LA Raptor Study
On this page: Get Involved! | Raptor Study Area | Final Results | SoCal Raptors Species | Raptor Survey Team | Donate
Sponsored by Friends of Griffith Park and in partnership with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Los Angeles Raptor Study engages volunteers all across Los Angeles to monitor raptor nests (hawks, owls, and falcons) during spring and summer to learn how these birds are adapting to the urban environment.
The study was first launched in 2017 as Griffith Park Raptor Survey and has expanded since then. Each year, trained volunteers record observations at dozens of raptor nests located in parks, schools, and yards across the city and surrounding communities. This data-gathering is vital to biologists because it represents a specific, comprehensive dataset of raptor habits over multiple years.
Get Involved!
A community-science based program, the LA Raptor Study relies on volunteers. Early in the year, the leadership team provides volunteers with free training sessions to learn the types of raptors found in the LA area, how to track nest activity and how to record observations.
Volunteers are asked to commit to monitoring their nests at least twice a month and report the data regularly to one of the study coordinators.
If you are interested in volunteering for the study, please fill out this volunteer application. If you have questions about volunteering contact raptors@friendsofgriffithpark.org
Yearly Monitoring Schedule:
- Late January/early February: Volunteer training, nest-searching, including re-visiting known nest sites.
- March: Volunteers are deployed to monitor their assigned nests with individualized orientation by one of four study coordinators. If new nests are located, basic data is recorded on substrate/tree species, topography, GPS coordinates, and more.
- April-June: Volunteers continue to monitor nesting activity stages, such as egg incubation, chicks, and finally fledging, as birds leave the nest by the end of June.
- July-August: Volunteer party; data analysis and results presentation.
Click here and share a graphic on your NextDoor or Facebook account to get the word out!
Volunteer Profiles
Volunteers are key to the success of the Raptor Study! Read how volunteers are finding friendship and connection as they monitor their nests.
Raptor Study Area
The LA Raptor Study covers six sub-regions surrounding the Griffith Park rea (shown in gray blue below), including: the southeastern San Fernando Valley, the Hollywood Hills, Baldwin Hills, Mid-City, Downtown L.A., East L.A., and Northeast L.A., along with portions of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and South Pasadena.
Study Area Map credit: Ahalya Sabaratnam, UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability Raptor Practicum Team
Final Results
Each year the LA Raptor Study publishes a final report with study results.
Raptors in the News
2024 RAPTOR STUDY RESULTS: Report from Griffith Park Reporter
ALTA MAGAZINE: Bird Watching Goes Both Ways
WILDLIFE PROFESSIONAL: Persistence Amid a Pandemic
(available to magazine subscribers)
LA TIMES: Get Outside in 2020: These 4 LA Nature Events Make it Easy
Raptors in Your Hood?
Have you noticed a hawk or owl in your Los Angeles neighborhood or seen a nest made of sticks? We want to know! Please submit the location (address or cross streets) and any other details you have (photos or videos welcome) in the tips form at https://tinyurl.com/LARaptorTips . Questions? Contact Outreach Coordinator Nurit Katz at raptors@friendsofgriffithpark.org or call/text (818) 384-9493.
SoCal Raptors Species
The Southern California basin is rich in diversity of the raptors that live here. The most common breeding species you’ll see are:
Need Help Identifying a Raptor?
There are a number of helpful apps for birding such as eBird and Merlin. For raptor identification specifically, Raptor ID app from Hawkwatch International is available in the Apple Store and Google Play.
Consider joining the Raptor ID Facebook Group.
Good raptor field guides include:
Meet the Raptor Survey Team
Daniel S. Cooper
Study Founder and Co-Director
Bio
Daniel S. Cooper is principal investigator and scientific advisor for Friends of Griffith Park. Dan grew up in Pasadena with a passion for birds and nature. His academic credentials include: Harvard University, U.C. Riverside (MS), and UCLA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (PhD). He is president of Cooper Ecological Monitoring and serves as the Deputy Executive Director for the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains.ÂÂ
As one of California’s leading ornithologists, Dan published Important Bird Areas of California and has a list of scientific publications to his credit. He has served several functions for California Audubon, including Director of Bird Conservation.
Beginning in late 2006, Dan became the lead ecologist conducting surveys under the umbrella Griffith Park Natural History Survey. After the 2007 park fire, Dan advised the Department of Recreation and Parks on fire recovery and was commissioned to write the Griffith Park Wildlife Management Plan. Highlights of his professional contributions to Griffith Park science include the Griffith Park Rare Plant Survey and the continuing Griffith Park Raptor Survey, both highly successful endeavors underwritten by FoGP.
