Under Clear Skies

Allen’s Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

Spent a morning wandering the rather beautiful Los Angles County Arboretum. With all the amazing plantings the place seems to be a hotbed for humming bird action. It’s also pretty good for butterflies as well it would seem. If it’s introduced species you are looking for there are plenty of tame Indian Peafowl meandering around the grounds, a few Mandarin Ducks on the lake and a host of cheeky Red-whiskered Bulbul. It’s weird to see birds that seem to essentially be thriving but aren’t actually ‘worth’ anything list wise (like the bishops at Bolsa Chica). I guess the local birding community is feeling pretty burned by the currently ‘countable’ but rapidly declining Spotted Dove. It’s a conundrum when a seemingly naturalized species starts to disappear, something that British birders are all too familiar with Lady Amherst’s Pheasant.

Anna’s Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

I can see why this spot is a favorite during migration – who knows what the Madagascar Garden might attract as it flies over the LA area? With a couple of lakes and an abundance of amazing plantings it is apparently a great spot to find waif and stray eastern warblers amongst other things. For me personally it’s fun to be in a part of the world generally where there is more than one possibility hummingbird wise. It gives you an appreciation of how tough ID’ing fast moving hummers can be though. Even when they aren’t moving so fast the females aren’t always easy. I’m still not 100% on this one that we found perched on a nest yesterday – leaning towards Black-chinned but not certain it isn’t an Anna’s.

Hummingbird nest – Catherine Hamilton

The Arboretum has a useful website and even a checklist of birds that have been seen in the park (about 230 – none too shabby) which you can check out on their website here. For the film buffs out there, Los Angeles County Arboretum has been used in any number of movies, probably the best of the bunch the Alfred Hitchcock flick Notorious. Cool to think of Hitch once roaming the same paths as you currently are. I might have to watch the movie again just to see if I can recognize the arboretum!