Date: 7/19/26 5:47 pm From: Lance Benner via groups.io <lbenner...> Subject: [LACoBirds] LA County Bird Atlas blocks that need coverage
Hi Everyone,
Here's another update on Bird Atlas blocks in Los Angeles County that still need coverage. There are still more than 50 with zero coverage, but to keep the numbers manageable in this email, here are a few with good access from paved roads that aren't in remote places.
Canoga Park NW
0.6 h of effort, 2 checklists, 6 coded, 4 confirmed. It's in the western San Fernando Valley and includes northern part of Topganga Canyon Blvd and the eastern part of Chatsworth Nature Preserve. 56 Species were found here during the atlas in the 1990s so there should be plenty of birds.
Oat Mountain CW
This is another one on the edge of the San Fernando Valley that hasn't gotten much coverage: only 1.3 hours of effort, only 9 species have been coded, of which one has been confirmed. During the atlas in the 1990s, 67 species were coded here.
Oat Mountain SE
This block is mostly suburban but it includes some open space along lower Aliso Canyon, freeway bridges, parks, golf courses, 52 species were coded here in the 1990s. To date in 2026, only 6 species have been coded and only one has been confirmed.
Agua Dulce CW
This block includes a section of Soledad Canyon Road along a riparian area, a lot of open space, chaparral, and Agua Dulce Canyon Road. Only 4 species have been coded and there's been only 1.7 hours of effort. 51 Species were found here during the atlas in the 1990s, and of those, breeding was confirmed for 27.
Malibu Beach CE
This is a block just barely north of the coast that has only three checklists and only 15 species coded. 79 Species were coded here in the first Los Angeles County Atlas and breeding was confirmed for 51. There are several paved roads, canyons, trails, and chaparral.
Although breeding season is slowing, there are still a lot of young birds around, particularly in the San Gabriel Mountains and in the highlands north of Santa Clarita. Both areas still need a lot of coverage.
For example, Chilao Flat CW (which includes a lengthy section of Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road, chaparral, and riparian habitat) has only 11 species coded; Chilao Flat NW (which includes Monte Cristo Campground, Angeles Forest Highway, riparian areas, and dirt roads through chaparral) has only 11 species coded. During the atlas in the 1990s, 60 species were coded in Chilao Flat NW and 57 were coded in Chilao Flat CW.
Lake Hughes SW and Burnt Peak SE are along Lake Hughes Road and neither block has ANY coverage. There's a lot of good habitat in both with an active creek, cottonwoods, alders, sycamores, live oaks, conifers, chaparral, and canyons. During the first atlas 60 species were coded in Burnt Peak SE and 46 were coded in Lake Hughes SW.
As is clear from the discussion above, we still need help in the Santa Monica Mountains and in the western San Fernando Valley. We need help in the Antelope Valley too, but breeding there is largely over, so it's probably more productive to concentrate elsewhere now and plan to devote more time to the Antelope Valley next spring.
Some other things:
The most recent monthly summary of statewide progress is now available at:
Sam Safran created this tool a couple of months ago and just gave it a major update. It's a really useful tool that uses existing eBird data to predict the species that could be present in each block, provides an estimate of the likelihood of finding them, and summarizes the number that have been reported as possible, probable, and confirmed breeders. It's really helpful to illustrate species not yet coded in each block.
More locally, the Los Angeles Birders monthly webinar on July 14 summarized results so far for Los Angeles County. If you missed it, the presentation was recorded and is available on YouTube at:
Finally, although things are going well in Los Angeles County, there's still a lot to do and we need help! More than 50 blocks still have zero coverage and most others still need breeding confirmed for many more species. The atlast uses a dedicated eBird web portal at:
An injured COMMON GOLDENEYE continued along the Los Angeles River below the Los Feliz crossing in Atwater Village through July 12.
A continuing INCA DOVE was in Lake Los Angeles on July 17, seen along Sweetaire Ave. between 167th and 168th Streets.
A GREATER ROADRUNNER was along the east side of the Los Angeles River in Long Beach (north of Willow Street) through July 12.
