Angel’s Lighthouse

For our final trip of the year we both agreed that Southern California is the place to be.  Flying into LAX on Christmas morning we went straight to one of our go to birding locations, White Point Nature Preserve on the coast in San Pedro. Here you have the shoreline with the tide pools and the great vistas of the Pacific Ocean. Birds along the waterfront included Marbled Godwit with Hermann’s and Western Gull. Up above while walking the gardens surrounding the nature center we saw White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows along with Anna’s Hummingbird and California Towhee.

Temperatures were dropping as we headed east toward Long Beach. Our next stop was at the Cabrillo Coastal Park where walking the pier and the beach area we saw Clark’s and Western Grebe, Pacific Loon, Brandt’s Cormorant and many Mew Gulls. The park offers great views of the Angel’s Gate Lighthouse which has marked the entrance to the port since 1913.

We checked into our hotel at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach and after a short rest walked over to the ShoreLine Aquatic Park which not only has great views of the Queen Mary, but also a walkway along the bay where we saw Surf Scoter and Spotted Sandpiper. Downtown Long Beach is much nicer than we expected and there are many choices for dinner although not many were open on Christmas Day. We enjoyed the outstanding Christmas decorations near the Convention Center on our walk to dinner at the Wokcano restaurant for sushi and Asian cuisine.

The next morning we got up early as usual and drove to a tiny park in Garden Grove looking for our target bird, the Ross’s Goose. The bird was there and incredibly also over 80 American Widgeon, 12 Black-crowned Night Heron and quite a few Lesser Goldfinch among other birds. Pretty amazing for a small watering hole in the middle of a metropolis.  It was a short drive to the Mile Square Regional Park where we saw 24 species including Egyptian Goose, Ruddy Duck, Cassin’s Kingbird, Bushtit and several species of Hummingbird. City birding does not get any better than it is in LA.

It’s off to one of our other favorite Southern California destinations, the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve where we enjoyed another relaxing walk on a gorgeous day. We found a variety of ducks including Blue-winged, Green-winged and Cinnamon Teal, Northern Pintail and Common Goldeneye. Also along the boardwalk this day were many herons, egrets, grebes and Willets, Common Yellowthroat and a California Gnatcatcher.

After lunch we made the drive over to O’Neill Regional Park in beautiful Trabuco Canyon. This park is situated in rolling hillsides surrounded by scrub oak, chaparral and sagebrush. The area is also well known for past sightings of mountain lions on the extensive trail system. We did not come across any mountain lions, but did see many species of birds including  Acorn and Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco and Bewick’s Wren.

We got up early the next morning for a nice walk along the Shoreline Aquatic Park  for the variety of bay birds with Surf Scoter, loons, several types of Cormorant and Grebes all in attendance. After checking out we took the freeways through Los Angeles toward Pasadena and stopped at the Rose Bowl where a security guard allowed us to venture just inside the gate for a quick photo op. Nearby we stopped at the Oak Grove Park Watershed and hiked the trail to find  California Quail, Say’s Phoebe and Wrentit. Another quick stop at Descanso Gardens yielded 15 Band-tailed Pigeon and 10 Cedar Waxwings while birding the parking lot.

Our final birding destination was the Mount Wilson Observatory located high above the LA valley. We took the very scenic long and winding road where you really have to pay attention to your driving and forget about the birds for a while. Our target bird was a Williamson’s Sapsucker that had been reported along the boardwalk and that’s exactly where we found it. The Sapsucker ended up as our final species of the year and a life bird. We toured the 60-inch Hale telescope and can’t imagine what it took to build it from 1905 to 1907. It is currently the second largest telescope in the world open to the general public. Make sure you take the tour if you venture up the 5,710 foot mountain to go birding.

This was going to be our last redeye flight and we had time to kill so we went to Hollywood to check out the stars on the walk of fame. We looked for stars for the actors (Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin) from the movie ‘The Big Year‘ and were surprised that none have a star. Lot’s of look-a-like celebrities were in the street and Sharon had her picture with Michael Jackson while Marilyn Monroe said to Mike ‘nice stash (mustache) daddy-o’. For dinner we ate at Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Cantina and highly recommend the guacamole. Our last stop was for a drink at the pool bar of the historic Hollywood Roosevelt hotel where Marilyn Monroe once lived and is rumored to still roam the hotel.

Our 2015 little big year was an incredible adventure for both of us. We visited so many amazing places and met so many wonderful people that we feel lucky to have been able to do something like this. Thank you to everyone who has followed our journey.

Next up: Big Year Reflection

Trip : Total Species: 92 Year Birds:  10  Life Birds: 2

2015 : Year Birds: 519   Life Birds: 85

Here’s the list: 2015 Bird List