Kimball Garrett on LA / SD rivalry

I wasn't the only one to mention this 'rivalry' lol. Just found out searching for Dusky Warber at LACOBIRDS;

SD 514, LA 513 LINK

DATE: Oct 28, 2013 @ 12:20pm, 4 year(s) ago

FROM: Kimball Garrett

L. A. County Birders, As many of you know, San Diego County has had a great fall season, with two new county records (Great Shearwater and Le Conte’s Sparrow) that bring the San Diego County bird list to 514, one ahead of Los Angeles County’s total of 513. Since introduced species do not always get comparable treatment on county lists, it might be better to compare “N.I.B.” (no introduced birds) lists. Doing that, San Diego still leads Los Angeles 506 to 505 (both counties have 8 introduced bird species on their lists, the only difference being they include Ring-necked Pheasant (we don’t, even though it was formerly established in the county) and we include Chukar (they don’t). [There seems to be some discussion within S.D. County about removing Ring-necked Pheasant from that county’s list, but it doesn’t affect the N.I.B total.] So the L. A. County birding community has its work cut out for it. Among the “missing” species for the L. A. list that might reasonably be expected to occur (given migratory status, status in adjacent counties, trends, etc.) are: Emperor Goose Mottled Petrel Neotropic Cormorant Glossy Ibis Black Vulture Lesser Sand-Plover Iceland Gull Black-billed Cuckoo Magnificent Hummingbird Ruby-throated Hummingbird Xantus’s Hummingbird Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Cave Swallow Sedge Wren Dusky Warbler Veery Rufous-backed Robin Louisiana Waterthrush Connecticut Warbler Cerulean Warbler Baird’s Sparrow Streak-backed Oriole Note that some of the most likely species among these (e.g. Glossy Ibis, Iceland Gull, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, the two Empidonax, Veery, Connecticut Warbler) are very tough identifications and/or are very difficult to detect. So being fully aware of ID criteria for these species (and the field craft involved in detecting and documenting them) is highly recommended. I recognize the folly of challenging birders to find rarities, but virtually of the birds listed above are CBRC review species that will have to be convincingly documented to be accepted to the L. A. County list. Another large set of potential species (of which I’ve only listed one above) are pelagics, so we really need to figure out how to log more pelagic time within L. A. County waters (which shouldn’t be hard, since we “own” a big chunk of the eastern Pacific Ocean). Right now, pelagic opportunities for far offshore L. A. County waters are limited to multi-day trips out of San Diego. Good birding, and may the “friendly competition” with San Diego County benefit both counties. Kimball Kimball L. Garrett Ornithology Collections Manager Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

L. A. and San Diego county bird lists LINK

DATE: Aug 24, 2007 @ 11:14pm, 10 year(s) ago

FROM: "Kimball Garrett" <kgarrett@...>

Birders, As many of you know, San Diego County's recent rash of good birds (including Bridled Tern and Townsend's [=Newell's] Shearwater) has put them a bit ahead of Los Angeles County in county species total. By my count the numbers now stand at 497 for San Diego and 496 for Los Angeles, but I could be off by one or two. Some in San Diego have even thrown down the gauntlet - which will be the first county in the United States to reach the 500 species total This seems, therefore, like an opportune time to remind Los Angeles County birders that there are a number of "overdue" species for our county birds list; certainly there have been claims (and possibly even valid records) of some of these species (and others), but there remain no accepted County records. Some of these species are difficult to identify, and records of any will require convincing and thorough documentation for acceptance. Nevertheless, with an active corps of birders (plus a generous helping of offshore waters and a team of field ornithologists on San Clemente Island!), we ought to stand a chance of reaching the 500 plateau in the next couple of years. Besides a number of potential pelagics, some of the county's "missing" species include: Emperor Goose Barrow's Goldeneye Purple Gallinule Glossy Ibis Slaty-backed Gull Ruby-throated Hummingbird Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Sedge Wren Dusky Warbler Veery Rufous-backed Robin Louisiana Waterthrush Connecticut Warbler Field Sparrow Streak-backed Oriole There are many other species that might make the "overdue" list. Certainly some vagrant shorebirds are possible; for better or worse, there are really only two decent shorebird areas in our county (lower L. A. River and Piute Ponds/Lancaster). More long-range pelagic trips out west and southwest of San Clemente Island would probably turn up new species. As always, thorough coverage of coastal migrant trips is in order. Going out birding with the sole purpose of finding rarities is likely to be as frustrating as it is counter-productive. Nevertheless, it is always good to keep in mind those species that might possibly turn up but have yet to be properly documented for the L. A. County list. It's bad enough to bird in the smog - who needs to be eating San Diego County's dust at the same time! Kimball Kimball L. Garrett Ornithology Collections Manager Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Let's thank Tracy Drake again for her heroic find!
Now what's the record now between those 2 best counties in the U.S.?!! 540 SD, 539 LA according to ebird!