Project FeederWatch, the major citizen-science project in birding, starts Nov. 1 and extends through April 30. FeederWatch is an easy and fun way for everyone to contribute to science's knowledge of birds. Sign up now and start counting!
--Sign Up: Join as soon as possible at FeederWatch signup. It may take a few weeks for your print materials to arrive. Still, you can begin counting right away.
--Select Your Site: Choose a comfortable spot in your yard with a good view of feeders, if you have them. Even if you don’t have feeders, you still can count birds for FeederWatch.
--Choose Your Count Days: Pick two consecutive days, and count for as long as you wish each day. Then, wait at least five days to count again. For example, you could count for an hour or half-hour on Saturday and Sunday, then count again on the next Saturday and Sunday.
--Send in your results, using the FeederWatch app.
The FeederWatch web site will answer any questions you have about how to count. 

White-Crowned Sparrows are being seen in Southern California, which makes it official that it's fall. They stay here all winter, sometimes visiting feeders and sometimes scavenging under bushes for any leftover worms or grubs they can find.

Right: A White-crowned Sparrow shows off his racing stripes.

As the nights get cooler, the yearly warbler invasion is in full swing. They come in from farther north to spend the winter in Southern California. Our winter warblers include Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned, Townsend's and Black-throated Gray Warblers, though you're most likely to see the bright and energetic Yellow-rumpeds or "Butter Butts." They flit through bushes, tails bobbing, as they search for insects. You can insure they will show up in your yard by stocking live mealworms, though they also will visit a eucalyptus to sip nectar from its blooms. 

 

Left: A Red-Breasted Nuthatch walks down a nut feeder

Fall is when you might see a rare visitor, Red-Breasted Nuthatches. As the mountains get cold, they come down to the coast for some warmth and insects. Like their cousins, who we often see, White-Breasted Nuthatches, they will walk up and down tree trunks, even palm trunks, probing for worms and bugs. 

Bushtits have been visiting your bushes one by one all summer, but in fall, stand back! They come in crowds to your yard to get busy on the fall cleanup. You might not see them much in summer, as they are tiny and gray, and can hide behind a single large leaf. But in fall you will hear the twittering flocks, as they methodically work your bushes.

Goldfinches have been acsent from their traditiional nyjer feeders, but they're not gone. They've taken a liking to Feeders abundant in small pieces of sunflower seeds, such as our No Mess blends. Now, with nights getting colder inland, they are coming to the coast in greater numbers, so keep your feeders stocked.

The yearly migration ends this month. So, the birds that you are seeing at your feeders are likely the ones that you will see all winter.

There is a possibility this time of year of seeing unusual, visitors, namely birds usually found east of the Rockies that take a wrong turn when migrating. Called "vagrants" by bird watchers, they often are identified by the Los Angeles Audubon under "Blog" on its web pages. 

 

A Black-and-White Warbler poses amid pink flowers

Among the unusual birds in local areas reported by LA Audubon were two rare plovers. An American Golden Plover was at Malibu Lagoon early in November, while a Pacific Golden Plover was seen in the Ballona Wetlands area in Playa del Rey.  associates with Black-bellied Plovers either along the creek above Pacific Ave. or on the adjacent salt pan. Another surprise in the Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach was a small but showy Black-and-White Warbler.