“Hope is the thing with feathers”… wrote poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), and they certainly do lift our spirits when we see or hear them. Lucky for us at LMU, they are everywhere, and every day they put on a show.
This time of year it is not unusual to see American Pipits on the Sunken Garden Lawn, dipping their butts as they forage in the grass. Our Western Bluebirds can also be found at mealworm trays and throughout the Campus, and every once in a while a rare bird shows up, like the Cape May Warbler in winter plumage (breeding plumage almost looks like a different bird), who has been seen for the past 3 years, like clockwork, wintering in his/her favorite trees by the Loyola Boulevard cul de sac flagpoles.
A great tool to track birds is eBird, a free app that is used worldwide to list bird sightings. The information becomes an invaluable resource for scientists studying bird populations, and the fact that anyone can log in and post a sighting is really fun and exciting for folks wanting to keep track of what they see while enjoying nature in their backyard or wherever they travel. Here is the eBird link to the Cape May Warbler records on LMU’s Campus (considered a Hotspot). The bird is kind of a lost soul found on the East Coast that must have gotten confused during a storm and made a wrong turn during Fall Migration. Now on year 3, our Cape May keeps coming back to winter with us at LMU, delighting local birders!
Besides LMU’s Westchester Campus being a great spot to birdwatch, below the LMU Bluff is the historic Ballona Wetlands, which has multiple birding locations for folks to watch birds. A very rare bird, a first year male Indigo Bunting, showed up in Ballona Discovery Park last week on Thursday, December 5, and both amateur and professional photographers and birders have been flocking to the Park ever since to get a glimpse of the bird. Again, eBird provides great info on this rare bird.
At the 20 year-old reconstructed Ballona Freshwater Marsh at the corner of Lincoln and Jefferson Boulevards, LMU students, staff and faculty have the opportunity to participate in monthly bird walks, led by Olivia Jenkins, Manager of Scientific Programs for Friends of Ballona Wetlands. The tradition to count the birds at this marsh started when it first opened to the public in 2003. Experienced volunteer birders joined Friends’ staff in birding the site on a monthly basis, and it became apparent within 5 years that this was a great spot for birds to re-establish their breeding and migratory routes that had been going on for thousands of years. On Saturday, December 7 a larger than usual group of invited birders joined Olivia in doing a count.
Many of the birders are experts at identifying birds, retired from their day jobs they bring great insight and knowledge to younger staff, interns and volunteers who want to know what bird they are seeing or hearing at the marsh. High school and college students from all over come to participate in the surveys for class projects, community service, or just for fun, and it was so nice to see Sophia Van Ryswyk, a sophomore at Loyola Marymount University majoring in Environmental Studies and pursuing a business minor, meet up with a birder who first came to bird the marsh when he was a tween back in 2015. Inspired by his birding experiences in the Ballona Wetlands back then, and now considering grad school after graduating from UC Davis with a BS in Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, Cameron Tescher shared his journey with Sophia, who was curious about how he segued from being a college student to an employed graduate trying to navigate the business world while seeking meaningful employment and continuing his education in the field that he loves.
Bob Shanman, retired Engineer and prior owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited brick and mortar store in Redondo Beach, has been birding Ballona for most of his adult life. For both Lisa Fimiani, LMU CURes Drollinger Environmental Fellow, and Bob, seeing Cameron again was a real treat, since the last time they were all birding together on the Ballona Creek, Cameron was just a boy.
It was like old home week with many veteran birders posing for photos of those near or over 70, including Ruth and Chris Tosdevin, who rarely get photos of themselves on these excursions.
At the very least, birding provides an opportunity to walk, probably the best exercise anyone can do, and the birds one sees and hears are an added bonus. There are all kinds of studies about the health benefits of walking in nature, and we are so lucky to have the Ballona Wetlands in our own backyard.
Another birder, Ara, was teased about her short-sleaves, while Lisa Fimiani was bundled up for snow! Ann Flower seemed to be birding all by herself at one point, earlier showing some of her photos to others.
Joe Clark got a fantastic photo of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, for those who know how fast this bird moves, this was a great shot!
Some of the “regulars” were missing, but those who came had a great time, laughing, birding and enjoying the treasures of our Ballona Freshwater Marsh as birds and ducks settle in for a Winter’s stay after the Fall Migration.
Strategically located in the Pacific Flyway, the Ballona Wetlands is a treasure for Southern Californians to enjoy all year round, as birds breed, migrate, and winter.
December is the time of year where Christmas Bird Counts (CBC’s) are scheduled all over the world for experienced and inexperienced birders to join together to count birds. Hundreds of years ago the “count” was actually a “kill”, and some wise hunters realized they were not going to have any birds left if they kept killing them. Now it’s a celebration of bird life and an annual tradition that brings folks together doing something they love.
Here is a list of local CBC’s in the Los Angeles areas if you would like to reach out to a compiler and join a bird group in an area of interest (thank you Ali Sheehy!):
- Saturday, December 14. Lancaster/Antelope Valley. Mary Freeman mnfreeman@earthlink.net
- Saturday, December 14. Long Beach/El Dorado: Contact eldoradoaudubon@yahoo.com
- Saturday, December 14. Pasadena: Jon Fisher jonf60@hotmail.com
- Saturday, December 14. San Diego: Event Registration is Closed
- Saturday, December 14 San Fernando: Alexander deBarros alexanderdebarros@yahoo.com
- Saturday, December 14 and Sunday, December 15. Tejon Ranch: Split Count/Not Valid
- Sunday, December 15. Anza-Borrego: Shannon McNeil mcneil@parks.ca.gov
- Sunday, December 15. Malibu: Dick Norton richardjnorton@yahoo.com
- Saturday, December 21. Butterbredt Spring: Chuck Bragg cgbjr67@gmail.com
- Saturday, December 21. Orange County/San Juan Capistrano: Darrell Wilson darrellwilson@cox.net
- Saturday, December 21. Santa Ana River Valley: Bob Packard packardr90@gmail.com
- Saturday, December 21. Ventura: Frank DeMartino venturabirdcount@gmail.com
- Sunday, December 22. Palos Verdes/South Bay: Jon Nakai pvbirder@gmail.com
- Sunday, December 22. Thousand Oaks/Canejo Valley: Dave Pereksta pereksta@pacbell.net
- Saturday, December 28. San Bernardino Valley: Dori Myers dorimyers88@gmail.com
- Saturday, December 28. Santa Clarita: Bobby Walsh rwalsh84@gmail.com
- Saturday, January 4. Orange County/Coastal: Bettina Eastman bettinae24@gmail.com
- Saturday, January 4. Santa Barbara: Rebecca Coulter and Jared Dawson cbc@gmail.com
- Sunday, January 5. Kern River Valley: Reed Tollefson rtollefson@audubon.org
- Sunday, January 5. Los Angeles: Dan Cooper lathrotriccus@gmail.com
Here is a link to a website managed by Alison Sheehy, listing ALL state-wide CBC’s and who is organizing them: https://natureali.org/cbcs.htm
For anyone who would like to join the monthly Ballona Freshwater Marsh surveyors (you will not find this on the Friends public calendar of events), please reach out to Olivia Jenkins: olivia@ballonafriends.org. You might even get to bird with Bob, who also leads the 3rd Sunday Bird Walk tour for the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands (Birding with Bob) where it meets the Bay, including Del Rey Lagoon, Dockweiler Beach, the breakwater and Jetty.
Wherever you are, take a moment to find hope in the things with feathers. Happy Birding!
