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Already off to a good start in ’09 with 3 new photo birds: Red-necked Grebe, Williamson’s Sapsucker and Great Horned Owl. I ticked the first two up in Ventura on Saturday and the Great Horned Owl right here in the Ballona Wetlands. He was located within a grove of Eucalyptus trees next to the Gas Co. parcel adjacent to the Ballona Freshwater Marsh. Apparently there has been a couple resident there for a while and even nested one year and fledged at least one chick.

Some other good fortune – I checked Ballona Creek a couple times for the Black Scoters that Martin Meyers found but it wasn’t until saturday afternoon that I was able to photograph them and in decent lighting conditions. There was also a nice adult Thayer’s Gull nearby. Photos follow.

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Yesterday I took visiting birder, Phil Swanson, from Papillion, Nebraska up to the San Gabriel Mountains in search of Mountain Quail, White-headed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker and anything else we were fortunate enough to find. We immediately located a female White-headed Woodpecker, soon joined by a male and yet another female while at Chilao Campground. Farther down the road we had an additional male White-headed Woodpecker.

White-headed Woodpecker

White-headed Woodpecker

No signs of Mountain Quail, so we headed over to the Chilao Visitor Center. Snuck up on a flock of Band-tailed Pigeons. Lots of Oak Titmouse, Mountain Chickadee’s and Dark-eyed Juncos working through the oaks. Still no signs of Mountain Quail but on the way out we encountered yet another White-headed Woodpecker. Probably the most I’ve seen in one day!

Band-tailed Pigeon

We decided to drive up the dirt road to the observatory across the highway from the Chilao campground. About 3/4 of a mile down the road I saw a single Mountain Quail run across the road and up the hill. We stopped and waited 20 minutes hoping the rest of the covey would slowly meander out. No such luck, so we continued onward. Since the gate up to the observatory was locked we decided to park and hike it by foot. On the way up, we had a pair of Wrentit’s and some Spotted Towhee’s.

By now the wind was starting to pick up pretty good and the clouds were rolling in so we decided to throw in the towel and head back to my place. Later in the afternoon we checked out Ballona to try for a late Wandering Tattler. We finally found one at the end of the middle jetty along with many Surfbirds, a Black Turnstone and a Ruddy Turnstone.

Also found a nice adult Glaucous-winged Gull along with a presumable hybrid Western x Glaucous-winged Gull:

Glaucous-winged Gull

Glaucous-winged x Western Gull

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Still no luck on Little Blue Heron at Ballona. Captured some cute Mallard ducklings however:

Mallard Duckling

Mallard Duckling

I managed to sneak up on a Green Heron at Del Rey Lagoon as well:

Green Heron

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