Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Ballona Freshwater Marsh
2024 5MR Recap
It was a busy year work-wise. I didn’t do any travel outside the United States, and not much within it. That meant that I was around my 5MR most of the time. Put that together with a big year for vagrants in LA county, and I ended up with a 5MR record for species in a year. All told, I saw 235 species within a five mile radius of my living room couch. (If you had asked me before I became a birder how many species you can see within 5 miles of your house, I’d have said 30, 40, or maybe 50). I also added 8 new species to my 5MR life list, bringing it to 315. Two of them were on my 2024 targets list. Here’s the breakdown of the new additions.
- Common Murre – I picked up my first 5MR lifer in February, when a Common Murre spent a couple of days swimming around the Marina del Rey breakwater. It’s an unusual bird to spot from land, but one I expected to eventually add to the list.
- Virginia’s Warbler – In May, I brought my 5MR warbler list to 23 species when a Virginia’s Warbler showed up at Kenneth Hahn Park. This kicked off a run of 4 months with 4 new 5MR birds. Of my 8 new 5MR birds, this is the only one not found in the Ballona area. God bless the creek and marsh.
- Little Blue Heron – This one was on my target list. I’ve tried many times before to turn a Snowy Egret into a Little Blue Heron. This one, with its yellowish legs and blue tipped primaries, did the trick.
- Ruff – I kicked myself when word of a Ruff at the Ballona salt pan went out one afternoon. Just 30 minutes before it was spotted, I was on my bike at the Pacific Avenue bridge over the Ballona Creek. I paused, thought about checking the salt pan (5 minutes away), and decided not to. Just after arriving back at my house, I got the alert about this awesome shorebird at the salt pan. So I turned around and rode my bike right back to where I’d been. Cool to see one of these (only my second in LA County) with some of the breeding chest feathers (ruffs) hanging on.
- Eastern Yellow Wagtail – This one goes down as the totally unexpected, mega sighting of the year. It’s just the third record ever for LA County. It was apparently spotted by someone else an hour before I saw it. But that person didn’t know what it was and hadn’t spread the word. So (maybe) this one counts as a bird I found.
- Horned Lark – The second of my 2024 5MR targets that I saw. This Halloween sighting along the creek was followed up by a flock of 10 flying by me on the beach a few days later.
- Indigo Bunting – This one was a bird-feeder special. There’s a little park next to an elementary school called Ballona Discovery Park. Friends of Ballona Wetlands do lots of good public educational work there. And they’ve got feeders that attract House Finches and Scaly-breasted Munia. In early December, an unexpected Indigo Bunting showed up. It was more brown than Indigo, but I was delighted to add it to my list.
- Siberian Pipit – This bird wasn’t even its own species until October 2024. So it wasn’t a target. Indeed, whenever I’ve checked the pipit flocks in the past, it was in hopes of spying a Red-throated Pipit. But recently Siberian Pipit was split from American Pipit. And one December day while checking out the pipits at the little league ballfields along the creek, one stood out as not like the others. The chest and flanks were whiter and the streaks were thicker and darker. That made it a candidate for Siberian Pipit. I refound it 4 days later, and got the clinching photos of pink legs. Even accounting for old records of the bird as a japonicus subspecies of American Pipit, this is only LA County’s second Siberian Pipit.
Ruff
Siberian Pipit
Little Blue Heron
Indigo Bunting
The best ending to 2024 was a Christmas gift from my oldest child–a handmade piece of art representing my 5MR with some of my new additions sketched in pencil.
2025 5MR Targets
I knocked 2 of my targets off from last year’s list. And I’ve replaced 2 others that I didn’t see with some new ones. The first 5 remain species I’m convinced are due to be found. #10 is, as always, a wild dream
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak – A regular enough vagrant in L.A. County that a park in my 5MR is bound to host one.
Lesser Black-backed Gull – Increasingly spotted in L.A. County, but only once along the coast (2014). It’s past time for me to find one.[UPDATE: Before the month of January 2025 was up, gull guru Andy Birch spotted a first-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull at Dockweiler Beach. A quick drive later I had added it to my list. Woo-hoo!]- Chimney Swift – This one is all about ID skills. Each spring, the Vaux Swifts move through, and amongst them is surely a Chimney Swift or two. Do I have the patience to bird every bird and pick out the rarity?
- Northern Waterthrush – There are several warblers I’d like to add to my 5MR list. My target is a Northern Waterthrush in the Playa Vista Riparian Corridor or at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh. The habitat is potentially good, especially in a wet year (if we ever have one of those again).
- Painted Bunting – Finding one of the colorful male birds would be awesome. Last year may have been my chance, when they appeared in a few spots across the county. But I remain hopeful.
- California Quail – New to my target list this year. Perhaps the terrible fires of early January in the Santa Monica mountains push some quail into unusual places this spring, like Kenneth Hahn or the Baldwin Hills steps.
- Wrentit – Another new target. Same thinking as with the quail. They are occasionally reported in my 5MR, but never with photos. Given the Wrentit’s fidelity to place, I’m dubious they are accurate reports.
- Broad-winged Hawk – These raptors move through LA County in small numbers every year. You can even track their progress down the west coast and know when to expect them. One of these days, I’ll look up and see one.
- Gray Catbird – Hiding somewhere in a brushy spot in my 5MR is a Gray Catbird that needs to meow when I’m within earshot.
- Pileated Woodpecker – This would be absurd. But it would be fun. I can’t fathom where in my 5MR it would show up though.
