Date: 3/18/23 4:36 pm From: <thebrit1...> via groups.io <thebrit1...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Golden Triangle and surroundings.
It is clear that spring is here the last couple of weeks, though there was 22 inches of snow in the yard one day and 7 on another. I was at the excellent Puerto Vallarta Birding Festival at the time. Daniel Irons was out every day - many of the reports are his records. We have had as many as 70 Cassin's Finches and 60 junco's including 2 Gray-headed and 2 Slate-colored plus 1-2 cismontanus types. Up to 15 Pinyon Jays are still regular between Frazier Park and Lake Of The Woods. Daniel had a California x Spotted Towhee hybrid at Tejon State Park and the Varied Thrush was still there till a few days ago. There are 17 Chestnut-collared Longspurs and 2 Lapland Buntings on private land near in the West Antelope Valley (Neenach). Also up to 13 Sagebrush Sparrows presumably wintered though I could not find them today. They are in a dry stony desert area with sparse small sage bushes: Bell's Sparrows seem to prefer sandy areas with larger bushes. The Sagebrush's were loosely associated with Sage Thrashers - there have been up to 30 of these and I had about 14 this morning. A number of birds are moving out such as Ferruginous Hawks, though a few first-years remain. Swallows are coming through in good numbers, and other migrants such as Rufus Hummingbird and Orange-crowned Warbler are starting to show up. We had 140 Swainson's Hawks on the 11th plus 140 on the 13th with 600 TV's; unfortunately we were not there on the 12th which was probably a big flight. Multiple flocks of White Pelicans have been crossing above the large Tejon Quarry and coming out over Castac Lake - this is probably the largest flight line for Raptors too. Still learning!We will be posting all migrating birds on www.trektellen.com. Trektellen is the site that nearly all the worlds major migration points post on. I strongly suggest you take a peek if you are interested in migration.
For those interested in migration in the Golden Triangle and surrounding, look for westerly winds; stronger the better. Anything easterly is death up here. It has been a quiet couple of days because of this!
Richard Crossley
