2l^irb=1lore 



A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol. XXIII March— April, 1921 No. 2 



Winter Bird Life in Los Angeles 



By HARRIETT "WILLIAMS MYERS 

 Secretary California Audubon Society; Chairman Birds, G. F. "W. C. 



With Photographs by the Author 



NEVER in my twenty-one years' residence in Los Angeles have I had 

 SO many birds in my garden so early in the fall as in the year 191 9. 

 We are in the habit of having the Gambel Sparrows (a subspecies 

 of the White-crowned) arrive not later than September 26, to have Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglets, Audubon Warblers, Alaska Hermit Thrushes follow soon 

 after, but 191 9 brought a series of delightful surprises for the bird-lover. 



Our winter rains came earlier than usual, and during November the Sierra 

 Madre Mountain range was covered with snow, an almost unheard-of condition 

 at this time of year. In September a most diastrous fire raged for several weeks 

 on portions of this same range, driving into the valley many of the small 

 animals and birds. But whether or not this lire, or the early cold, or the fact 

 that there were fewer pine cones and acorns in the mountains than usual 

 had anything to do with the unusual visitors that seemed fairly common, I 

 would not venture to say. Suffice it that a more delightful fall and winter for 

 the bird-lover could scarcely be imagined. 



I usually have Cedar Waxwings in my garden during the winter and early 

 spring months, when they come to eat the berries from the big pepper trees, 

 six of which grow in our garden. These charming birds go about in flocks, which 

 are usually large, flying together in a compact form, their long-drawn-out notes, 

 which always remind me of sighing wind, announcing their presence as, still 

 in close formation, they light in the trees. They are extremely fond of pepper 

 berries and have an interesting habit in connection with the eating of them. 

 These berries have hard centers which the birds cannot digest, so when they 

 have eaten their fill of them and, I suppose, the digestible outer portion has 

 been assimilated, they fly into some other tree, the eucalyptus being a favorite, 

 and there disgorge these inner pellets, which fall onto the ground below like 

 falling rain. In my own yard, beneath these eucalyptus trees, large patches of 

 pepper trees have sprung up and the uninformed might wonder how they got 



