surfbirds.com

By Andy Birch

September is almost here, so that means a visit to my local patch. A rather uninspiring place at first glance but if you can look beyond the plastic bags gently flapping in the bushes and the Mallards weaving around the shopping carts in the creek, this place does give me some interesting birding in the autumn.

It's a tributary of the Los Angeles River (which is concrete-lined all the way to the north). At Bull Creek, however, there are a lot of willows and dense scrub which acts as a bit of magnet for migrating birds coming down the river. Like many other small parks in Los Angeles, even though they are a long way from the coast, these small areas of green act as oases in a concrete desert for migrating birds.

This morning, was definitely something of a sparrow day. Almost immediately, I see a Brewer's Sparrow, a migrant from the mountains to the north. A small rather non-descript bird, it's like a Clay-colored but without a median stripe. It zips around the saplings calling frequently. There are also many Savannah Sparrows around too.