Two BLACK SWIFTS were seen by Claremont Wilderness Park and along Cobal Canyon Motorway from July 12-16. Late afternoon and early evening is the best time to look for these birds.
A BROWN PELICAN continued at Peck Water Conservation Park in Arcadia through July 14.
Potentially breeding in the area were two BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS observed below the Little Rock-Palmdale Dam from July 14-17. One viewing location is at Google maps 34.4886,-118.0250. There is no vehicle access and one must walk the road from the locked gate to this location. Be aware of the adjacent restricted access areas around this spot. Avoid entering the riparian habitat and the area near the dam itself. Also present here was a BALD EAGLE from July 14-16 and at least two SUMMER TANAGERS from July 14-17.
A VARIED THRUSH continued at a residence in Rancho Palos Verdes through July 13.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Date: 7/15/26 6:55 pm From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Brown-crested Flycatchers at Little Rock Dam and cautions on birding that area
Birders,
On 14 July Leo Gilman found a calling Brown-crested Flycatcher in the riparian woodland (dominated by cottonwoods) just below LIttle Rock Dam at the south end of Cheseboro Road in the Littlerock/Palmdale area. I visited that area this morning (15 July) and found two closely associating calling birds, so this might represent an unprecedented breeding attempt in Los Angeles County (other records have mostly been in fall and winter on the coastal slope). Below I describe the location of the birds, but first I wanted to point out some important considerations in birding that area.
The LIttle Rock Reservoir Recreation Area has been closed to the public for many years (due to issues with the vendor with the franchise to run the recreation area and chronic problems with vandalism, rowdiness, etc., as well as environmental impacts from recreation on sensitive species (such as arroyo toads). Therefore the gate to the recreation area is closed and locked, so to access the riparian area near the dam one must park below the locked gate and walk about 0.7 miles uphill. There are "No Parking" signs in the first couple of pullouts below the locked gate, but parking below that is not signed. Although there are signs saying the recreation area is closed, it is my experience that many people walk or bike up the road past the locked gate to the dam for recreation.
After walking up most of the way to the dam you will be able to view the riparian along Littlerock Creek from the paved road. Today I was at the following spit when hearing the Brown-crested Flycatchers: 34.48865 -118.025044 The activities of the birds themselves were centered around here: 34.488958 -118.024803 These spots are just beyond where there is a small drainage coming from the west, with a small group of sycamore trees on the right as you walk up toward the dam. However, Leo had his bird yesterday in the riparian closer to the dam.
PLEASE DO NOT WALK DOWN INTO THE RIPARIAN HABITAT IN THE CREEK BED. AND DO NOT TAKE THE ROAD THAT LEADS DOWN TO THE BASE OF THE DAM (MARKED BY A WHITE GATE) THAT IS A BIT CLOSER TO THE DAM THAN THE SPOTS WITH THE COORDINATES ABOVE. THERE IS HEAVY MACHINERY WORKING AROUND THE BASE OF THE DAM. THIS IS STRICTLY OFF-LIMITS. Also, I would advise against continuing up to the dam to view the reservoir itself, as recreation there is currently prohibited and there is no staff or facilities.
If you do check out this riparian area, please remember to record breeding evidence, and be especially mindful of looking for breeding evidence for the flycatchers (as well as the Summer Tanagers that are in the same general area). Be aware that there are many Ash-throated Flycatchers throughout the riparian area.
Date: 7/15/26 8:03 am From: lathrotriccus via groups.io <lathrotriccus...> Subject: [LACoBirds] "Migrating" eBird checklists to the Atlas
Just a quick note since people are still asking about this, or just putting it off...
I noticed that several of my own eBird checklists for the spring weren't coded as being part of the CA Bird Atlas, so here's an easy way to spot these and re-classify them:
1. Go to "My Checklists". 2. Look all the way right and the ones that show a little flower icon are part of the Atlas Project; those that don't have this flower aren't.
To move them into the Atlas:
3. Click on the DATE 4. Click Checklist Tools (upper right) 5. Click Change Portal in drop-down 6. Click Change Portal (green button)
You're done! I've been seeing a lot of checklists submitted to eBird that have lots of breeding codes, but which aren't part of the Atlas. These will be "harvested" using some method in the future, but it's helpful for atlasers to see what people are actually recording as we go.
