Santa Cla's Christmas Bird Count

Red crossbill, Loxia curvirostra.

Today I was offered a ride to the Santa Clarita CBC, and I could not refuse! Even though the chances of seeing anything great was minimal, I was determined to enjoy it nonetheless!

I started off my enjoyment of the day by leaving my camera at home! I put my camera down on the dark countertop amidst the darkness of 5am while sorting through my bag, and, given the camera was also black, is how it ended up being left behind. A disaster, but at least Dan had his camera! As much as I like birding without the hefty lens I may have occasionally used it. So much for proving that I wasn't obsessed with the device.

The day started near Dry Gulch road, where we heard and saw red crossbills. While I was out of a camera (sort of) I did have my phone on hand. The crossbills were hard to hear through traffic and wind at times, but I was able to produce a clear enough sonogram to determine they were the western hemlock type, or 'type 3'. This is my first sighting of the bird in North America, where several different "types" are recognized. These types are only reliably distinguished by the shape of the sonogram. For type 3 the call sonogram is a sort of fuzzy zigzag.

Rough sonogram of type 3 crossbills.

Along a few unsuccessful stops for Bell's sparrow I picked up a few new plants, although all very common species in the drier, more rural parts of desert California: brittlebush, California broomsage, California matchweed, and Davidson's buckwheat. We scoured several dark-eyed junco flocks closer to town and in the abundant Oregon-type juncos we picked out a grey-headed junco. While it wasn't a new species for me was a form of dark-eyed junco I had not previously encountered. This grey-headed form is not as much grey-headed as it is almost entirely grey, but regardless it is very uncommon in California and a pleasing bird to look at. A possible pink-sided junco, another uncommon subspecies in the state was also seen, but not confirmed.

Dark-eyed junco, the grey-headed subspecies, Junco hyemalis ssp. caniceps.

We later stopped by Castaic Lagoon where we found a fourth dark-eyed junco subspecies, the slate-coloured junco! I have seen this in Canada before but it was my first sighting in the states. A surprise though was a large falcon overhead, which could only have been prairie falcon! This bird was at least peregrine sized, and I later learned that prairie falcons are much bigger than I had taken them for in the field guides. Even though the camera was off I was just quick enough to grab one shot before it was obscured entirely by trees. Whew! Close call. I'm sure I'll see another one someday anyhow.

Prairie falcon, Falco mexicanus.

We headed back into town and were treated to golden eagle soaring high overhead, only my second sighting of this species and arguably my best encounter! If only I had my telephoto lens, though! Ah well, another time.

At Lake Casitas we had a frustrating encounter with a rather short-tailed brown bird in reeds, which was probably the continuing LeConte's sparrow, a real rarity in these parts and a difficult bird to see. This rare bird was first documented a while ago by other birders, but it had been a few days since it was last reported. Luckily I have seen two in Florida before during a mist net operation, but still a shame that we could not confirm it here!

This lake side habitat was unfortunately too dry for any interesting plant life, although I did see some western marsh cudweed. Truly a fascinating trip full of surprises...