Winter brought many rare birds to the Los Angeles area and I was very happy to see them and photograph a Lewis's Woodpecker, a Painted Redstart, a Summer Tanager, a Blue-headed Vireo, a Eurasian Wigeon, a flock of Red Crossbills, and a White-throated Sparrow. I also photographed my first banded and tagged bird; an American White Pelican that I spotted in the LA River, and later found out that the pelican had been banded in Idaho as a fledgling. And, while these birds may not be considered rare, I consider them very special: the partial-albino Red-tailed Hawk, dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk, dark-morph Ferruginous Hawk ,and a Great Horned Owl.