I am posting this on the last day of 2022. In addition to going to parties and wrapping presents, I find myself trying to wrap up the things I postponed all year. For some reason I leave a lot of tasks to December, such as all my medical appointments, clearing out some of my email, updating my calendar for the coming year, financial planning, and year-end tax prep. That's not the most festive way to enjoy the month, but it puts me on a good path to start the new year with a clear slate and clear mind.

I start the new year, tomorrow, with a birding event I coordinate. Preparation involves planning a route around parks in Long Beach, and looking through the eBird hotspots. While I was at it, I decided to make it a more thorough documentation project which might be helpful to others in the future. I created a downloadable pdf of the eBird hotspots and an online Google Map with information such as parking and bathrooms about each place.

I wrapped up my year of birding with some beautiful and unusual birds. Early in the month, in the marina at Long Beach, there were Black Swans, which are native to Australia and Tasmania. Clearly these are released birds from someone's collection.  They have been documented in Orange County over the past few years and now in LA County. These birds are very large and they have beautiful red bills.

Some vagrant birds got lost in migration and turned up locally. Every year a few show up here and there. A Painted Redstart has been coming to a local birder's feeders. How lucky is he. It is a striking red and black bird. I ran out to a local park where an East Coast Phoebe was reported on Christmas Eve. Compare it to our local Black Phoebe. Flycatchers are some of my favorite birds because they are generally bold little creatures, darting out from the trees to the ground. Although it is drab in color, this one was fun to watch. I then continued with my last minute preparations for Christmas.

The most exciting bird was a young Snowy Owl. They are only occasionally seen south of the Canadian border and always cause a stir when seen in the states, usually northern states. This bird had been reported in San Pedro near the ports in November, but disappeared before it could be seen by the birding community. Then, just a few days ago, it turned up in a residential area in Orange County on someone's roof. Literally hundreds of birders and non-birders alike have come to see it. It made the Orange County Register and other local newspapers, and then several local news programs. My back is even seen briefly on ABC7 news. There has been much debate and discussion on the mystery of how it got here. Did it fly on it's own? Did it hitch a ride on a ship? Not to worry, Fish and Wildlife has seen it and says it is healthy. Regardless of how it got here, it seems to be content to hunt at night and hang out with the paparazzi during the day. Hopefully it will migrate back as the days get longer and the weather warmer. Until then, another reason to keep your cats indoors.

After all that, my wetlands survey was very uneventful, and my only insect reports were a very late-in-the-year Wandering Glider dragonfly, and a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug that amused my cats before I sent it back outdoors.

Lastly, I will wrap up the year with some of my stats on iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/stats/2022/kimssight
 

Wishing you and your family a healthy, happy 2023!

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Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace. Links open in a new tab.

Local Stuff:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_dec_2022   

Los Cerritos Wetlands:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/hellman_dec_2022