5MR Lifer, and 3 Armchair Ticks

Horned Larks at Dockweiler Beach

Horned Lark: 5MR Lifer

Since my first 5MR recap and targets post back in 2020, Horned Lark has been on the list of birds I expected to find in my 5MR. Back then, I identified the Ballona flatlands, and the beach, as spots where I thought Horned Larks could be found. Since then, there was one report in Nov. 2023 in Ballona Area A (of a flyover). And there was another report of 10 flying by the Ballona salt pan in June of this year. I’m sure they’re passing through in small numbers, especially in fall. But they’re rarely spotted. Lately, there seems to be a mini-irruption of Horned Larks in the L.A. Basin, so I was getting my hopes up.

On Halloween, during a late afternoon bike ride down Ballona Creek, I finally added Horned Lark to my 5MR list. I found 2 of them feeding on the little league ballfields between the 90 and Lincoln. It was a spot I’ve checked dozens of times for Horned Lark (and Mountain Plover).It’s got the kind of open area with little vegetation that they like. The pair were walking around and foraging. Given their plumage, I suspect they were juveniles. In breeding plumage, Horned Larks have killer little horns and a sharp black stripe through the eye.

Horned Lark in my 5MR, at long last

During a bike ride along the creek a couple of days later, there were 5 Horned Larks feeding in the same brown ballfield. And then the next day, during a walk at Dockweiler Beach, a little flock of 10 Horned Larks flew past me heading north against a strong wind (picture at top). In a matter of days, Horned Larks had quickly gone from totally elusive to regular sighting in my 5MR. But who knows, it may be years before I see one again in my 5MR.

Three Armchair Ticks

In birding lingo, a “tick” is a new bird species added to a list. It could be a “tick” on your list for a particular walk one morning, or a county “tick” (the first time you’ve seen in a bird in a county), or a lifer “tick.” Since many birders are obsessed with their lists (me included), a lot of birding is focused on producing ticks.

An “armchair tick” is a lazy man’s lifer. It’s a bird species that you add to a particular list without ever leaving your house. One day you don’t have a bird on your life list. Without doing anything, the next day you do. Armchair ticks result from taxonomy changes that turn what once was considered a single species into two or more species. If you happen to have seen the birds that once were considered the same species but are now reclassified as two (or more) species, then the moment the split becomes official, you pick up a new lifer. Through the magic of scientific classification, your life list grows without you doing any birding. 

This year, taxomony changes resulted in me picking up 3 armchair ticks when the changes became official. One of those 3 was a single sighting of what is now considered a Siberian Pipit. Our regular wintering pipit here in Los Angeles is called the American Pipit. They’re birds that range widely across the United States and Canada. They prefer grasslands and barren fields. A subspecies of American Pipit (known as anthus japonicus) usually stays on the western side of the Pacific Ocean. The breed and winter in Russia, Japan, Korea, and China. This year, scientists concluded that this subspecies was better considered a species of its own. They gave it the name of Siberian Pipit. They’re distinguishable from American Pipit primarily by their much darker striping on their chests.

Ace L.A. birder Andy Birch found one of these Siberian Pipits on some soccer fields near Griffith Park back in December 2020. Back then, it was considered an American Pipit. The bird came back in December 2021. Aware that there was talk of splitting this subspecies from American Pipit into its own distinct species, I made a trip out there to see the bird. My ebird report included a photo and stated: “I await my armchair tick.” Just about 3 years later, that sighting of American Pipit turned into my first, and only, sighting of a Siberian Pipit.

The second armchair lifer I added from taxonomy changes this year was a bird that was previously considered a subspecies of Brown Booby. I’d seen Brown Booby in Hawaii, and also in San Diego waters. But the birds that live and breed off the coast of California and Mexico  are now considered their own species. The new species was called Cocos Booby, after the Cocos tectonic Plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean. This meant that the Brown Boobies I saw on 2 different boating trips in San Diego county waters are now sightings of Cocos Boobies. 

The third armchair tick resulted from a split of House Wren into multiple different species. At the time of the split, 253 of my 254 sightings of House Wren were now considered sightings of the Northern House Wren. One of those 254 house Wren sightings, however, was of a bird that is now considered to be a Southern House Wren. That sighting was in Costa Rica, on the property of the amazing villa we stayed in back in 2018.

That’s how you add 3 bird species to your life list without doing any additional birding.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail in my 5MR!

Eastern Yellow Wagtail!!!

Lifer Eastern Yellow Wagtail in my 5MR!!

I love it when birding serves up a surprise. While I was out of town recently, a friend found a pectoral Sandpiper in my 5MR. It’s a bird I see almost, but not, every year in my 5MR. So it’s a good enough bird to go find whenever one is found in my 5MR. Upon coming back to town, I headed out after dinner to see if the Pectoral Sandpiper was still around. It had been in an area near the Ballona Freshwater Marsh that was flooded with water during our winter rains, and had retained much of its water until early summer. This was great news for migrating shorebirds, because they’re much more likely to stop when there is water around. And despite the lack of rain around here, the area had magically sprouted a few puddles of water in the last week or so.

When I arrived, I scanned the area and didn’t see the Pectoral. I did notice a bird with a brown-ish back and cap pumping its tail that I first thought was an American Pipit. But as it moved around, I saw that this bird’s underside (chest, belly, undertail) was obviously yellow, the chest had no streaking, and the bird had an eyebrow (supercilium, if you must) that was decidedly thick and white. All of that ruled out American Pipit for me.

A wrong turn in Alaska produces birder delight in Los Angeles

I snapped some photos, and sent out an alert to the LA County bird nerd WhatsApp suggesting that I’d possibly found a Yellow Wagtail. The immediate responses confirmed my suspicion. So I continued watching the bird, determined to keep my eyes on it in case anyone was able to show up before sunset (which was in 30-40 minutes).

The bird was feeding on bare dirt near small puddles of water, and amongst baby pickleweed plants that have sprouted where the seasonal pond had been for winter and spring. It bobbed its tail regularly as it moved around, and often moved in herky-jerky spurts. When feeding amongst the pickleweed, it sometimes would disappear within the plants, other times would walk on top. It spent more of its time in the pickleweed than on the bare dirt. At one point it spread its tail, and I noticed white outer tail feathers.

A local birder and 5MR enthusiast showed up, and got to see the Yellow Wagtail. We watched it for about 10 minutes. As the sun set, the area in which it was grazing fell out of sun and into shadow. At this point, the bird flew south away from us. We did not see where, or how far, it went.

This is just the third LA County record (in eBird) for Eastern Yellow Wagtail. [I guess it could be a Western Yellow Wagtail, but that’s much less likely. The Eastern birds breed in Alaska. There are scattered West Coast reports. And the bird gave a burrrpsy call when it flushed after being harassed by a Killdeer that suggests Eastern Yellow Wagtail.] The last sighting was in September 2007 at Malibu Lagoon. Before that, one was seen in September 1987, again in Malibu Lagoon. It’s such a rare sighting anywhere in the lower 48 that birders from all across the country have been flying in to see it.

This now gives me an LA County first sighting (Sedge Wren), a second sighting (Bar-tailed Godwit), and a third sighting (Eastern Yellow Wagtail), with two of those in my 5MR.

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