Another great day birding with a Pasadena Audubon Society. This was such a unique field trip out to Costa Mesa to a unique grassland environment known for vernal ponds. It was very Birdy!! We saw red shoulder and Cooper’s hawks, uncountable number of common yellowthroat’s, I got a great glimpse of the California gnatcatcher as well as a new bird for me, the Ash-throated gnatcatcher, House wren, and some wonderful bells Vireo🌈 More rare in Southern California was a blue grosbeak, And the most adorable American gold finches! Also a western wood peewee. This is such a great Audubon group, everyone’s really active and knowledgeable.
The common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), also known as the yellow bandit or Maryland yellow-throat,is a New World warbler. It is an abundant breeder in North America, ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico. The Common Yellowthroat was one of the first bird species to be catalogued from the New World, when a specimen from Maryland was described by Linnaeus in 1766. Listen
California gnatcatcher. Earlier this month, we went to Bonelli three times to try and get this bird–standing for hours in swarms of gnats along a creek. The song is absolutely unforgettable… we could hear them calling to each other nonstop from the Manzanita trees… Listen!! We eventually did get a look but not a good look- so today was so great to really see one!
Another bird that I felt I really got to know this month was the song sparrow. We never get them at the house but we spent a lot of time photographing one yesterday at the Huntington and then today at Fairview.
Ditto for the yellow-breasted chat. It was great to get a good look.
Dewdrop World 
Leave a comment