Last night I got an email that I had received a new pledge for my Birdathon: A whoppin’ $12 per species from someone I’ve never heard of. Certain that the Tuscon Bird Alliance had emailed the wrong person, I sent an email to alert them of the mistake. Turns out the person (named Marilyn) is an ardent support of TBA and likes to support various teams! With the awareness that I could possibly raise almost $4K for TBA if I did indeed hit my 300 target species, I decided that I needed to find somewhere in OC that would yield dozens of species.
I remembered that Starr Ranch, a birding spot at a private reserve, has been on my bucket list for a while. They offer bird walks by registration only and all the spots were filled up for the next several months. I emailed them and explained my Birdathon efforts, and was told they could accommodate one more person on the next walk!
Starr Ranch Sanctuary is a 4,000-acre preserve owned and operated by the National Audubon Society. It is located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in the mild and semiarid Mediterranean climate of SE OC. The entrance is located near Coto de Caza, one of the bougiest neighborhoods in OC, made famous by the Real Housewives show. But I was happy to see a few familiar faces from my local Audubon society walks.
The walk was moderately difficult at times, with little shade and it was hot and sunny. But my theory that a trip here would yield many new species for April proved correct. We got birds that If find hard to ID on my own due to how much the look like similar common species (like Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Warbling Vireo) and Sparrows and Swallows. We got great looks at Ash-throated Flycatchers, their cinnamon-y tails and wings bright in the sunlight, and Kestrels that were perched in pairs in good range. I added 26 species to my April list!
- Townsend’s Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Chipping Sparrow
- Cactus Wren
- Bewick’s Wren
- Northern House Wren
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Wrentit
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Oak Titmouse
- California Scrub-Jay
- Warbling Vireo
- Ash-throated Flycatcher
- Western Flycatcher
- American Kestrel
- Northern Flicker
- Acorn Woodpecker
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Turkey Vulture
- White-throated Swift
- Band-tailed Pigeon
In the evening, we went to Huntington Beach for a bonfire and I got these adorbs borbs*.
- Sanderling
- Willet
*Borbs: Noun. A cute and fun way to refer to birds.
"Tails" of a New Birder's Journey 
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