Semipalmated Sandpiper stretching its wings
Tag: 5MR (Page 3 of 3)
Red Phalarope, Ballona Creek, May 2020
I’ve said it elsewhere, and I’ll say it again – 5MR birding is awesome. Indeed, the idea of focusing birding efforts within a few miles of my living room couch got me out of a bit of birding doldrums at the beginning of 2018. I had, by then, built up a big enough county list that new L.A. county lifers weren’t readily available. When they did show up, the birds were often far away – Los Angeles County is 4,751 square miles, and from my house it is 68 miles to the county’s NW corner in Gorman, 95 miles to the NE corner, and depending on traffic can take almost an hour to get to parts that are much closer. Perhaps it was a sign of my maturing, but I simply didn’t care enough about my county list to drive 75 minutes to the Antelope Valley to get a bird like the Scott’s Oriole that I’ve already seen somewhere else. I also felt guilty spending time and burning fossil fuel chasing birds, especially birds I had seen in LA before (say it with me: NO ONE CARES that you saw Mountain Plover or American Oystercatcher once again this year in L.A.).
That’s when I stumbled upon Jen Sanford’s idea of the 5-mile radius. It was exactly what I needed – a birding challenge that would compel me to get out birding, while completely erasing any reason to go very far. It was a way to do what I enjoy with all sorts of time, environmental, conservation, and scientific benefits. And I would presumably learn a ton about birdlife in my little circle. I got so gung-ho that I made a contest out of it, recruiting some other birders in a 5MR Challenge for 2018. Ten folks officially signed-up. By years end, six had found more than 200 bird species within 5 miles of their house.
Since then, besides a couple of trips outside the country, my 5MR has been the focus of my birding. Usually, I’m not chasing. Instead, I just pick a spot close to home and go check it out. But I do keep my eye on eBird. There isn’t a system in eBird enabling 5MR alerts the way there is for birds you haven’t ever seen in a state or county. As an imperfect alternative, I use the “Needs Alert” function to check recent sightings for birds I haven’t yet seen in L.A. County this year. Since I do most of my birding in my 5MR, this works alright. And occasionally, a report shows up for a bird in my 5MR that I haven’t ever seen in my 5MR.
That’s what happened last week, when Ballona warrior Walter Lamb reported a Red Phalarope on Ballona Creek. I live a block from the creek, and a bike path runs from my house 3 miles along the creek to the ocean, and another 3 miles inland. I’m on it all the time (exercise + birding = efficient healthy nerd). The report was from 7:30am, and precise as to location. I took off at 1:30pm and found the bird still in the same spot – feeding along the edge of the concrete creek about a mile from the coast.
Behold the redness
Summer Red Phalarope sightings are pretty rare around here, especially non-pelagic sightings. I had certainly never seen a red Red Phalarope before – all the others were winter plumaged birds without a single red feather on them, and most of those were birds flying away from the boat I was on. So I was very happy to have leisurely and close looks at the reddest Red Phalarope I will probably ever see. I biked the path 2 days later, and didn’t see it, and haven’t seen it since.
Every spring and fall for the past 4 years, I’ve scanned the small groups of sandpipers on Ballona Creek east of Centinela Ave. My goal: turn one of the regular Western Sandpipers into a rare Semipalmated Sandpiper. For reasons I can’t explain, the creek doesn’t get many migrating shorebirds. Maybe it’s the smaller size of the creek (compared to the L.A. River). Maybe it’s the lack of vegetation (this part of the creek gets essentially vacuumed at least twice a year, and the bushes that grow alongside it are cut down). Or maybe the creek runs too much east-west instead of north-south. Whatever it is, the peep flocks never get much bigger than 20-30 birds. But I was convinced that careful, patient eyes could eventually find a Semipalmated Sandpiper some day. And after years of hunting, my search is over.
Semipalmated Sandpipers breed on the Arctic tundra. They travel through the United States on their way to wintering grounds on the South American coasts. Some of the eastern-most birds are thought to make a non-stop flight from New England to South America over the ocean. One tagged (less-than-two-ounce) bird made a 3,000 mile non-stop flight. They are regular migrants on the east coast of the United States. On the west coast, they are fewer and farther between. They apparently prefer to migrant a bit inland, rather than along the coast. They get reported on the L.A. River every year, but had never been seen in my 5MR on Ballona Creek.
There were very few birds on the creek today, which is pretty usual. As the creek turned north just past the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, I spotted about a dozen peeps (an unusual spot for them). Dutifully, I looked through the group. Most were Least Sandpipers. Two were obvious Western Sandpipers. A final bird was short-billed, dark-legged, and showed no rufous in the scapulars. I studied it for 10 minutes. Usually, these birds morph into Westerns the longer I look at them. The bill lengthens and droops. A hint of rufous appears on the back. But this one stayed the same. I took some fuzzy photos with my pocket zoom. I posted them to LACO Birds, and received several replies that agreed with the ID of a Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Sandpiper Trifecta on Ballona Creek: Least, Western, Semipalmated
Semipalmated Sandpiper is a new L.A. County lifer, and even better a new bird for my 5MR. Other than a 2010 bird at Malibu Lagoon, it’s also the first eBird report west of the L.A. River for L.A. County. I’m sure this isn’t the first that’s ever stopped on the creek, but it’s nice to have finally picked one out.