Always Bring Binoculars

Horned Larks at Dockweiler Beach

Horned Lark: 5MR Lifer

Since my first 5MR recap and targets post back in 2020, Horned Lark has been on the list of birds I expected to find in my 5MR. Back then, I identified the Ballona flatlands, and the beach, as spots where I thought Horned Larks could be found. Since then, there was one report in Nov. 2023 in Ballona Area A (of a flyover). And there was another report of 10 flying by the Ballona salt pan in June of this year. I’m sure they’re passing through in small numbers, especially in fall. But they’re rarely spotted. Lately, there seems to be a mini-irruption of Horned Larks in the L.A. Basin, so I was getting my hopes up.

On Halloween, during a late afternoon bike ride down Ballona Creek, I finally added Horned Lark to my 5MR list. I found 2 of them feeding on the little league ballfields between the 90 and Lincoln. It was a spot I’ve checked dozens of times for Horned Lark (and Mountain Plover).It’s got the kind of open area with little vegetation that they like. The pair were walking around and foraging. Given their plumage, I suspect they were juveniles. In breeding plumage, Horned Larks have killer little horns and a sharp black stripe through the eye.

Horned Lark in my 5MR, at long last

During a bike ride along the creek a couple of days later, there were 5 Horned Larks feeding in the same brown ballfield. And then the next day, during a walk at Dockweiler Beach, a little flock of 10 Horned Larks flew past me heading north against a strong wind (picture at top). In a matter of days, Horned Larks had quickly gone from totally elusive to regular sighting in my 5MR. But who knows, it may be years before I see one again in my 5MR.

Three Armchair Ticks

In birding lingo, a “tick” is a new bird species added to a list. It could be a “tick” on your list for a particular walk one morning, or a county “tick” (the first time you’ve seen in a bird in a county), or a lifer “tick.” Since many birders are obsessed with their lists (me included), a lot of birding is focused on producing ticks.

An “armchair tick” is a lazy man’s lifer. It’s a bird species that you add to a particular list without ever leaving your house. One day you don’t have a bird on your life list. Without doing anything, the next day you do. Armchair ticks result from taxonomy changes that turn what once was considered a single species into two or more species. If you happen to have seen the birds that once were considered the same species but are now reclassified as two (or more) species, then the moment the split becomes official, you pick up a new lifer. Through the magic of scientific classification, your life list grows without you doing any birding. 

That is very dark streaking

Siberian Pipit

This year, taxomony changes resulted in me picking up 3 armchair ticks when the changes became official. One of those 3 was a single sighting of what is now considered a Siberian Pipit. Our regular wintering pipit here in Los Angeles is called the American Pipit. They’re birds that range widely across the United States and Canada. They prefer grasslands and barren fields. A subspecies of American Pipit (known as anthus japonicus) usually stays on the western side of the Pacific Ocean. The breed and winter in Russia, Japan, Korea, and China. This year, scientists concluded that this subspecies was better considered a species of its own. They gave it the name of Siberian Pipit. They’re distinguishable from American Pipit primarily by their much darker striping on their chests.

Ace L.A. birder Andy Birch found one of these Siberian Pipits on some soccer fields near Griffith Park back in December 2020. Back then, it was considered an American Pipit. The bird came back in December 2021. Aware that there was talk of splitting this subspecies from American Pipit into its own distinct species, I made a trip out there to see the bird. My ebird report included a photo and stated: “I await my armchair tick.” Just about 3 years later, that sighting of American Pipit turned into my first, and only, sighting of a Siberian Pipit.

The second armchair lifer I added from taxonomy changes this year was a bird that was previously considered a subspecies of Brown Booby. I’d seen Brown Booby in Hawaii, and also in San Diego waters. But the birds that live and breed off the coast of California and Mexico  are now considered their own species. The new species was called Cocos Booby, after the Cocos tectonic Plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean. This meant that the Brown Boobies I saw on 2 different boating trips in San Diego county waters are now sightings of Cocos Boobies. 

The third armchair tick resulted from a split of House Wren into multiple different species. At the time of the split, 253 of my 254 sightings of House Wren were now considered sightings of the Northern House Wren. One of those 254 house Wren sightings, however, was of a bird that is now considered to be a Southern House Wren. That sighting was in Costa Rica, on the property of the amazing villa we stayed in back in 2018.

That’s how you add 3 bird species to your life list without doing any additional birding.