Our friends at the National Park Service and Los Angeles Audubon Society are hosting a viewing of Vaux's Swifts in downtown Los Angeles at the Ace Hotel (929 S. Broadway) tonight at dusk. Hopefully the birds will be on hand. Between 4 and 7 pm at the rooftop bar. Park Ranger Anthony Bevilacqua will be on hand to guide the viewing. Right after sunset the Vaux Swifts will start to gather in large numbers, sometimes up to 20,000 birds, and then they begin swirling like a school of fish before finally descending into the chimney. It is quite a sight, nonetheless to be taking place in the middle of Downtown LA. The video above is from 2013.
A New Colony of Caspian Tern Decoys on Aramburu Island
Richardson Bay Audubon Center is attacting breeding pairs of Caspian Terns with these newly painted tern decoys—a strategy successfully used by previous tern relocation efforts.