Hi Everyone,
Here's additional information about the "America's Birdiest County" event that will happen
in Los Angeles County on April 28-30, 2023.
The count starts at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning and ends at midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning.
The objective is to find as many species in Los Angeles County over this three day interval as possible. We've been doing this since 2003 and regularly find more than 260 species.
Birds can be identified by sight or sound, and as usual, rare species require documentation. All birds must be counted from land, so we can't accept anything seen on a whale watch, or from a boat on a lake, but we'd be glad to count any birds seen from Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands or from seawatches at places such as Point Vicente and Point Dume.
I will act as compiler again this year.
Since the count in 2022, the California Bird Records Committee has accepted Nanday Parakeet and
Red-masked Parakeet to the state list, so we can now count them. They should be straightforward to find.
HISTORY
America's Birdiest County started in 2003 in San Diego as a friendly competition among counties across the country to see how many species people could find in a single 24-hour period.
After the first three years, the organizers changed the protocol to make it a three-day event.There were also various categories across the country to try to level the playing field so that counties in very different areas wouldn't be competing against those in other areas that have vastly more birds. Thus, counties in, say, Maine weren't competing against counties in California. Los Angeles was in the "Coastal West" category and our chief competition, at least initially, was with San Diego and Monterey. After the format changed to a three-day event, Monterey stopped competing in order to continue their traditional one-day county-wide birdathon. After 2011, the organizers discontinued the nationwide event, but selected counties continued due to strong local interest.Los Angeles and Kern Counties, which usually did very well, both continued.
Here are the number of species found in Los Angeles County since 2003:
Year Total
2023 265
2021 277
2020 No count due to covid 19
2019 257
2018 263
2017 264
2016 270
2015 275
2014 272
2013 265
2012 262
2011 277
2010 271
2009 264
2008 255
2007 272
2006 265
2005 246
2004 240
2003 239
Our total jumped in 2006 due to better organization and increased interest.
This event has turned into an intensive sweep of the whole county each spring and has provided a useful snapshot of the species that are present in late April. Many people who participate also record their observations in eBird, and as a result, tens of thousands of bird sightings are permanently archived, so in addition to having fun, we're also making a scientifically useful contribution.
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LOGISTICS
Please email reports to me at lbenner@... and/or to the LA County listserve. ([email protected])
We welcome you to send ebird lists: the easiest way is to email eBird lists to your self and then forward them to me: This makes checking for new species really easy.
I will provide updates two to four times each day to track our progress and to help guide searches for species we're missing. The first update will probably happen by mid afternoon on Friday. We will also provide updates each night so that we everyone can see what we still need first thing in the morning.
We welcome reports on the county listserve all weekend regardless of what you see: the species do not have to be rare.
Please note that we can't count birds seen from boats, but birds seen from Santa Catalina and San Clemente Island count. Also, the Gambel's quail and chukars on San Clemente Island are self-sustaining so we can count them. Also, to continue the protocol we adopted a few years ago, we are now glad to count bald eagles seen from Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands.
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NON-NATIVE SPECIES:
Kimball Garrett asks us to please report established non-native species even if they're not the list that's accepted by the AOS or the CBRC.
This means that we want to hear about introduced species such as parakeets and parrots, pin-tailed whydahs, orange bishops, white-eyes, Egyptian goose, Mandarin ducks, and so forth. Monitoring those populations is becoming increasingly important so please report them, and, of course, enter your sightings into eBird.
We'll keep them in a supplemental list separate from the "regular" species.
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RARE SPECIES
There have been a number of rare species in the county recently. Here's an abbrevicated list of some reported in the last week or so:
Tundra Bean Goose
Long-tailed Duck
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Broad-winged Hawk
Blue-headed Vireo
Pacific Wren
Sage Thrasher
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Hooded Warbler
The Bean Goose, hawk, vireo, thrasher, and Wren would all be new if we could find them.
This is a partial list: I haven't had time yet to go through all the rarities found in the county in the last month.
As always, anything flagged as "rare" in eBird is going to require documentation, so please take photos, jot down notes, obtain recordings and videos, or make sketches. Please remember that your cell phone probably has an app that allows you to record sounds. They're quite sensitive and can be good for documetation.
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SPECIES PREVIOUSLY RECORDED
Below is the list of every species we've found during previous ABC weekends.
There are some species that we get regularly that are actually quite local and require special effort to find and/or that are just leaving or arriving at this time of year . Among them, in no particular order, are prairie falcon, American dipper, common ground-dove, Inca dove, spotted owl, northern saw-whet owl, northern pygmy owl, flammulated owl, burrowing owl, golden-crowned kinglet, LeConte's thrasher, Williamson's sapsucker, red crossbill, Swainson's hawk, common merganser, hooded merganser, summer tanager, golden eagle, and wandering tattler.
We often struggle to find pelagic species; alcids are particularly difficult.
The table below lists every species we've recorded during the ABC weekend since 2004 and the number of years in which we've found it.
