More urban bluebirds

I was surprised to see a little group of Western Bluebirds in the Hancock Park neighborhood of L.A. today, working a strip of lawn below sycamores planted as street trees. These birds were near Highland Ave. and W. 3rd St.; the nearest I'd seen them to here in the past had been in the athletic fields along Fairfax in the Baldwin Hills (so. of I-10), at the big park/golf course south of Pico at Motor, and east of here in picnic areas on the east side of Griffith Park, where they are common nesters.

Misc. eastside sightings

Driving home from Whittier on the afternoon of 11/27, I headed up Rosemead Blvd. and had 10 Am. White Pelicans flying northeast into the Legg Lake area. There was a little flock of Tricolored Blackbirds joining the coots, grackles and domestic ducks being thrown bread at the parking lot to Legg Lake on the east side of Rosemead, and a flock of 10+ Cassin's Kingbirds coming into a dusk roost along the Pachmayr shooting range entrance rd. on the west side.

A dark raptor cruising west, low over the 60 Fwy. near Atlantic, turned out to be a very dark (young?) Peregrine Falcon. I'm not sure I've seen a Peregrine between downtown and Whittier Narrows.

Grand Hope Park birding expedition

I had a meeting downtown yesterday, so birded tiny "Grand Hope Park" (2.5 acres, est. 1992?), which is sort of the courtyard/entrance at FIDM (Fashion Inst.) along Hope St. near Olympic.

There's virtually no habitat, just a few planted trees (incl. small sycamores and a couple coast live oaks), and aside from a flock of House Sparrows, had Allen's Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Northern Mockingbird and Yellow-rumped Warbler - a true urban assortment. There are some fruit-bearing vines on arbors, so it could be worth a look later in the winter.

Red Crossbill over apt.

I had a calling crossbill over the new apt. (near Wilshire and Beverly Dr.) on Saturday morning. There have been a few reports from the desert, but maybe none on the coast.

Swainson's Hawk living large

Dropping off some dry-cleaning this morning, I looked up to see a cluster of raptors circling over the Beverly Hills Four Seasons (Doheny/Burton Way). Three Red-tails and a Swainson's Hawk. I almost never see Red-tails south of Sunset Blvd. in the Hollywood/Farmer's Mkt area, so they caught my eye. They continued east in a straight line out of sight.

Back to Taylor Yards

Yesterday I checked out movement at midday along the L.A. River at the new Taylor Yards park, and had a late Western Kingbird in with a few Cassin's, along with what is probably the same White-tailed Kite from earlier in the fall, which is probably wintering (!). The kite was calling from a small pine tree in the southern portion of the park. The sump had lots of Savannah and a few Lincoln's sparrows, but I didn't have time to look more thoroughly.

Poor-will goes pelagic

I headed out to Malibu Lagoon post-rain this morning, and while watching Elegant Terns coming in off the ocean, I noticed something else flying down-coast several hundred yards out. It was about robin-sized, dark and plump, with long, rounded wings. Deep, powerful wingbeats. I couldn't fit it into any raptor, and it wasn't round-headed like a Burrowing Owl, but smaller.

With my mind racing and mentally ruling out families of birds it *couldn't be*, I was absolutely stumped until it approached the beach and "tilt-glided" down into some landscaping around the Adamson House just east of the lagoon - nightjar!

I raced over to the grounds of the house, and after poking around a bit, heard and saw the bird, a poor-will, batting against the plaster wall of a courtyard like a trapped moth in the house. It managed to find an opening and sailed over the house and out of sight.

Well, these birds do occur on the Channel Islands (and are on the move in October), but this ranks as one of my most baffling birding moments ever!