Imagine you’re a bird – a MacGillivray's Warbler, for kicks – and you’re coming north through the southern part of California. You’ve just crossed the immense Mojave Desert, or the dry San Fernando and Antelope valleys. Suddenly you hit a wall of mountains, and it’s hard to imagine how you’re going to get around or through them. But then, just at the connection of the Coastal Ranges and the Southern Sierra Nevada, you find an amazingly rich habitat area, perfect for a rest stop. You’ve just found Tejon Ranch (map), one of the best places for birds in California, and an amazing place to view spring migration.

We got a note this week from Mike White, conservation science director for the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, who says that spring migration is already ramping up on the Ranch: “We have been seeing some migrants moving through including kettles of Turkey Vultures, White Pelicans, Long-billed Curlews, California Gulls. The Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Robins, and Swainson’s Thrushes are here and active.”

(Above, participants in a Tejon Ranch bird survey try and count all the birds in one oak tree.)

Before Audubon California and a handful of other conservation organizations inked a landmark deal in 2008 to protect up to 240,000 acres of this property, there was scant opportunity to study Tejon’s role in the Pacific Flyway. But now, thanks to the Tejon Ranch Conservancy created as part of that deal, we’re learning much more. With Audubon California’s help, the Conservancy has been conducting a number of first-ever bird surveys on the ranch, and together we’ve seen amazing things. One observer noted that on spring mornings, birds that have been flying all night come pouring out of the skies to fill the oaks on the Antelope Valley side of the Ranch. This area is one of two Audubon Important Bird Areas that include the Tejon Ranch. On the north side of the Ranch is the Tehachapi Mountains Important Bird Area.

(photos by Andrea Jones)