Author: marcuscengland
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Land Use Changes in the Antelope Valley
[Featured image: A Northern Harrier flies over a solar farm outside of Bakersfield, California in May 2016] Google Earth’s time feature allows you to easily take a look at how land use changes over time. I produced this video, without commentary, showing land use changes in the western Antelope Valley from 1985 – 2016.
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A Rare Asian Visitor
[Featured image: A Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, photographed by the author in the Los Angeles River just south of the Willow Street bridge on November 14, 2016. Behind it and to the left is a Black-necked Stilt. In the front are American Coots.] I got my first new life bird in quite awhile today: a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper,…
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Sometimes Rare Birds are Easy
[Featured image: Grasshopper Sparrow at Viña Vieja Park, Pasadena, 10 November 2016] I decided to do a “chase” today for a rare species: a Grasshopper Sparrow that was reported at Viña Vieja Park in Pasadena, approximately 10 miles from my house. While that species is certainly not a life bird for me (as they aren’t all…
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Lewis’s Woodpecker and Other Things
[Featured image: Lewis’s Woodpecker at Bette Davis Picnic Area, Burbank, Los Angeles County on October 26, 2016] As today was not a running day, I decided to make it a birding day. There was a report on the LaCoBirds listserv yesterday of a Lewis’s Woodpecker at Bette Davis Picnic Area near Griffith Park. As that…
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When Public Lands Aren’t Really Public
[Featured image: Blooming rabbitbrush at Hungry Valley OHV Area with the Topatopa Mountains in the background.] I woke up early this morning unsure what I was going to do. Today was not to be a running day. I did not, however, want to spend my whole day watching football, which is exactly what I would…
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After the Rain
[Featured image: a Yellow-rumped Warbler feeds on laurel sumac berries] I had outdoor plans for early this morning, but upon awaking to the first rain of the fall, I decided I’d rather get some work done on the computer and enjoy my coffee. At around 9am or so, the clouds cleared over Mt. Washington and…
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Cool Clouds in the Verdugos
[Featured image: Downtown Los Angeles as viewed from the Verdugo Mountains on October 16, 2016] Even though I am supposed to be training for January’s HURT 100, I hadn’t run a step in two weeks. Having just come off an extended layoff because of a knee injury, I woke up the next day after running…
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Morning at Hahamongna
[Featured image: Subadult Cooper’s Hawk] I had a little time this morning, so I decided to head over to Hahamongna Watershed Park by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and do a little birding. I parked on the west side of the park, an area that was formerly called “Oak Grove Park”, proceeded southward over…
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An Eruption of Hemiptera
I took a short bird walk, as I often do, through Elyria Canyon Park this morning. Unlike yesterday’s fairly active day, today was a little boring with roughly half the species I had yesterday after one pass through the park. I decided not to walk back through and went home instead. There was one occurrence…
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Map: What We’ve Lost
Around 10:30 am yesterday I was driving northeast on Highway 14. The San Gabriel Mountains were on my right. For the better part of a half hour I saw little other than charred hillsides and moon-scaped mountains. My view was a product of the recent Sand Fire, the largest in the San Gabriel Mountains since…