Date: 10/11/25 8:41 pm From: Naresh Satyan via groups.io <naresh.satyan...> Subject: [LACoBirds] American Dippers along the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, other forest notes
Hi all,
I spent much of the day today (October 11) walking for 5 miles along the West Fork of the San Gabriel River west of Hwy 39. It was a struggle to find birds on a warm day for the most part, but I did end up with 41 species, including at least 3 American Dippers at various points along the river. Two of these birds were singing, one of them going nonstop for many minutes (and it was still going when I returned an hour later). Also interesting were 3-4 Belted Kingfishers along the river, and a Great Blue Heron halfway up a large fir tree. Checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S278773256
Dippers were getting hard to find in the mountains a few years ago (at least for me) after several years of drought, but now appear to be back in most creeks that have water -- along the various forks of the San Gabriel river and its tributaries, various creeks that flow into Big Rock Creek on the north slope, and some washes in the front range like San Antonio Creek, the Arroyo Seco and Santa Anita Creek -- nice to see.
In other news, they seem to have finished construction work along the West Fork road from Hwy 39 up to Cogswell dam, where they have laid a new asphalt road along the entire length. It should be a good place to ride a bicycle (as well as hike). The road is still only open on weekends until the end of the year.
Finally - I don't know if Lance sent out an email reminding people about deer-hunting season, but the main season began today in our area and runs until November 9. There are a few more days for junior hunters in late November. There was plenty of evidence of that today -- I saw about 30 hunters with rifles along the West Fork road and up on the hillsides on my hike. A few were on foot, but a lot of them were zooming around on e-bikes, and a couple of deer were being hauled out on e-bikes too. It is not legal to hunt across or along roads and trails and you should be fine birding on major trails, but the rule of law is what it is these days. I recommend sticking to popular hiking trails and roads during hunting season, and consider wearing high-visibility vests and hats when you're out in the forest.
