Pasadena Audubon Society’s ‘Bear Divide’ Observation Platform in the Angeles National Forest Is a Treasure For Bird Watchers

The Pasadena Audubon Society’s observation platform at a place called Bear Divide up in the Angeles National Forest, about a 40-minute drive from Pasadena, attracts a vast multitude of migrating birds during spring. 

“Bear Divide is a spot in the Angeles Forest that acts as a natural funnel for birds that are migrating north during spring migration, like what is happening right now,” Chris Spurgeon, board member at Pasadena Audubon Society said.

According to Spurgeon, the spot is the size of a few tennis courts.

With cooperation with the United States Forest Service, which manages the Angeles National Forest, the Pasadena Audubon Society was able to use the site to set up a Motus bird tracking station to monitor birds passing the area.

According to Spurgeon, there are now more than 1,500 Motus stations scattered all around North America.

“We can learn a lot about how exactly these birds travel, where they come by, where they stop, what paths they take during their migration,” he explained.

The group made a request to allow Bear Divide to be considered a Motus station about 18 months ago. The project was completed before the end of 2022.

“We saw that Bear Divide is a very significant and important place for bird migrations. It has these huge concentrations of birds that is very unusual. We thought that’d be a perfect place for one of these receiving stations.” 

So far, no new species have been found at the station. 

“New bird species are a pretty rare event,” said Spurgeon. “We actually don’t know what we’re going to discover. That’s one of the reasons we put up stations like this. “

Spurgeon hopes that the system will continue running for years to protect more birds and learn more about them.

“It’s been up and running and we’re hoping that it’ll be up and running for years, and we hope that in the coming years, researchers throughout the western part of North America and down into Central and South America will start attaching transmitters to migrating birds, and we’ll be able to protect them if they come pass,” said Spurgeon. “We’re always learning, and we’re hoping that this will be a contribution to the scientific community.”

The Bear Divide is open to the public. On some mornings, few birds can be found at the site but even if there’s no birds, it’s still a very pretty sight, said Spurgeon.

“It’s a nice place to go up into the mountains. On other mornings, there are tens of thousands of birds flying past, just streaming past all the time,” he added. 

Spurgeon urged members of the community to come visit the site and appreciate the beauty of migratory birds and have the opportunity to talk to bird scientists at the station. 

“We love the idea that we are calling attention to this spot, Bear Divide in the Angeles Forest, which is for several weeks every spring. It’s a really remarkable place. It’s a real treasure if you’re someone that’s a fan of birds,” Spurgeon said. “It’s right here in our backyard and it’s not very well known [and] it’s something that we should all know about.”

Pasadena Audubon Society offers bird walks every month and all throughout the year.

To know the schedules, visit: https://www.pasadenaaudubon.org/