And just a plug to get out and look even on these hot days - the breeding season is winding down but not over, and I'm seeing (and especially hearing) family groups of birds all over town.
Good birding, Dan Cooper Ventura Co.
-- Daniel S. Cooper, Ph.D. President / Cooper Ecological Monitoring, Inc. / Oak Park, CA Lecturer / UCLA & CSULB Research Associate / Department of Ornithology / NHM L.A. Co. 323.397.3562 (text/call)
Date: 7/13/26 11:57 pm From: Naresh Satyan via groups.io <naresh.satyan...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Pelagic birds around San Clemente Island July 11 2026
Hi all,
We had a private birding charter on Saturday July 11, aboard the 6-person zodiac Skimmer out of Newport Beach with Capt. Delaney. The route was Newport Harbor -> Lasuen Sea Mount -> The Slide -> Mackerel Bank -> north end of San Clemente Island -> offshore waters to the west and south of San Clemente Island -> south end of San Clemente Island -> back to Newport Harbor. We covered about 170 miles in total.
Trips on this boat require good weather conditions to go this far offshore, and after rescheduling a few times, we were able to go out because we had calm winds west of San Clemente Island and relatively light south winds inside the islands this weekend. The sea surface temperature was about 70 F over much of the area.
Bird numbers were somewhat low all day, with no large feeding aggregations anywhere, but there were a few highlights. Common birds like Western Gulls, Elegant Terns and Brown Pelicans were almost entirely absent, and we had small numbers of Pink-footed (156), Sooty (54) and Black-vented (13) Shearwaters. These numbers aren't too dissimilar from what we observed on a similar route in August 2025. Whale watching boats report that bait fish is absent in much of our area and marine mammals are pretty scarce.
Most of the bird highlights were in waters around the southern end of San Clemente Island: - We tallied a total of 16 Guadalupe Murrelets over the day. This included 4 families with young (2 adults with 1-2 chicks in a family group). - 6 Scripps's Murrelets around the island, also including a family group with two fuzzy chicks - 20 Craveri's Murrelets, all in pairs - Cook's Petrels were scarce, but we found three singletons around the island - 2 Black-footed Albatrosses - 65 Black Storm-Petrels and 3 Ashy Storm-Petrels
We did not have any migrant small terns, gulls or jaegers, and no other unexpected species.
The murrelet show was fantastic. We haven't been able to do this route in mid-July before, but our high count for Guadalupe Murrelet over the past few years has been "only" 5 birds each in 2024 and 2025 (mid-August both years). 16 Guadalupe Murrelets was exceptional! All family groups (both Scripps's and Guadalupe Murrelets) were vocal, and we attempted recordings of both adults and chicks calling at sea. We assumed at least some of these birds hatched on San Clemente Island based on how young they looked, but that is just guesswork.
Marine mammals were very scarce -- no baleen whales, and only very small pods of dolphins (<100 in each pod). We had a couple of elephant seals, and about 10 good-sized flying fish all over the route.
An injured COMMON GOLDENEYE continued along the Los Angeles River below the Los Feliz crossing in Atwater Village through July 7.
A SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER was at Piute Ponds on Edwards AFB (letter of permission required for access) on July 5. A BAIRD’S SANDPIPER was here on July 10.
A BROWN PELICAN was at the Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys on July 8.
A ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK was at Wildwood Canyon Park above Burbank on July 3.
A NORTHERN PARULA was at a residence in Pasadena on July 4.
Two WILSON’S WARBLERS, an adult in the company of a recently fledged bird, were at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh near Playa del Rey on July 4.
Two SUMMER TANAGERS were along the San Gabriel River’s West Fork off Highway 39 on July 4. Another was at Piru Creek below Pyramid Lake on July 4.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 7/10/26 6:11 pm From: rebecca.fenning via groups.io <rebecca.fenning...> Subject: [LACoBirds] LA Birders Webinar: CA Bird Atlas Year 1 in LA County, 7/14
Dear Birders,
You are invited to the next LA Birders webinar:
California Bird Atlas: Year One Results for Los Angeles County
This talk will describe results from the first year of the California Bird
Atlas in Los Angeles County. Participation in the atlas within Los Angeles
County is very strong and has already exceeded the participation in the
previous atlas 30 years ago. This talk will discuss our progress, notable
records, and priorities and plans for the atlas’s second year.
