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.
When you sign up for a birding excursion with Mary and Nick Freeman, you may find yourself learning a lot more than you expected. In addition to bird identification by color, features, calls, and habitat, you may learn about flora and fauna, geology, biology, and even archeology. That’s because the folks who tend to go on their trips are amazingly diverse in their backgrounds and happy to share their knowledge. On a recent four-day Owens Valley sage-grouse trip led by the Freemans, the dozen attendees included two biologists, a geologist, an archeologist, and birders and photographers of all levels, including one world birder whose life list encompasses more than 7,700 birds!
It’s been a long, bone-jarring drive down a dark and dusty rutted road. But finally, our caravan of eight vehicles pulls to a stop and 14 birders tumble out of their cars. Tucked into down jackets, gloves, face masks, and boots, we’re hoping to keep the bitter cold at bay. But as we gather our gear and strike out on our path, the 22-degree chill seeps insidiously through the stitching of even the best-made gloves and parkas. Before long, my fingers tingle from grasping the aluminum legs of the tripod and camera slung over my shoulder. But we are moving towards our target and my excitement exceeds my discomfort.
On May 29th, 2022 the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program wrapped up its 14th school year. The program was a balancing act of online and in-person activities at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Despite the pandemic, Greenhouse students proved themselves to be both committed and adaptable. We fortunate to be able to collaborate with Cal Poly Pomona’s Questad Lab and Jen Toy of the USC Landscape Architecture program this year. The annual Cactus Commencement Ceremony - the culminating event where students present their work to an audience – was reinstated as an in-person event this year. Students led friends, family, alumni, and program collaborators through a series of environmental education stations that showcased the knowledge and skills that students had gained over the year.
The July–August 2022 issue of the Western Tanager is online. Inside this issue are our regular columns, Interpreting Nature, Conservation Conversation and Outdoor Education. This summer, we present an article, “The Great Lek Trek”, about 30th Anniversary LAAS field trip to the Owens Valley for grouse viewing, written by Robbie Lisa Freeman. Enjoy the writings submitted by the winners of the “2022 Green Feather” awards, Jennifer Wu and Jonathan Kim, and articles “From Our Readers”, Judith Deutsch and Sharon Udkoff.
The challenges faced by the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) are many as it winters and breeds along the coast of southern California. Beach grooming by heavy equipment perpetually remove valuable habitat and flatten out once-undulating dunes. Beachgoers and their pets use the land where they once nested. Predators come from all directions, from raptors to roaming cats.
We commend all high school student writers who participated in the Green Feather Award and The Tomorrow Prize, an Omega Sci-Fi Awards short story writing competition. It is inspiring to see that many high school students worked hard on their stories through the pandemic and created wonderful pieces of literature. We are very honored to be a part of this journey, supporting the writers of the future and pushing the community to learn about their local environment predicament through writing, to show everyone that there is still hope.
During the May 22, 2022, Omega Sci-Fi Awards Ceremony in Pasadena, there were actors bringing the stories to life. There were many emotions coming from the audience from “awes” to laughter from the runner up and winning stories.
Nature Nexus Institute (NNI) is a proud collaborator, and we look forward to the yearly celebration of creativity and storytelling from Los Angeles youth.
We are excited to present our two Green Feather award winning stories- “Eden” by Jennifer Wu and “The Seagulls Save Culver City?” by Jonathan Kim.
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