Date: 4/18/25 10:01 am From: Andrew Birch via groups.io <andyrbirch...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Swallows and Swifts, LA River Burbank and Eastside
Whilst the trees remain bare of birds, at least the hirundine action on the Eastside has been a wonder to experience this week. The cool, overcast conditions have dropped some huge feeding flocks along the LA river ranging from Buena Vista Park in Burbank (close to 1000 birds there alone) all the way through Glendale and down to Silver Lake Reservoir (approximately 1500 birds this morning). Clearly thousands of birds all the way along the river with many sections of the river that I did not have time to check but a scan would reveal large feeding flocks as far as you could see. Along the river in Burbank and Glendale, the majority of birds were NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED and AMERICAN BARN SWALLOWS with smaller, unremarkable numbers of CLIFF, TREE and VIOLET-GREENS. There have also been a few hundred VAUX'S SWIFTS in these flocks too. I've only been able to find a total of 2 BANK SWALLOWS but that's not an atypical number for my efforts here in spring. Additionally, Silver Lake Reservoir has also had vast numbers and this morning over 1000 CLIFF SWALLOWS including a single flock of 550 birds resting on the reservoir bank (counted from photos). Again, unremarkable numbers of TREE and VIOLET-GREENS mixed in here.
Best, Andy BirchLos Feliz