This webinar will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel
<https://tinyurl.com/2y6efp3f> and will also be recorded for later viewing.
Please use the YouTube link above (alternatively:
https://tinyurl.com/2y6efp3f) which will take you directly to LAB’s main
page, where the live webinar should be visible once it begins at 7pm.
Birding Location Guides!
We are excited to announce our new series of birding location guide videos,
which you can find both on our website
<https://www.labirders.org/locations.html> and our YouTube page
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv3bMyFnQcPeMEseHFEcg25cXiD17x8Nn>.
As we all know, sometimes visiting a new-to-you birding hotspot can be a
bit confusing and intimidating - how do you know where to park, where to
go, and what the landmarks within these places are? Hopefully these guides
will help to demystify these locations. Featuring birders from around LA,
these guides offer overviews and introductions about how to visit these
spots and how best to bird them.
Become a LAB Member! Though our webinars will always remain free and
available to all, members of Los Angeles Birders have access to live
webinars via Zoom, invitations to special LAB-only field trips, priority
sign-up on LAB field trips & events, and discounts on paid LAB programs. To
learn more about membership, please see our website
<https://www.labirders.org/>!
Looking for a past webinar? Don’t forget that a list of all of our
previously recorded webinars <https://www.labirders.org/webinars.html> is
available on our website – which might come in handy if you want to study
up before a field trip, or if you're looking to build your birding skills
from home! Just scroll all the way down, past our upcoming and most recent
online programs and you'll find a list of webinars sorted by category.
These recordings are all viewable via our YouTube
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHbAhQTFVaeowMCl-sD2e0g> page.
Upcoming Events
7/14 California Bird Atlas: Lessons from the First Breeding Season with
Lance Benner (webinar)
8/2 First Sundays at the Huntington (member-only field trip)
8/11 Cloud Forests to Technicolor Desert: Birding Northwest Argentina's
Habitat Mashup with Taylor Driggs (webinar)
This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for June 27, 2026.
A BRANT continued at the Ballona Creek mouth through June 20.
An injured COMMON GOLDENEYE continued along the Los Angeles River in Atwater Village through June 26, below the Los Feliz crossing.
A COMMON GROUND DOVE was at Peck Road Water Conservation Park in Arcadia on June 26.
BROWN PELICANS continued away from expected coastal areas, with one at Peck Water Conservation Park in Arcadia through June 20, one at Lake Hollywood through June 25 and one at SoFi Stadium through June 21.
A PEARL KITE was seen and photographed in the Antelope Valley along Little Rock Creek near Highway 138 on June 12. The provenance of this bird is uncertain, but if of natural occurrence, this would establish the first US record for the species.
A CRESTED CARACARA was at a residence near Zuma Canyon in Malibu on June 27.
WILSON’S WARBLERS, unusual in the lowlands in late June, were at Hahamongna Watershed Park in Pasadena on June 19, in Topanga Canyon (Santa Ynez Trail) on June 20 and at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh near Playa del Rey on June 27.
