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The Best Spot To See A Big Migratory Bird Show Is 30 Minutes From LA
One of many Western Tanagers caught, banded and released at Bear Divide.
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Jacob Margolis
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One of the best spots in the country to see a major bird migration is in the San Gabriel Mountains, just 30 minutes from Los Angeles at a place called Bear Divide. Thousands of birds are currently zooming through as they make their way up the Pacific Flyway, heading to breeding grounds up North.
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The Best Spot To See A Big Migratory Bird Show Is 30 Minutes From LA
Even if you're not inherently interested in birding, the sheer variety and number of birds is a stunning sight. And if you head up there, you'll likely find bird nerds and researchers documenting the migration, happy to chat with you about what's going on.
However, the event only occurs during a limited eight-week window each spring, and it's wrapping up soon. So if you want to see some birds, better get a move on.
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Birds get funneled towards Bear Divide by a narrowing of the San Gabriel Mountains.
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Jacob Margolis
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What you'll experience if you go
I made my way up there on a recent Friday at about 7 a.m., and across the street from a U.S. Forest Service Ranger station, researchers were already on the side of the road with binoculars, camera and iPad in hand.
"We've seen over 1,500 birds this morning," said Kelsey Reckling, a Ph.D student at UCLA who's helping build a multiyear dataset of which birds are passing through.
"We've seen a lot of Western Tanagers, Lazuli Buntings, Hermit Warblers, Townsend's Warblers, Blackthroated Grey Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, Western Kingbirds ... Oh, Osprey, nice! Haven't seen one of those in a while here."
A Wilson's Warbler ready for release after being examined and banded at Bear Divide.
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Jacob Margolis
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Masses of birds were funneling up the narrow canyons, zooming right past where we were standing before dropping down into Santa Clarita. It's not completely clear why they choose this spot, though it may be because it's one of the lower points in the area, meaning they can conserve energy instead of flying over the higher peaks.
"Around this time last year we had a single morning where we counted over 20,000 birds in the span of three and a half hours," said Reckling.
"Just flying over every side of you, above you, right past you, basically through your legs. It's very overwhelming, but it's honestly one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced."
It's notoriously difficult to track and study large numbers of migratory birds, especially during the day, as they usually move at night. Often researchers have to use radar data, which doesn't offer great details about the types of birds flying through an area. They'll usually look for clarity in recordings of their calls.
That's why places where they can view migrations during the day are such a big deal, and that's exactly what Bear Divide is. Researchers only realized it was a dawn migration spot in 2019, one of only a few such locations in North America.
"If you want to understand the migration of these Western U.S. birds, this is what we're looking for," said Russell Campbell, staff lead of the oBird Project at Occidental College who was working alongside Reckling.
Nets are used to catch the birds. If weather is bad or winds too high, the banding station will take them down.
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You'll see the birds up close
Right up the hill, a group of researchers and volunteers were rushing to examine, band and release as many birds as possible before it got too late.
Tania Romero established the station three years ago with her friend and colleague Lauren Hill. Both are pursuing their master's degrees at Cal State L.A. using the data they've gathered for their thesis. They say they've banded and examined more than 6,000 birds so far.
Every 30 minutes, the team rushes to untangle birds that've been caught by huge nets they’ve set up right in the flight path.
The banding operation at Bear Divide can process more than 2,000 birds in eight weeks.
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"Of course some of the birds have different reactions to the net. Some of them will lay there, stay still. Others are a little more like, 'what’s going on? Let me out,'" said Romero, as a notoriously vocal Western Tanager squawked.
She then placed the bird into a soft cotton bag before taking it to an examination table.
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It's there that the birds are weighed, measured, sexed, have the state of their feathers assessed and determined whether they're in breeding mode or not.
Lauren Hill in between bandings with her tools of the trade.
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"So males will have something called a cloacal protuberance, which is basically the male sex organ that's sort of enlarged during the breeding season," said Hill.
"The females will lose their feathers on their abdomen so that they're able to transfer heat better from their body to the eggs when they're incubating."
Bear Divide Banding Station
A bird about to removed from a cotton bag for examination.
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Jacob Margolis
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A Nashville Warbler is examined by a member of the Bear Divide banding station.
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Jacob Margolis
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Lauren Hill examines the bird's feathers, which can be used to help determine its age.
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Jacob Margolis
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Each bird is banded, has its feathers inspected and is weighed before being released.
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A Swainson's Thrush being fitted with a uniquely numbered band that helps scientists track its movement, assuming observed again.
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Lauren Hill records each bird's characteristics and associates it with a unique number, so their development can be tracked over time.
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A Nashville Warbler ready to be released after being examined and banded.
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Jacob Margolis
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Every bit of data gets recorded and each bird is given its own band with a unique nine-digit number to help track it over time. Information that can give scientists an idea of how factors like climate change are impacting the health of different populations over time.
“I think it's always kind of been a dream of ours,” said Romero.
Besides gathering data, Romero and Hill want to engage the public in the science of birds, extending an invite to whoever wants to come, especially the next generation of avian biologists.
"We have a lot of younger people that come up here. Not even birders. Then they have a bird in the hand. Or they see it up close and it totally sparks this thing they didn’t even know they’re interested in," said Hill.
You can engage with them on their Instagram.
Since Bear Divide is easily accessible by the public, those running the banding station have put up informational signs.
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How to get there
Head to this location some time around dawn.
Of course, please be respectful of both the researchers and nature. Don't ruin the opportunity for other people.
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