Yellow-rumped warbler: Veteran's Park in Sylmar, CA

Williamson’s Sapsucker: Veterans Memorial Park, Sylmar, CA

We like when there are clear directions to see a rare bird. We use BirdsEye on the iPad that collects information from ebird. When we were in LA, there was a report of a Williamson's Sapsucker, so with a bit of searching on the internet we found these directions:

The Williamson's Sapsucker was present late this afternoon at Veteran's Memorial Park in Sylmar. It spent a lot of time on the fourth pine tree south/east of lamppost #20.

Now, to be honest, we saw it on the first and fifth pine tree, but it was nice to have such clear directions. It was a really pretty bird to see and shows a bit more detail and color than our yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

Nuttall's woodpeckers

We also saw a Nuttall's woodpecker at Veteran's Memorial Park in Sylmar, CA. The top two are of a male, the bottom is a female. Although it looks a bit like a downy woodpecker, it's a little larger and there is more red on the head.

Out of Focus Birds Obscured by Leaves.

We get occasional compliments from friends on our photos. Here, we illustrate some photos that aren't great. The top is a red-naped sapsucker from Lacy Park in Pasadena. The bottom is a bulbul from Kewen Canyon in Pasadena. Or maybe it's the other way around. Each is the best photo we got of a bird that is a new addition to our life list.

Cedar Waxwings: Lacy Park in Pasadena

We are pretty happy with some prior cedar waxwing photos we've taken in NJ, but these with the berries we like just as much if not more. We had never actually observed the waxwings eating berries like we've read they do until we were in CA. It was a very large flock, and they were having what seemed to be a really good time with an abundance of berries.

Townsend's warbler: Lacy Park, Pasadena

While out in Los Angeles, we did have some time for birds. Here's a Townsend's warbler from Lacy Park in Pasadena. In the top photo, it's eating an insect.

Acorn Woodpeckers: Lacy Park in Pasadena

We visited Lacy Park twice. The first day it was cloudy and one area of the park was full of acorn woodpeckers, but we saw few other birds. The second day it was sunny and there were warblers and waxwings out, but we didn't see the woodpeckers.

Acorn woodpeckers store food in repositories, holes they peck in trees. We've seen oak tree repositories before but never palm tree repositories.

Hermit Thrush: Lacy Park, Pasadena

Here's a hermit thrush. At first, we thought it was an ovenbird, but when we checked on ebird, we saw that there hasn't been an ovenbird within 200 miles of Pasadena but a hermit thrush was sighted in the park the same day we visited. Some day we'll get better at making the ID between the two.

Northern Mockingbird and California Towhee

We just got back from a trip to Los Angeles helping our daughter and son-in-law move into their new house. Here's a photo of a mockingbird in their lemon tree and a towhee in some shrubs.

California Towhee