Western Tanagers at Vasona! YES!

the return of Piranga ludoviciana - the western tanager

The warming weather makes it difficult to sleep in, and this morning my boyfriend and I woke up a little after eight. I asked if we could go somewhere outside and he suggested Vasona, which I was more than excited about because I heard that the western tanagers were spotted just a couple days ago.

We got there a little before nine and immediately started spotting birds on the lawn by the little train area. My photos were off today so I apologize in advance for fuzziness and bad exposures.

Quintessential American robin (Turdus migratorius) on a lawn poking for breakfast

The lawn also had Canada geese, juncos, phoebes, swallows (tree and violet-green) and chickadees hanging around. We kept walking towards the path that runs along the creek.

While crossing the little bridge over the creek, I heard a Pacific-slope flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) and snapped a couple quick photos.

I would have loved to take more of this bird, but my boyfriend pointed out that it was not a good idea to block the narrow bridge and I had to reluctantly agree to continue walking with him

At one point the path seemed to be somewhat busy, so I pulled us over to the lawn that was completely empty of people except for a county park worker. We watched the swallows diving and swooping for bugs for a bit (they were coming down pretty low and close!) and got to see a western bluebird (Sialia mexicana) take food to a nestbox.

perching before catching breakfast for the babies...this guy sadly turned his head away from what was perfect lighting doh

We kept walking and pretty quickly found the tanagers in the canopy of the trees along the trail. They stayed pretty high up so it was hard to get decent photos. But I had to try (after all, this is the bird that is tattooed on my right arm and is embroidered on the cap I was wearing).

the males have the red face and black wings

After maybe 15 minutes (possibly longer), we started back on the trail and crossed the lake. As we rounded the corner, I spotted a great blue heron standing at the water's edge.

We stopped to look at the heron and noticed a juvenile black-crowned night heron off to the left. At one point a red-shouldered hawk appeared out of nowhere, causing the night heron to take flight to the other side of the water. A few seconds later an adult night heron appeared, apparently alerted by the commotion and likely one of the parents of the juvenile.

the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) perched in the middle of a branch that arched over the water

We didn't get too far from the spot with the herons before I made us stop again after spotting some oak titmice (Baeolophus inornatus) in the vegetation close to the creek.

there were at least four of these guys being really loud and relatively loud conspicuous

There were also chestnut-backed chickadees, juncos, a Nuttall's woodpecker, and a yellow warbler bouncing around the same area - it was a little hotspot!

Dryobates nuttallii

Even the tanagers showed up, although they stayed in the canopy.

female

male

By this point, my boyfriend was getting a little cranky (we hadn't had breakfast) and was getting impatient. It was about 10:30 and starting to get hotter as well.

I took one last photo of a black-crowned night heron before capping my camera for the day.

Nycticorax nycticorax - one of the cooler scientific bird names

All in all I left very satisfied; I got to see the bird I wanted to see and everyone else (all 28 other species) I considered a bonus. It was a really nice way to spend the morning and my last day before a work weekend. Very content.

Thanks!