a casual stroll after work in early April. Where I come from back in Brooklyn, that would take quite a bit longer, 50 isn’t really possible this time of year. I can’t imagine what migration will be like out here.

Thursday I added three species to my walking BGBY list: Clark’s Grebe, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and Caspian Tern. I find that if I visit each site about once a week, I’m virtually guaranteed to add something new. Daily visits don’t always turn up new birds though. It helps that there are about 4 distinct habitats within easy walking distance of me: urban park, freshwater marsh, canyon scrub, and coastal inlet.

Friday I wasn’t even explicitly birding. I just ran out into Mason Park to grab a few quick insect photos to try a new camera, and I still added one more bird for the year: Ash-throated Flycatcher.
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I found several Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) caterpillars and chrysalises on a small restroom strcuture in Mason park these last few days. This one is just getting started:

I’m not sure how long it takes one to spin a cocoon. This caterpillar and another were in exactly the same positions 18 hours later.
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I don’t know what it is about me and orioles: I just can’t keep track of which ones I have and haven’t seen. Last May I thought I’d seen Hooded Oriole before, but I hadn’t. What I’d seen at Starr Ranch a couple of years ago was a Scott’s. Then this January I forgot all about that Scott’s , and double counted Scotty in Union Square Park as my life Scott’s.

I eventually cleared that up, but last Sunday I did it again. I was birding with Alberto Marcone, visiting from Italy; and local birder Toni Bryant was showing us around Upper Newport Bay. She found a beautiful Bullock’s Oriole in full breeding plumage which I initially misidentified as a Hooded Oriole. Toni politely corrected me, but I still didn’t realize that this beautiful orange bird with a very distinct face pattern was a new bird for me.

In fact, I didn’t figure that out until I was checking my eBird list a few days later and noticed it showed up there as a life bird. I quickly checked back with my complete list (which includes some species from outside the eBird area, as well as a few I only saw prior to eBird’s launch) and sure enough: Bullock’s Oriole was life bird #404.

A little later in the afternoon Alberto and I found a Golden Plover at Bolsa Chica. This was almost certainly a Pacific Golden Plover from the location and time of year. However in non-breeding plumage it’s virtually indistinguishable from an American Golden Plover. (Both birds are possible but unlikely at this location at this time. However the Pacific Golden Plover is merely unlikely while the American Golden Plover is extremely unlikely.) I don’t think I’ll count this one just yet. More should be coming through in the Fall when the plumage is more distinguishable.
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