Placerita Canyon, Frank G Bonelli Regional County Park,
Franklin Canyon Reservoir, and Sepulveda Basin
California, USA

02 April 2006

Placerita Canyon

I spent yesterday (02 April) birding in the Placerita Canyon State Park (the site of the first gold strike in California apparently), the Frank G Bonelli Regional County Park (named incidentally for an LA County Supervisor and not the Italian Franco Bonelli of Bonelli’s Warbler fame), Franklin Canyon Reservoir, and round the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.

My host was yet another pasionate and typically motivational blogger, Jason Stuck of the excellent Beakspeak. Fairly new to the birding scene, Jason is nevertheless as committed a conservationist and birder as you could hope to meet and I met up with him and a doyen of the LA birding scene Irwin Woldman early morning and we set off for the hills and mountains that form the eastern edge of LA.
‘So, Charlie, what species are you after?’, they asked casually…

‘Where to start’, I replied…

Actually, one bird I’ve wanted to see for many years is the Calfornian Gnatcatcher. There’s no particularly good reason why - but perhaps rather like George Mallory’s “Because it’s there” reply to a question asking why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, there was a scarce and interesting bird resident in the general LA area that I’d never seen (and if that’s a rather shallow response, I’m not going to apologise - birding doesn’t have to be deep and meaningful ALL the time). Anyway, sightings were duly promised (not promised as in guaranteed, no-one in birding would ever guarantee anything and with good reason - birds have wings and could suddenly leave en-masse for reasons us humans will never understand, there could be a 24 hour eclipse making it too dark to see, we could take a wrong turn and end up in Texas or fall through a big hole and end up in China…anyway, it was a promise without a guarantee…), and arrogantly I added, “Besides the Gnatcatcher I don’t think there’s anything else I need or won’t at least recognise…”. I mean, I’ve been birding in California loads of times before…

Pride always comes before a fall, eh? Jump ahead to the Placerita Canyon and almost inevitably about thirty minutes later I was watching a dull-brown, long-tailed bird with no field-marks that I could see whatsoever shuffling around under some dense bushes about 30m away. I couldn’t even place it in a family, let alone put a name to it! ‘Loose-feathered’ with a small head and short bill, and looking somewhat like a scruffy Asian babbler or a large sylvia warbler, this was a bird that I recognised from somewhere, but just couldn’t think where. And could I get the others on to it at first? Not a chance - it was keeping too low and too concealed. It’s been a while since I felt like a beginner somewhere other than in a rainforest in Brazil. Very stimulating really. However, if I hadn’t eventually managed to get Irwin on to it (and a second individual moments later) to tell me what it was I doubt I’d be looking back on the experience so fondly of course. What was it? Oh, I think I’ll give you a few moments to think about it before I tell you…

Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus

Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax difficilis

Placerita is undoubtedly a beautiful place to bird, with tall California oaks, a creek, and lots of habitat. It was a little early for high numbers of migrants still - but highlights included four species of hummingbird (including Costa’s and Allen’s), Nuttall’s and Acorn Woodpeckers, Oak Titmouse, Jason’s and Irwin’s (and my) first-of-the-year Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Phainopepla, and singing Orange-crowned Warblers. And of course that “mystery” bird I couldn’t place: it’s in the Sibley Guide, an Audubon WatchList species, the hemisphere’s only Timaliid - it was my first ever Wrentit, a west coast speciality that is under threat from urbanisation (habitat destruction) and predation of its nest by feral cats. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo, but to be honest I was just grateful to see it…

After Placerita we headed through some absolutely stunning mountain scenery to the Frank G Bonelli Regional County Park in San Dimas County, a 1,970 acres park which includes an artificial 250-acre lake (called, delightfully, Puddingstone Reservoir), extensive picnic areas, a belt of Prickly Pear cactus - and views across to the beautiful snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains.

Bonelli Park is renowned amongst LA birders (but not until now Brit-based bird bloggers) as a prime site for finding Californian Gnatcatcher - a scarce species restricted particularly to sage scrub-grassland interface in chaparral. Irwin had the information that the best site was “off the dirt track behind Washroom 7″, an area dominated by sagebrush and the cacti. Even walking the short distance from the carpark across the grass to the track the birding was exciting, and we soon getting views of a rather confiding male Western Bluebird, Chipping Sparrow, a trio of displaying Red-tailed Hawks, a few ‘Audubon’s’ Yellow-rumped Warblers, and - importantly - the declining and threatened Californian coastal race sandiegensis of Cactus Wren.

Within ten minutes of hitting the track we had also found our target - the Californian Gnatcatcher, a species that with its glossy-black cap and long, predominantly dark tail is more distinctive than I’d realised it would be. It also mews like a cat when it’s pished, which makes it easier to follow as it’s not the most demonstrative of birds! All three of us had reasonably good views (actually in the years to come I may well amend that to “excellent views” depending on whether I ever see another one) of a pair as they weaved in and out of the tangled undergrowth, and after a “high five” or two we left the gnatcatcher and its mate as they retreated deeper into the scrub when a Cooper’s Hawk flew over.

California Gnatcatcher Polioptila californica

Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
(is it just me but wouldn’t an image - or a painting - like this
look good as a bird book cover…?)