N = number of years we've found a species from 2004-present
N SPECIES
14 Snow Goose
18 Ross's Goose
17 Greater White-fronted Goose
17 Brant
16 Cackling Goose
18 Canada Goose
17 Wood Duck
18 Blue-winged Teal
18 Cinnamon Teal
18 Northern Shoveler
18 Gadwall
18 American Wigeon
18 Mallard
16 Northern Pintail
18 Green-winged Teal
04 Canvasback
18 Redhead
18 Ring-necked Duck
02 Greater Scaup
18 Lesser Scaup
18 Surf Scoter
02 White-winged Scoter
04 Black Scoter
02 Long-tailed Duck
18 Bufflehead
03 Common Goldeneye
11 Hooded Merganser
15 Common Merganser
17 Red-breasted Merganser
18 Ruddy Duck
18 Mountain Quail
18 California Quail
14 Gambel's Quail
14 Chukar
17 Pied-billed Grebe
11 Horned Grebe
18 Eared Grebe
18 Western Grebe
18 Clark's Grebe
18 Rock Pigeon
18 Band-tailed Pigeon
17 Eurasian Collared-Dove
18 Spotted Dove
13 Inca Dove
15 Common Ground-Dove
02 White-winged Dove
18 Mourning Dove
18 Greater Roadrunner
18 Lesser Nighthawk
18 Common Poorwill
18 Vaux's Swift
18 White-throated Swift
18 Black-chinned Hummingbird
18 Anna's Hummingbird
18 Costa's Hummingbird
18 Rufous Hummingbird
18 Allen's Hummingbird
13 Calliope Hummingbird
01 Ridgeway's Rail
17 Virginia Rail
18 Sora
18 Common Gallinule
18 American Coot
01 Sandhill Crane
18 Black-necked Stilt
18 American Avocet
18 Black Oystercatcher
18 Black-bellied Plover
03 Pacific Golden-Plover
18 Snowy Plover
18 Semipalmated Plover
18 Killdeer
18 Whimbrel
17 Long-billed Curlew
18 Marbled Godwit
18 Ruddy Turnstone
17 Black Turnstone
02 Red Knot
18 Surfbird
01 Ruff
01 Stilt Sandpiper
18 Sanderling
18 Dunlin
04 Baird's Sandpiper
18 Least Sandpiper
01 Pectoral Sandpiper
02 Semipalmated Sandpiper
18 Western Sandpiper
14 Short-billed Dowitcher
18 Long-billed Dowitcher
12 Wilson's Snipe
13 Wilson's Phalarope
17 Red-necked Phalarope
02 Red Phalarope
18 Spotted Sandpiper
14 Solitary Sandpiper
18 Wandering Tattler
18 Greater Yellowlegs
18 Willet
17 Lesser Yellowlegs
07 Pomarine Jaeger
10 Parasitic Jaeger
05 Common Murre
04 Scripps' Murrelet
02 Cassin's Auklet
03 Rhinoceros Auklet
01 Sabine's Gull
18 Bonaparte's Gull
01 Laughing Gull
10 Franklin's Gull
17 Heermann's Gull
02 Short-billed Gull
18 Ring-billed Gull
18 Western Gull
18 California Gull
16 Herring Gull
02 Iceland Gull (Thayer's Gull)
01 Lesser Black-backed gull
18 Glaucous-winged Gull
01 Glaucous Gull
17 Least Tern
18 Caspian Tern
05 Black Tern
01 Common Tern
18 Forster's Tern
18 Royal Tern
18 Elegant Tern
18 Black Skimmer
18 Red-throated Loon
18 Pacific Loon
18 Common Loon
01 Yellow-billed Loon
01 Black-footed albatross
01 Leach's Storm-petrel
03 Northern Fulmar
13 Pink-footed Shearwater
17 Sooty Shearwater
07 Black-vented Shearwater
18 Brandt's Cormorant
18 Pelagic Cormorant
03 Neotropic Cormorant
18 Double-crested Cormorant
17 American White Pelican
18 Brown Pelican
04 American Bittern
18 Least Bittern
18 Great Blue Heron
18 Great Egret
18 Snowy Egret
15 Cattle Egret
18 Green Heron
18 Black-crowned Night-Heron
05 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
18 White-faced Ibis
01 California Condor
18 Turkey Vulture
18 Osprey
17 White-tailed Kite
16 Golden Eagle
17 Northern Harrier
18 Sharp-shinned Hawk
18 Cooper's Hawk
06 Bald Eagle
18 Red-shouldered Hawk
18 Swainson's Hawk
01 Zone-tailed Hawk
18 Red-tailed Hawk
04 Ferruginous Hawk
18 Barn Owl
12 Flammulated Owl
18 Western Screech-Owl
18 Great Horned Owl
17 Northern Pygmy-Owl
14 Burrowing Owl
16 Spotted Owl
06 Long-eared Owl
15 Northern Saw-whet Owl
18 Belted Kingfisher
13 Lewis's Woodpecker
18 Acorn Woodpecker
14 Williamson's Sapsucker
01 Red-naped Sapsucker
18 Red-breasted Sapsucker
15 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
18 Nuttall's Woodpecker
18 Downy Woodpecker
18 Hairy Woodpecker
18 White-headed Woodpecker
18 Northern Flicker
01 Crested Caracara
18 American Kestrel
15 Merlin
18 Peregrine Falcon
16 Prairie Falcon
00 Nanday Parakeet 2023 will be the first year we can count it
