Long-tailed Duck | Inca Dove | Black Swift | American Oystercatcher | Red Knot | South Polar Skua | Common Murre | Yellow-footed Gull | Red-throated Loon | Western Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay | Brown Thrasher | American Dipper | Northern Waterthrush | Blackburnian Warbler | Palm Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Painted Bunting
Long-tailed Duck | Common Goldeneye | Red-necked Grebe | Black Swift | Western Cattle Egret | Franklin’s Gull | Yellow-footed Gull | Pacific Loon | SWALLOW-TAILED KITE | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Swainson’s Thrush | Brown Thrasher | Cassin’s Sparrow |Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler
Long-tailed Duck | Red-necked Grebe | White-winged Dove | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Brown Booby | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Brown-crested Flycatcher | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Purple Martin | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Clay-colored Sparrow | Orchard Oriole | American Redstart | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler | Black-and-white Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak
White-winged Dove | Red-necked Grebe | Franklin’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Western Cattle Egret | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Clay-colored Sparrow | Swamp Sparrow | Black-and-white Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Hepatic Tanager
White-winged Dove | Sabine’s Gull | Western Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Scissor-tailed Flycatcher | American Dipper | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Lark Bunting | Clay-colored Sparrow | FIELD SPARROW | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Hepatic Tanager
Updates, updates, updates! This was the heading of multiple recent emails received by the many who make our education programs happen. That’s right-after almost two years of no school field trips at all, Los Angeles Audubon is back at it, sharing nature with residents of all ages that call Los Angeles home.
In addition to our regular Ballona tour on Sunday, March 13th, we will offer a new tour for Young Birders! Our very own Emily Lamb will be leading her fellow Young Birders on a tour at 10 am. Come learn about the birds of Ballona, upcoming migration season, and hunt for Owl pellets with Emily. RSVP to Cindy Hardin at cindyhardin@laaudubon.org or give a call at 310-301-0050.
There is not much that the Audubon docents at Ballona Wetlands and Kenneth Hahn Park enjoy more than walking a group of students through our wonderful wetlands and uplands, seeing their eyes light up when they see something new or come to understand how things are interconnected. So, we were as disappointed as our students when all field trips were canceled due to COVID in March 2020.
2020 has been a year that has seen much upending of the world and its citizens. But there is consistency to be found in the natural world, and for me, that is a great source of comfort. Nature does not know that a pandemic is raging around the world, and continues to go about its business, in all its wonder, every single day.
Time spent outdoors can be quite the antidote for the sagging spirit. Southern California abounds in locations that remind us of the beauty of our state, and that there is a larger whole to the world than the niche that is occupied by us humans. What follows is a list of some of my favorite spots to step back, experience the natural world and be inspired rather than discouraged. Each place listed is within a two-hour drive of downtown Los Angeles, with the exception of the final listing. Some are extremely local. And all should be a tonic to malaise!
But there is one bird that has recently returned that always reminds me of a dear friend, and mentor, who literally changed the course of my life. Barbara Courtois was the coordinator of the Environmental Education Program at Ballona when I first became a volunteer at the wetlands, in 1999. She would proudly tell you that she was a “lifelong learner”.
The year 2020 has been rife with events unlike any that we have ever seen. Our way of life from a mere six months ago has changed in many new and challenging ways. Lots of new nomenclature is also popping up in the language that we use: compliance, non-compliance, rate per 100,000, unprecedented, synchronous, asynchronous, pandemic—the list goes on and on.
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