{"id":477537,"date":"2026-09-27T17:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/477537\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T17:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T17:00:16","slug":"socal-birdsong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/477537\/","title":{"rendered":"SoCal birdsong"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I lived in the UK, I worked on a BBC television show about birding. It was a strange experience as I couldn\u2019t exactly book guests \u2014 \u201cHello Mr. Sparrow, could you be on location for an interview at 2 p.m.?\u201d <\/p>\n

So instead I spent a lot of time with the crew climbing up mountains with a large tripod on my shoulder. Did you know there\u2019s a bird in the Scottish Highlands whose plumage turns white in winter to blend in with the snow? (It\u2019s called a ptarmigan. Don\u2019t pronounce the p.)<\/p>\n

But it did mean I was attuned to British bird calls. I could hear something and pronounce solemnly: \u201cAh yes, that\u2019s a lark. And that one’s a chaffinch.”<\/p>\n

Moving to LA meant learning a new set of bird calls<\/p>\n

When I moved to the U.S., however, it was a whole other story. I really didn\u2019t recognize any of the bird calls. They were all so different. I just shrugged and figured they were part of the backdrop. But one day recently, a woman told me about a free app and said it was life-changing. “Hmm, I\u2019ll see about that,” I thought.<\/p>\n

Merlin bird app<\/p>\n

It\u2019s called Merlin<\/a>, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and it\u2019s kind of like Shazam for bird calls. As in, you click it, and it tells you what bird song you can hear around you. When I opened it in my backyard for the first time, a whole orchestra of bird sounds opened up around me. I admit: it was kind of life-changing. <\/p>\n

Of course it first picked up a crow, which I know only too well, given its loud, raucous sound. But then it identified a house finch. Huh. Who knew they were in my backyard? And as I listened closely, I realized \u2026 I knew that sound! It\u2019s the first thing I hear when I wake up at dawn, lovely and melodic. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The house finch, awakening the day.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

So now when I open my eyes in the morning, I say, “Good morning, house finch, communing with fellow beings alive on a vibrant California morning!” It kicks off my day, although I guess I\u2019ve been reading too much Mary Oliver.<\/p>\n

The backyard birds you’re probably hearing right now<\/p>\n

But then other birds I didn\u2019t know would pop up on my phone during the day, with names as intriguing as their calls: the spotted towhee, the orange-crowned warbler, or Cassin\u2019s kingbird. <\/p>\n

I mean, they do realize they\u2019re in a backyard in Los Angeles, not some estate in Georgian England? My favorite for a while was the dark-eyed junco. Now we\u2019re talking romantic heroes. Imagine him slyly popping across the apple tree limbs to call to you. Dark-Eyed Junco, at your service.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dark-eyed junco, at your service.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Meet Swinhoe’s white-eye, a non-native bird spreading across SoCal<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Swinhoe\u2019s white-eye. Which sounds a little like an eye ailment, but there you go. It\u2019s a tiny bright yellow bird with a white ring around each eye. So cute! I first noticed them when there were a bazillion of them in a tree outside my house. It was such an unusual sight that I mentioned it to a woman walking her dog, and we stood there, oohing and aahing, until we both realized we\u2019d oohed a little too much, and it was time to go.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Swinhoe’s white-eyes are not native to SoCal, but are thriving.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

When I researched them, I was surprised to find they\u2019re not native to SoCal. They\u2019re actually pretty new to the area. There were just a handful in Orange County 20 years ago, probably having been brought over from Asia as pets and escaped. And now, they\u2019re thriving and have spread everywhere from Baja to San Luis Obispo. Who knows where they\u2019ll end up next? If anyone sees a chartreuse cutie in New York, let me know. It’ll probably be very tired.<\/p>\n

Yes, you can see I\u2019ve become slightly annoying with my newfound bird interest. I\u2019ll be asking my family what they want for dinner, and I\u2019ll say, \u201cWait, is that the spotted towhee?\u201d and turn to my phone, and my teenager will wrest it out of my hand and say, \u201cMom, be in the present!\u201d Which is right. But my morning serenade as the birds come online one by one and greet the new day \u2014 well, that\u2019s as present as you can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I lived in the UK, I worked on a BBC television show about birding. It was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-477537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}