dation AS UpO Ur BrOany eh-Usigh Balin 7 
On Sunday, July 18, we drove up to Mt. Wilson State Park, about 
twenty-five miles up a mountain from Pasadena. We reached there in mid- 
afternoon and the birds were fairly active. We saw black-headed grosbeaks, 
western robins, western bluebirds (a most brilliant blue), mountain chicka- 
dees, Brewer’s blackbirds, Thurber’s juncos, blue-fronted jays and Cali- 
fornia jays. This was the only place we found two species of jays mingling 
together. 
The next day Walt and I visited Griffith Park. On our way there we 
stopped by the Los Angeles River, but it was completely void of any bird- 
life, a mere stream banked by high cement walls. We arrived at the bird 
sanctuary in the park about 9:30 in the morning. It was a little warmer 
today and a slight wind was blowing. We listed fifteen species in the 
sanctuary and surrounding hills, those new to our list being, mallard duck, 
Nuttall’s woodpecker, pallid wren-tit, Sacramento towhee and green-backed 
goldfinch. 
A kind friend and member of the bird club of Santa Monica guided me 
around to some of the good spots for observation in beautiful Santa Monica 
and Westwood. We picked a poor day as it was not only hot but windy as 
well. In Westwood we visited a little valley below an open reservoir. It 
was enjoyable to again see many of those we had seen before and to add 
as new ones on our list the bush-tit, white-crowned sparrow and Arizona 
hooded oriole. Santa Monica beach was crowded with people, gulls and 
brown pelicans. We drove over to Will Rogers’ ranch, usually a good place 
to find birds, but we were disappointed as it is not open to visitors on 
Menday, the day we were there. 
The “red letter day” of our vacation was spent in driving from Los 
Angeles to San Diego and back. We started at six in the morning, July 19, 
driving through a heavy smog for several hours. There was little wind, 
temperature between 65° and 70° most of the time. We followed alternate 
highway 101, past orange groves and oil wells, along the coast of the Pacific 
Ocean. Our first stop for bird observation was at San Juan Capistrano, a 
few miles inland. Here was a well cared for garden spot, lovely shrub- 
bery, trees and several fountains, the home of doves, finches, hummingbirds, 
sparrows and the renowned swallows. The many hummingbirds here gave 
us an opportunity to study them, especially black-chinned and Anna’s, males 
and females, young and old. Our second stop was close to Carlsbad Beach 
State Park. Along some backwater beside the highway we found a bird 
protection area. Birdlife was abundant and our count included Brown’s 
tern, sanderling, marbled godwit, black-necked stilt, killdeer, ruddy duck, 
coot, California gull, Pacific kittiwake, white pelican, long-billed curlew, 
western gull, California heron, pied-billed grebe, American egret, Heerman’s 
gull and American raven. An hour here on our return trip gave us no 
new birds. 
But new birds we still hoped to see as we started our trip home via the 
Santa Fe railroad. We identified at least twenty-five species, those we 
had not listed previously being: western turkey vulture, ferruginous rough- 
leg hawk, Scott’s sparrow (Seligman, Ariz.), Cooper’s hawk, Treganza’s 