Gerry Hans
President, Friends of Griffith Park
Bio
For well over fifteen years, Gerry Hans has been active with park issues and was a diligent member of the Griffith Park Master Plan Working Group which convened in 2005. He served as president of Oaks Homeowners for three years (2005-2007) and fought for the City’s toughest anti-mansionization code to protect the community’s unique character with plenty of open space. Gerry also played a role in establishing invaluable scientific work for the park beginning in late 2006 through the Griffith Park Natural History Survey. He served on the Parks, River and Open Space Committee of the local neighborhood council until 2010, and is currently active with the county-wide helicopter noise reduction movement.
Gerry comes from a large Midwest farm family of ten and holds a Biology degree from University of Illinois. He began graduate work at Colorado State in ecology, but was side-tracked by corporate positions, moving to Los Angeles 34 years ago. After leaving the corporate world, he and his spouse built a successful small business, from which he is now retired.
As a founding member of Friends of Griffith Park and its inaugural president, Gerry keeps busy tracking the organization’s progress with advocacy issues, including the revitalization of historic Fern Dell. He enjoys hiking and “botanizing” in Griffith Park, while thinking about ways to protect the park’s rich Mediterranean habitat and wildlife, in balance with recreation.
Gerry has been closely engaged with the science and conservation aspects within Griffith Park, and recently coordinated successful efforts with other conservationists to purchase and protect acreage adjacent to the Park.
Nurit Katz
Study Co-Director
Bio
Nurit Katz Nurit brings urban ecology experience including outdoor education, wildlife photography, and wildlife rescue. An active volunteer in the study in early years, her unabashed enthusiasm and nest-side skills are hard to match. Nurit is UCLA’s first Chief Sustainability Officer and an Instructor in the UCLA Extension Sustainability Certificate Program. She also currently serves as Commissioner for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and serves on the LA City Biodiversity Expert Council. She holds an MBA and a Masters in Public Policy from UCLA and a BA in Environmental Education from Humboldt State University, and is pursuing a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA.ÂÂ
2025 Raptor Study Volunteers & Acknowledgements:
LA Raptor Study volunteers conducted much of the fieldwork, and provided invaluable ecological information that would have been otherwise difficult to obtain. In particular, we wish to thank the volunteers who completed our training session and tracked active nests for 2024:
Michael Albertson, Adrine Arakelian, Thais Arata, Beth Armstrong Shikano, Griffin Barchek, Katheryn Barton, Alix Bannon, Nina Beckhardt, Natalie Beckman-Smith, Tracey Beltran, Chloe Birch, Andy Birch, Jessica Blickley, Harnawaz Boparai, Evan Boucher, Kayla Borkovec, Sarah Bowman, Karen Boyarsky, Brett Boydstun, John Bridge, Allison Brooker, Mary Brooks, David Brown, Tad Brown, Carrie Brown-Kornarens, Maddie Brozen, Carol Brusha, Ronald F. Brusha, Diana Caliva, Jamie Cantor, Martha Carreon, Andrea Cavanaugh, Olivia Clark, Amy Clarke, Chip Clements, Bridget Conlin, Nicholas Connon, Danielle Cooper, Kevin Cooper, Carly Creley, Massimo De Maria, Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, Mimi DiMatteo, Julie Drake, Alix Duggins, Victoria Dyer, Adam Eeuwens, Meg Favreau, Dante Fierro, Carrie Fisher-Okmin, Emily Forscher, Melissa Freeny Gicela Galvez, Jack Garrison-Kingen, Shelly Gaytan, John Gittelsohn, Wendi Gladstone, Julia Glassman, Steven Goby, Jessica Granger, Michael Greening, Kristyn Guernica, Beth Hagenlocker, Eric Ha, Kelli Hailey, Elle Hajkova, Kat Halsey, Casey Halter, Eric Halvorsen, Suzie Hanrahan, Kelly Hayashibara, Chris Hero, Emily Hero, Chonny Hokama, Cynthia Holmes, Ruth Honegger, Erica Horton, Cynthia