Pomona Valley Audubon -
Chaparral Naturalist Archives

We had excellent weather on count day, December 20. Thirty-six of us found 15,631 individual birds belonging to 137 species, the same number of species as last year! There was no invasion of northern species this year, so we missed pine siskin and red crossbill. We also could not find downy woodpecker or fox sparrow. Thanks to the continued destruction of the vineyards we again missed mountain bluebirds and horned larks. Highlights were the winter wren, found by Lee Swanberg in the Baldy area, a pygmy owl found in the San Dimas experimental forest by Joanne Getz, and the western Screech owl and redhead found by Kathi Ellsworth's group in San Dimas. I found our first Allen's hummingbird on the west side of Ganesha Park in a big clump of cape honeysuckle and the Bonelli park crew found California gnatcatchers, violet-green swallows and a moorhen. Neil Gilbert's group found our only red-naped sapsucker, Judy Sugden found our only black-throated gray warbler, Rick Clements found our only mountain quail, the Chappell group found our only green heron and Karlene Campo's group found our only ferruginous hawks, cattle egrets and black-necked stilts. Finally, we got a phone call from an officer at the Pomona Courthouse that a Peregrine Falcon has taken up residence there for the winter. Overall, we did very well! Thanks to all who participated. A complete list of birds seen is as follows.

Pied-billed Grebe-7; Eared Grebe-10; Western Grebe-200; Clark's Grebe-7; Double-crested Cormorant-123; Great Blue Heron-3; Great Egret-3; Snowy Egret-5; Cattle Egret-9; Black-crowned Night Heron-7; Green-winged Teal-62; Mallard-370; Northern Pintail-23; Cinnamon Teal-90; Northern Shoveler-30; Gadwall-14; American Wigeon-220; Canvasback-21; Redhead-2; Ring-necked Duck-94; Lesser Scaup-162; Bufflehead-98; Hooded Merganser-4; Common Merganser-8; Ruddy Duck-352; Turkey Vulture-3; Osprey-2; White-tailed Kite-6; Northern Harrier-3; Sharp-shinned Hawk-5; Cooper's Hawk-10;

Red-shouldered Hawk-9; Ferruginous Hawk-3; Red-tailed Hawk-60; American Kestrel-19; Merlin-1; Peregrine Falcon-1; California Quail-63; Mountain Quail-2; Common Moorhen-1; American Coot-579; Killdeer-89; Black-necked Stilt-3; Greater Yellowlegs-2; Spotted Sandpiper-3; Least Sandpiper-42; Long-billed Dowitcher-22; Common Snipe-5; Bonaparte's Gull-50; Ring-billed Gull-3577; California Gull-37; Caspian Tern-1; Forster's Tern-1; Rock Dove-159; Band-tailed Pigeon-261; Spotted Dove-10; Mourning Dove-236; Greater Roadrunner-1; Barn Owl-1; Western Screech Owl-1; Great Horned Owl-20; Northern Pygmy Owl-1; White-throated Swift-110; Anna's Hummingbird-213; Costa's Hummingbird-1; Allen's Hummingbird-2; Belted Kingfisher-3; Acorn Woodpecker-119; Red-naped Sapsucker-1; Red-breasted Sapsucker-3; Nuttall's Woodpecker-29; Hairy Woodpecker-2; Northern Flicker-62; Black Phoebe-79; Say's Phoebe-14; Cassin's Kingbird-11; Steller's Jay-25; Scrub Jay-269; American Crow-800; Common Raven-22; Mountain Chickadee-23; Plain Titmouse-44; Bushtit-389; White-breasted Nuthatch-2; Brown Creeper-2; Cactus Wren-19; Rock Wren-1; Canyon Wren-9; Bewick's Wren-37; House Wren-3; Winter Wren-1; American Dipper-4; Ruby-crowned Kinglet-108; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher-12; California Gnatcatcher-3; Western Bluebird-36; Townsend's Solitaire-4; Hermit Thrush-25; American Robin-228; Wrentit-114; Northern Mockingbird-111; California Thrasher-45; American Pipit-90; Cedar Waxwing-410; Phainopepla-5; Loggerhead Shrike-5; Starling-603; Hutton's Vireo-8; Orange-crowned Warbler-8; Yellow-rumped Warbler-1263; Black-throated. Gray Warbler-1; Townsend's Warbler-4; Common Yellowthroat-2; Spotted Towhee-53; California Towhee-135; Rufous-crowned Sparrow-6; Chipping Sparrow-28; Lark Sparrow-14; Savannah Sparrow-81; Golden-crowned Sparrow-21; White-crowned Sparrow-471; Dark-eyed Junco-269; Red-winged Blackbird-232; Western Meadowlark-90; Brewer's Blackbird-162; Brown-headed Cowbird-2; Purple Finch-4; House Finch-879; Lesser Goldfinch-189; Lawrence's Goldfinch-36; American Goldfinch-133; House Sparrow- 146.