Date: 9/23/25 10:28 am From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: Re: [LACoBirds] Some birds along the San Gabriel River this fall
Naresh et al.,
Interesting survey results -- thanks to those who did the field work.
One take-away for me is that Northern Red Bishop seems to be on its way out
in the county. Although there have been a few sightings this fall of up to
three individuals at the San Gabriel Coastal Basin Spreading Grounds, the
failure to record any bishops on your two surveys this fall certainly
suggests that they are very scarce. In the "olden" days (say, 1990s), one
would expect many dozens of bishops wherever there was a profuse growth of
annual grasses and others seeding annuals in the areas you covered.
Just goes to show that one can never predict the population trajectories of
naturalized species (the near extirpation of Spotted Doves in mainland
southern California being a prime example). Scaly-breasted Munias seem to
have held steady in your survey areas, and Pin-tailed Whydahs continue to
thrive. But who knows what the situation will be in ten or twenty years.
Of course if Swinhoe's White-eyes blink out one wonders if the planet can
sustain any life at that point.
Kimball Garrett
Juniper Hills
On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 9:59 AM Naresh Satyan via groups.io <naresh.satyan=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I had posted on the listserv a couple of months ago that there was quite a
> bit of water and great weedy vegetation along the San Gabriel River in the
> El Monte-Pico Rivera area this year. Some of the regular birders in the
> area were very enthusiastic about attempting some sort of bird survey of
> the river in the fall. So we checked the river from Valley Blvd to Slauson
> Ave, a stretch of 10 miles, on two days. The results of those counts are
> here, for people who like looking at these things:
>
> August 23 -- https://ebird.org/tripreport/405117 > September 21 -- https://ebird.org/tripreport/413834 >
> Generally, the river has dried out quite a bit in the last two months, and
> conditions in the San Gabriel spreading grounds are always changing, but
> the river bed hasn't been disced yet and a lot of weedy vegetation remains.
> Things like Bobolinks haven't arrived yet, but there were a few Indigo
> Buntings in this stretch this season along with other seedeaters, and a few
> interesting birds in the vicinity of the spreading basins. Some really
> interesting habitat that needs regular checking.
>
> Regards,
> Naresh (with several other birders, listed in the trip reports)
>
> --
> Naresh Satyan
> Pasadena, CA
>
>
>
