Date: 6/29/25 9:16 pm From: Naresh Satyan via groups.io <naresh.satyan...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Bridge Fire closure lifted; birds in the mountains and offshore
Hi all,
The Angeles National Forest made an abrupt U-turn and terminated the Bridge Fire closure order that was supposed to last until May 2026, and opened up everything as of June 20, 2025: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/angeles/alerts/bridge-fire-area-closure-terminated. That means everything in the Bridge Fire closure area is now open: parts of the high country such as Blue Ridge and the old Baldy trail, Glendora Mountain Road, the Bridge to Nowhere etc. Many of the access roads are still closed (Angeles Crest Highway, Glendora Mountain Road etc) but the forest is technically open.
Today I went on a hike in Cattle Canyon, which starts just below Heaton Flat where the Bridge Fire originated. The devastation due to the fire is extreme in the area, with all the hillsides burned down completely to the ground. I was amazed that they hastened to open up this part of the forest, but of all the things the government is doing that don't make any sense, I will not complain about having access to public lands. Patches of riparian vegetation have survived in the canyon, and I found a few breeding birds. Fire-followers like Lazuli Buntings and Lawrence's Goldfinches were well-represented, but also most of the usual breeding birds. I also found a couple of American Dippers 3 miles up the canyon -- I've been meaning to go look for them in this canyon for a few years, and I was glad to find them there, even after the fire damage to the canyon. eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S255471669
Part of the reason I got a late start on a hot day was because some of us went on a pelagic trip yesterday to faraway San Clemente basin (southeast of San Clemente island), and it was a tiring and somewhat rough ride back. There were relatively few birds until we got south of the island, but we found the usual suspects once we got there. Good numbers of Pink-footed Shearwaters offshore, about a dozen Cook's Petrels, a few Craveri's Murrelets, two Black-footed Albatrosses, and a small number of Ashy and Leach's Storm-Petrels to go with the more numerous Black Storm-Petrels. Trip report is here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/389897
