Team Lena’s Legion kicked off the first Urban Forest Bird-A-Thon this morning.  It was a beautiful day. Sunny, clear, and calm with temperatures in the mid 70’s and NOT HUMID!  Lena’s army of wonderfully talented, fun-loving, and talkative birders included Betty Kanne, Ellen Tipping, Jim Kendall, Jim Currie, Brenda Sabin, Debra Gala, Claire Grozinger, Pema Zonglo, and Josh Joun.  Everyone had a great time scanning the sky, trees, and shrubs calling out birds and directing others to see them. Kudos to Ellen who always had a kind smile and nod as she skillfully and accurately recorded the species and numbers on eBird as 9 of us called out sightings.

41 species were seen, thanks to Josh and Pema who saw a Say’s Phoebe on their way out of the Urban Forest, and a total of 312 birds were counted.  Today we welcomed back some of our winter residents: Say’s Phoebe, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hermit Thrush, Townsend’s Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrows. 

Our Sept. 22-25 BIRD-A-THON goal has been to raise money for the Urban Forest to provide more native habitats, especially with California Sagebrush, Artemisia californica, to entice the endangered California Gnatcatcher to reside in the Urban Forest.