Griffith Observatory - 2/10/2024

     During our stay in Manhattan Beach last week, we took a day trip on Saturday to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.  The observatory is a free public attraction that looks out over downtown Los Angeles.  The hilliness of the area and its proximity to Griffith Park gave me hope of some birding opportunities.  The drive to the observatory offered scenic views of snow-capped mountains as a background to the tangle of freeways and overpasses that traverse the metropolitan area.  Once we arrived and found a spot to park, we hiked up the hilly paths to the observatory.  At the summit there were panoramic views of downtown LA and the iconic Hollywood sign.
Snowcapped mountains in the background along the Los Angeles freeways.  © S. Weiss

Griffith Observatory.  © S. Weiss

Views from the Griffith Observatory.  © S. Weiss
Top left, hills and mountains outside of Los Angeles.  Top right, downtown Los Angeles.  Above, the iconic Hollywood sign.

Our walk up to and back from the observatory gave me some incidental birds.  The highlights were a calling California scrub-jay, several common ravens, an acorn woodpecker and a rufous-crowned sparrow.  Acorn woodpeckers are always cool to see.  Their clownish faces make them seem like they are always happy.  The rufous-crowned sparrow was a surprise since it was in the parking lot at the top of the summit.  It was coming out from under parked cars to eat food crumbs on the ground.
Left, acorn woodpecker.  Right, rufous-crowned sparrow.  © S. Weiss

On the way back down to our car I came across the Griffith Park Bird Sanctuary.  My wife and daughter started the walk into the park, but only lasted a few minutes.  They allowed me to continue walking as they headed back to our car to wait for me.  I picked up a few more birds in my short (time wise) walk.  The highlights I saw were more acorn woodpeckers and ravens, a perched California scrub-jay, a couple of calling wrentits, a pair of band-tailed pigeons and some white-throated swifts.  The swifts were new life birds for me.  I noticed them high up in the blue sky as I was counting the ravens that made up the unkindness (the collective noun for a raven flock) flying overhead.  I couldn’t get a photo of the swifts because it was nearly impossible to focus on such small moving objects in the high sky.
Acorn woodpecker.  © S. Weiss
Acorn woodpeckers are social birds that live in family groups.  They are cooperative breeders, meaning several adults will assist in incubation of eggs and feeding of young.  The family groups will cache acorns in holes that they created in trees and telephone poles.

Band-tailed pigeons.  © S. Weiss

I would liked to have walked more along the mountain trails for other birds and animals, but time didn’t allow for it.  Either way it was a nice day with my family in the outskirts of Los Angeles.

California ground squirrel.  © S. Weiss



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