Western Bluebird Sialia mexicana

Irwin had to leave mid-afternoon, and after dropping him off back in LA Jason and I carried on birding with a quick visit to two of his local sites - Franklin Canyon Reservoir and the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys.

The first site we went to, Franklin Canyon Reservoir, is described on the official website as “an island of open space surrounded by the city”. It’s certainly a popular island (if that’s what it is), with a busy road leading to a very small parking area off which was a small pond fringed with a couple of willow trees, picnic tables, and a hoard of noisy children. As we drew up I asked Jason what we were likely to see. The pond here is good for Wood Ducks he said. Now, normally Wood Ducks are wary little things and highly unlikely to be on anything as small as a ‘pond’ - but Jason knows what he’s talking about of course and remarkably not only were there about ten Wood Ducks there were also a trio of Ring-necked Ducks which spent most of the time trying to keep a good distance between themselves the children (I knew how they felt I can tell you). Still, there’s only so far away a duck can get on a small patch of water, and it did mean we were able to get some pretty good photos.

Drake Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris

Drake Wood Ducks Aix sponsa

The main reservoir looked a little empty of birds, but we did find an adult Osprey overseeing the comings and goings of all the humans below (with what in the photo below I think looks like a pretty fed-up expression). At least he was perched high enough to avoid most of the disturbance constantly erupting far below - but it did make me wonder: do birds like Ospreys that depend on what us humans term “recreation areas” ever feed at weekends…?

Osprey Pandion haliaetus

With the afternoon wearing on, we decided to leave Franklin Canyon and check out the second of Jason’s “local patch” sites - the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys. This, as I soon found out, is another incredibly popular “recreation area”. Close to a major suburb of LA, the Basin attracts hundreds of visitors - particularly on a warm afternoon at the weekend.

I have to say I really couldn’t imagine how there would be any birds here at all, as on first entering the area all that could be seen is a fair size chunk of parkland full of frisbee-throwing couples, barbecues, and the sound of Mexican music. However just out of sight of this distinctly wildlife-unfriendly central area is a large-ish lake with an area of reeds and a small island with a stand of old trees (occupied by a colony of Double-crested Cormorants), which backs onto a preserved piece of rough grassland. It’s reached by a clearly marked trail leading off the main car park and is endowed with a plethora of information boards which give a useful insight into the dynamics of the wetland and the wildlife found here.

With little time before the light went (and with even less energy remaining) we stayed around the lake, where - despite not looking too hard - we found small numbers of the yellow-throated western form of Yellow-rumped Warbler, an Allen’s Hummingbird defending its territory, an approachable flock of Northern Rough-winged Swallows which were resting up on a tree by the water’s edge and allowed some prolonged “photo opportunities”, a small selection of ducks (including a female Blue-winged Teal, Shoveler, Ruddy Ducks, and a small flock of Bufflehead), and Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles.

Nothing of huge relevance of course, but it was a very relaxing way to end a long but hugely enjoyable and interesting day…

Male “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata audubonii

Northern Rough-winged Swallows Stelgidopteryx serripennis
(For a photo-gallery click here)

Day List:
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps c)10; Western Grebe Aechmophorus occidentalis 30+; Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus 50+; Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias 1; Great Egret Egretta alba 2; Snowy Egret Egretta thula 3; Canada Goose Branta canadensis 4-5; Wood Duck Aix sponsa 8; Mallard Anas platyrhynchos c)10; Blue-winged Teal Anas discors 1; Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 1; Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris 4; Bufflehead Bucephala albeola 10+; Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis 10+; Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura c)10; Osprey Pandion haliaetus 1; Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii 4; Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis c)10; American Coot Fulica americana 20+; Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis c)10; Bonaparte’s Gull Larus philadelphia c)20; Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia 4; Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura 20+; Anna’s Hummingbird Calypte anna 2-3; Costa’s Hummingbird Calypte costae 2; Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus 2; Allen’s Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin 1; Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus 7-8; Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens 1; Nuttall’s Woodpecker Picoides nuttallii 3-4; Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus 3-4; Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax difficilis 2; Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans 5-6; Cassin’s Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans 2; Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor 50+; Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis c)20; Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula 4-5; Phainopepla Phainopepla nitens 4-5; Cactus Wren Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus 1; Bewick’s Wren Thryomanes bewickii 3-4; House Wren Troglodytes aedon 2-3; Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos 1; Western Bluebird Sialia mexicana 4-5; American Robin Turdus migratorius 1; Wrentit Chamaea fasciata 2; California Gnatcatcher Polioptila californica 2; Common Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus c)10; Oak Titmouse Baeolophus inornatus 4-5; Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta stelleri 3-4; Western Scrub Jay Aphelocoma californica c)10; American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos c)20; Common Raven Corvus corax c)10; Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 50+; Purple Finch Carpodacus purpureus 1+; House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus 30+; Lesser Goldfinch Carduelis psaltria c)10; Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata c)20; Orange-crowned Warbler Vermivora celata 4-5; Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus 3-4; California Towhee Pipilo crissalis 5-6; Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina 2; Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia 10+; Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis c)10; Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus c)10; Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus 6; Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater 3; Bullock’s Oriole Icterus bullockii 1

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores.

My thanks to Jason Stuck for foregoing some much-needed sleep and organising a great day’s birding.

Frank G. Bonelli Park is open sunrise to 10 PM, March 1 - October 31; sunrise to 7 PM, November 1 - February 28. A vehicle entry fee applies.