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
Date: 6/24/26 8:55 am From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: [LACoBirds] A Pearl Kite (somehow) reaches California
Birders,
In a remarkable and perhaps educational episode of bad birding, I managed to pass off a potential first county, state, country, and ABA area record as an anomalous example of a common species, with this mistake only coming to light yesterday. On 12 Jun 2026 I was walking back to my car parked along Pearblossom Hwy (Hwy 138) in Littlerock (east of Palmdale in Los Angeles County) after birding the Little Rock Gravel Pits just west of where Little Rock Creek crosses Hwy 138. In the distance a small falcon-like bird was perched on a utility wire next to a Eurasian Collared-Dove. It struck me as an American Kestrel but was almost entirely white on the underparts and showed a broad white hindneck collar. I've seen very white American Kestrels in Cuba but not in mainland North America, so I figured it must be an odd leucistic individual. I snapped a quick photo of the perched bird with my little toy camera (Sony RX10), but before I could even put my spotting scope on it it took off and flew east over Little Rock Creek; I tried one more photo of it as it flew away with little confidence the bird would even be in the image. [In retrospect, I suspect the bird was spooked off by a Peregrine that had landed on a nearby utility pole; I'm pretty sure I didn't flush the bird since I was still quite far away.] I put the sighting (and crops of the two bad photos) in my eBird list, and even mentioned in my write-up that the unusual amount of white gave the bird a "Pearl Kite-like vibe." That was that until yesterday when the photos were flagged by an eBird photo reviewer as a Pearl Kite rather than a kestrel. That prompted me to look more closely at my photos, and indeed I could see a number of features that looked good for Pearl Kite and, importantly, I could really see nothing that suggested that the bird could have been a kestrel. I sent photos and a link to my eBird list to a few friends who are Neotropical bird experts, and got rapid and emphatic responses that the bird was indeed a Pearl Kite (thank you Van Remsen, Kevin Zimmer, Jon Dunn, and John Garrett).
I have looked casually for this bird a number of times as I have driven by the area, but with 12 days having passed and nothing obvious to hold such a bird in this area I have little confidence it will be seen again here. On the other hand, Pearl Kites feed largely on lizards, and there is no shortage of lizards (western whiptails, zebra-tailed lizards, yellow-backed spiny lizards, side-blotched lizards, etc.) in this area, There are tens of thousands of miles of utility wires in California, and those familiar with this species stress its tendency to sit on wires. So keep your eyes on roadside wires.
As for provenance, there will certainly be questions. This is one of several Neotropical bird species that have benefitted from deforestation and have expanded their ranges in response. I'm not aware of any reports north of Guatemala, but future ones in Mexico (and north?) seem likely. Who knows? I will inquire at the Midway Pet Store, which is just east of where I saw the bird, but chances seem slim that such a bird would be sold in pet stores (or that the owners would own up to it if they had, and lost, a Pearl Kite). Some may be concerned that the two poor pictures, without any detailed field notes written at the time of the sighting, may not be sufficient to support such an unprecedented record. I don't necessarily disagree, but can only repeat that my views were very quick and distant and I didn't have the luxury of studying the bird.
Had I been thinking, I would have put more weight on the Pearl Kite-like features of this bird and put the word out right away. Again, an example of bad birding. Last night I watched the YouTube video of the great talk Julian Hough gave recently to San Diego Field Ornithologists on the perils of "group think" in bird identification. Lots of good points, but in the present case the "group" consisted of all the ill-informed voices in my head rather than the thoughts of other birders.
This is the Los Angeles Rare Bird Alert for June 19, 2026.
A BRANT was at the Ballona Salt Pan in Playa del Rey on June 17.
A HOODED MERGANSER was at the extreme north end of Castaic Lake on June 17.
BROWN PELICANS continued inland and away from expected coastal areas, with two birds at Peck Water Conservation Park in Arcadia through June 15, two at Lake Hollywood through June 14 and one at SoFi Stadium on June 18.
An oddly late GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW was at Elysian Park on June 14. Likewise late was a LINCOLN’S SPARROW on Santa Catalina Island (Middle Ranch) on June 16.
An AMERICAN REDSTART was at the Signal Hills North Side Trails on June 14.
A NORTHERN PARULA continued at the Village Green Condominiums in Los Angeles through June 19. Google Maps 34.0203, -118.3645. This is private property, but birders are welcome. Please be respectful of the residents.
A SUMMER TANAGER was in the foothills north of San Dimas on June 18.
At least two more SUMMER TANAGERS were along San Francisquito Canyon Road on June 19. Google Maps 34.5488, -118.5119.
An INDIGO BUNTING was at Piute Ponds on June 13 (letter of permission required for entry).
-end transcript
Jon L Fisher
Glendale, CA
<JonF60...>
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
For all events, field trips and announcements, please see our website at http://www.laaudubon.org