Hubach, Angela Huff, Michael Hughes, John Jeffrey, Olivia Jenkins, FeiFei Jiang, Penelope Jones, Amie Jordan, Helin Jung, Karin Kachler, Michael Kaczynski, Rachel Kaminer, Raphael Kaplan, Rose Kaplan, Jack Kappelman, Melanie Kaye, Paul Kaye, Suzanne Kelley, Liz Kennedy, Keri Kilgo, Julie Klabin, Ken Klotzle, Anthony Kornarens, Kalvin Lam, Jacob Lang, Aliyah Larsen, Jonas Lee, Suavek Lehmann, Sarah Leonard, Alex Levy, Joanne Lin, Jakob Longcob, Madeline Low, Bill Luddy, Trevor Lyon, Jeanie Lytle, Laurie MacDonald, Greg Macek, Alex MacInnis, Rebecca Marschall, Emily Martin, Syd Martinez, Koit McIntire, Patrick McMabell, Lisa Meldrum, Rebeca Méndez, Steve Miller, Melissa Mills, Lauren Molina, David Morales, Andrew Moseman, Merigan Mulhern, Kamran Muthleb, David Newland, Elinor Nissley, David Norris, Yolonda Nunley, Sandy Olson, Miguel Ordeñana, Keymi Ordeñana, Mia Picerno, Harry Pallenberg, Robert Panganiban, Betina Papadeas, Randi Parent, Nancy Perez, Maggie Perlman, Dan Pierce, Caitlin Pohl, Lauren Poor, Cody Porter, Chris Quinn, Laurel Randolph, Shana Rapoport, Susan Raudry, Brenda Rees, Gary Regester, Roshan Reporter, Rikka Richardson, Kari Richardson, Julia Rifa, Kimberley Rizzo, Kate Romero, Maggie Rose, Sarah Rogers, Jenn Rose, Kristin Rozum, Brent Rumble, Christian Rummel, Kate Scarborough, Dale Schafer, David Shadovitz, Dahlia Shammas, Cam Shaw, Bryan Shepard, Wilson Sherman, Mary Shurden, Nancy Simpson, Amy Sims, Drake Singleton , Annie Slagboom, Greg Slak, Patti Smentek, Susan Sterr, Susan Streaser, James Strzelinski, Caroline Su, Charlotte Swanson, Caroline Symons, Robert Swelgin, Jamie Szabadi, Fran Tait, Eliza Tate, Alice Taylor, Joseph Taylor, Matthew Testa, Amy Thompson, Stan Thompson, Jackie Thompson, Brian Tomikawa, Linda Topper, Kirsten Ushijima, Sasha Valarino, Drea Valentine, Carmelo Valone, Paul Vandeventer, Arlene Vargas, Crisanta Velazquez, Lucia Venegas, Diana Wagman, Dana Watson, Michelle West, Patty Wheeler, Petyr Whisky, Amy White, Debra Wilbur, Heather Wilson, Kimberly Wolz, Angela Woodside, Jackson Yean, Corrin Yep, George Young, Jiawen (Jenelle) Yuan, Elva Zepeda Earnhart, Alexandra Zedalis, and Jaimi Zwerling.
Additional thanks go to…
Stefanie Smith, Griffith Section Superintendent, Department of Recreation and Parks, who assisted us with access to several non-public park venues. Los Angeles City Park Rangers, Park Maintenance Division, and Park Urban Ecologist (Courtney McCammon) who provided patrols and maintained signage and fencing to protect a sensitive Peregrine Falcon nesting site in Griffith Park. Officer Jose Navarro and the Los Angeles Animal Services SMART team provided support for challenging re-nesting and rescue efforts, and shared helpful data on new raptor nests. Loews Hotel and Rockhill Management provided access for Peregrine releases. In addition, many residents responded to our outreach and shared helpful tips and notified us of local nests, and we thank them for their information and contributions to this study.
LA Raptor Study Volunteer Membership
Support FoGP’s Raptor Study
The best way to support the ongoing LA Raptor Study is by becoming a member of Friends of Griffith Park! Memberships start at $25. Join today!
FoGP is grateful for all our LA Raptor Study Volunteers. You continue to make this project successful year after year. When the final results of the year are shared, we hope you will be proud knowing you played a part!
Your support helps us to continue important preservation and advocacy work to keep Griffith Park the urban wilderness we need.
As a 501(c)(3) organization, your contribution is deductible to the full extent of the law.
How to Donate
Donate conveniently below or by check to Friends of Griffith Park (please specify RAPTOR STUDY VOLUNTEER MEMBERSHIP on the memo line). If you are already a member, go ahead and donate here again.
Friends of Griffith Park
P.O. Box 27573
Los Angeles, CA 90027-0573
Raptor Study Volunteer Membership
Click below to securely pay with a credit card.