01 Mitred Parakeet: 2022 was the first year we can count it
00 Red-masked Parakeet 2023 will be the first year we can count it
02 Yellow-chevroned Parakeet. 2021 was the first year we could count it
18 Red-crowned Parrot
01 Lilac-crowned Parrot: 2022 was the first year we can count it.
18 Olive-sided Flycatcher
18 Western Wood-Pewee
18 Hammond's Flycatcher
18 Gray Flycatcher
18 Dusky Flycatcher
18 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
18 Black Phoebe
18 Say's Phoebe
09 Vermilion Flycatcher
03 Dusky-capped Flycatcher
18 Ash-throated Flycatcher
07 Tropical Kingbird
18 Cassin's Kingbird
02 Thick-billed Kingbird
18 Western Kingbird
18 Bell's Vireo
18 Hutton's Vireo
18 Cassin's Vireo
11 Plumbeous Vireo
18 Warbling Vireo
18 Loggerhead Shrike
18 Steller's Jay
18 California Scrub-Jay
16 Clark's Nutcracker
18 American Crow
18 Common Raven
18 Mountain Chickadee
18 Oak Titmouse
17 Verdin
18 Horned Lark
18 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
09 Purple Martin
18 Tree Swallow
18 Violet-green Swallow
16 Bank Swallow
18 Barn Swallow
18 Cliff Swallow
02 Red-whiskered Bulbul. 2021 was the first year we could count it.
18 Bushtit
18 Wrentit
18 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
08 Golden-crowned Kinglet
18 Red-breasted Nuthatch
18 White-breasted Nuthatch
18 Pygmy Nuthatch
18 Brown Creeper
18 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
18 California Gnatcatcher
18 Rock Wren
18 Canyon Wren
18 House Wren
18 Marsh Wren
18 Bewick's Wren
18 Cactus Wren
12 American Dipper
18 European Starling
18 California Thrasher
13 LeConte's Thrasher
18 Northern Mockingbird
18 Western Bluebird
01 Mountain Bluebird
15 Townsend's Solitaire
18 Swainson's Thrush
18 Hermit Thrush
18 American Robin
01 Varied Thrush
18 Cedar Waxwing
18 Phainopepla
08 Scaly-Breasted Munia
18 House Sparrow
01 Red-throated Pipit
18 American Pipit
01 Evening Grosbeak
18 House Finch
18 Purple Finch
18 Cassin's Finch
12 Red Crossbill
15 Pine Siskin
18 Lesser Goldfinch
18 Lawrence's Goldfinch
18 American Goldfinch
04 Grasshopper Sparrow
18 Chipping Sparrow
03 Clay-colored Sparrow
18 Black-chinned Sparrow
01 Field Sparrow
14 Brewer's Sparrow
18 Black-throated Sparrow
17 Lark Sparrow
18 Fox Sparrow
18 Dark-eyed Junco
18 White-crowned Sparrow
18 Golden-crowned Sparrow
03 Harris' Sparrow
13 White-throated Sparrow
18 Bell's Sparrow
03 Vesper Sparrow
18 Savannah Sparrow
18 Song Sparrow
16 Lincoln's Sparrow
01 Swamp Sparrow
18 California Towhee
18 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
18 Green-tailed Towhee
18 Spotted Towhee
18 Yellow-breasted Chat
18 Yellow-headed Blackbird
18 Western Meadowlark
03 Orchard Oriole
18 Hooded Oriole
18 Bullock's Oriole
01 Baltimore Oriole
18 Scott's Oriole
18 Red-winged Blackbird
18 Tricolored Blackbird
18 Brown-headed Cowbird
18 Brewer's Blackbird
18 Great-tailed Grackle
02 Northern Waterthrush
05 Black-and-white Warbler
01 Tennessee Warbler
18 Orange-crowned Warbler
18 Nashville Warbler
18 MacGillivray's Warbler
18 Common Yellowthroat
01 Hooded Warbler
02 American Redstart
03 Northern Parula
18 Yellow Warbler
01 Chestnut-sided Warbler
10 Palm Warbler
18 Yellow-rumped Warbler
18 Black-throated Gray Warbler
18 Townsend's Warbler
18 Hermit Warbler
18 Wilson's Warbler
01 Red-faced Warbler
07 Summer Tanager
18 Western Tanager
18 Black-headed Grosbeak
18 Blue Grosbeak
18 Lazuli Bunting
02 Indigo Bunting
Total: 344 species
New in 2022:
We added three new species last year:
Least Flycatcher
Lilac-crowned Parrot. Introduced: recently accepted by the CBRC
Mitred Parakeet Introduced: recently accepted by the CBRC
Removed: black swift and willow flycatcher because we think those reports were in error.
If you think you see them, be prepared to provide outstanding documentation!
Please start thinking of where you might be able to contribute, and we look forward to hearing from you on April 28, 29, and 30!
Best wishes,
Lance
lbenner@...
Lance Benner
Altadena, CA |