Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 6, Jul-Aug 2018
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 6, Jul-Aug 2018
• Book Review: The Dragonflies and Damselflies of Santa Barbara County, California | Kimball L. Garrett
•Green Feather Award Winner 2018: “Let Her Play” | Aisling Murray
• INTERPRETING NATURE: Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program Research | Stacey Vigallon
• YOUNG BIRDERS: A New Discovery - Our Rufous Hummingbirds Molt in the Mexican Monsoonal Region | Dessi Sieburth
• Birds of the Season: June 2018 | Jon Fisher
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 5, May-Jun 2018
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 5, May-June 2018
Snowy Plover Conservation Program Faces An Uncertain Future
YOUNG BIRDERS: A Striking African Bird in Los Angeles County: The Pin‐tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura), By Dessi Sieburth
INTERPRETING NATURE: Using science fiction to envision the future, By Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education
Birds of The Season—April 2018, By Jon Fisher
INTERVIEW: Allow Me the Honor To Introduce To You: Irwin Woldman, By Louis Tucker
Least Tern Monitoring At Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, By Carolyn Vance, USFWS Volunteer, Seal Beach NWR
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 4, Mar-Apr 2018
Owens Valley, April 2017 | Photo by Mary Freeman
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 4, March-April 2018
The California Condor, By Dessi Sieburth
Birding in Belize: A Guide Shares His Top Five Sites, By Lisa Freeman
Birds of the Season—February 2018, By Jon Fisher
Beautiful Ballona: What’s The Latest?, By Cindy Hardin
In Memory of Howard King, By Nick Freeman
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 2, Nov-Dec 2017
INSIDE THIS ISSUE, November-December 2017 Western Tanager
What’s to Become of the Ballona Wetlands? By David DeLange, PhD, Vice President – Los Angeles Audubon
YOUNG BIRDERS: The Western Bluebird Conservation Project, By Dessi Sieburth
Ballona Chronicles: A Bicycle Built for Three, By Bev-Sue Powers, www.ballonaphotography.com
Baldwin Hills program gives young people hands-on training in science and restoration. By Natasha Khann
INTERPRETING NATURE: 2016–2017 Greenhouse Intern Project Abstracts, By Stacey Vigallon, Director of Intrpretation, and the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Interns
CONSERVATION GRANT: "Ballona to the Beach", By Carol Babeli, Director of Communications and Development
Birds of the Season—October 2017, by Jon Fisher
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 1, Sep-Oct 2017
ON THE COVER: Shoreline, Crystal Cove, Photo by Leslie Davidson
Crystal Cove is located in Orange County off the busy Pacific Coast Highway. Crystal
Cove State Park offers hiking in the deeply wooded canyons and water activities at the tide pools and sandy beaches.
My name is Leslie Davidson and I have been a docent at the Ballona Wetlands for the past 17 years. I enjoy photographing nature and love sharing my hobby with others.
Camera: Nikon Coolpix P510
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Western Tanager, Vol. 84 No. 1, September-October 2017
PHOTO ESSAY: Audubon Docents: The Things We Saw, By Photo Essay | By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education and Photos by Leslie Davidson
YOUNG BIRDERS: Project Puffin — Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Project in Maine | By Dessi Sieburth
Coots Make Me Smile, By Contributing Author, Bev‐Sue Powers, (www.BallonaPhotography.com)
INTERPRETING NATURE: Aspiring Botanist Goes Plant‐hunting from Baldwin Hills to Yosemite, By Arely Mendia Perez, Environment for the Americas Intern, and Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education
Birds of the Season – August 2017, By Jon Fisher
Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 6, Jul–Aug 2017
ON THE COVER
‘I’iwi | Hakalau Forest Wildlife Refuge, Photo by Jack Jeffrey
Found nowhere else in the world, the spectacular scarlet‐feathered I’iwi (Drepanis coccinea) is the last of the sickle‐billed Hawaiian honeycreepers. Before the appearance of humans in Hawaii, more than fifty different honeycreeper species were known to have existed. Today, only 18 species remain, most of these are endangered or threatened. I’iwi feathers were once collected by early Hawaiian bird catchers or “kia manu”, and used for the feathered cloaks of Hawaiian Royalty. I’iwi are still fairly abundant in the remaining high elevation native koa‐ohia forests of Hawaii Island and Maui, but rare on the other major islands. The long down‐curved bill of the I’iwi is a perfect match for the shape of tubular flowers of many native plants, making I’iwi important pollinators of these and other native plants. To see an I’iwi, or to hear its loud “rusty hinge” call is an extraordinary experience and one that can only be had in a Hawaiian rainforest.
In this issue
• YOUNG BIRDERS: Birds of the Hakalau Forest on the Big Island of Hawai’i, By Dessi Sieburth
• INTERPRETING NATURE: Does nature have a place in the English Language Arts classroom?, By Robert Jeffers, L.A. Audubon Treasurer | Instructional Coach
• Princeton Phainopepla Project, Please send your sightings to Dr. Daniel Baldassarre, Princeton University
• Birds of the Season—June 2017, By Jon Fisher
• OPINION: Every Creature on Earth is Under Threat, By Louis Tucker, LAAS Member and Field Trip Leader
• A Tribute to Judy Raskin, By Brad Rumble, LAAS Director at Large
Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 5, May–June 2017
On The Cover: Brown-eyed Primrose | Photo by Read Howarth
About the Photographer: Read Howarth is a disability insurance broker who lives in Los Angeles County. He moved here in 2009 from New Jersey. His then moderate lifelong interest in birding was given a jolt with his observation of a Surf Scoter in Marina Del Rey, while sailing. His first Audubon Field Trip was three years ago, on a Kurt Leuschner led trip to Anza-Borrego. It was to become the first of many Audubon walks and field trips since. Birding, sailing and volunteering as a Docent in Topanga State Park keep him out in nature and provide springboards for more educational opportunities in the natural sciences.
In this issue
• L.A. Audubon's Anza-Borrego Field Trip March 2017, By Read Howarth, LAAS Member and Field Trip Participant, Photos by Read Howarth
• Birds and Other Wildlife seen on Anza-Borrego Field TripBy Kurt Leuschner, LAAS Member and Field Trip Leader | KLeuschner@collegeofthedesert.edu
• SCHREIBER GRANT UPDATE: The role of behavior in isolation: novelty and courtship across a hummingbird hybrid zone | By Brian Myers, Grant Recipient 2015
• INTERPRETING NATURE: From L.A. to Joshua Tree: Opportunities and Experiences in Nature, By Robert Jeffers, L.A. Audubon Board Member and Joshua Tree Adventure Chaperone, Spring Break 2017
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas: An Adventure, By Louis Tucker, Los Angeles Audubon Society Member and Field Trip Leader
• YOUNG BIRDERS: The Red-crowned Parrot, By Dessi Sieburth
• Birds of the Season — April 2017, By Jon Fisher
Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 4, Mar-Apr 2017
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Peck Road Water Conservation Park in Arcadia by Mary Freeman, January 8, 2017. Taken with Canon D40 with a Canon 400mm telephoto lens.
In this issue
ON THE COVER —Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | Photo by Mary Freeman
Birds of the Season – Feb. 2017, by Jon Fisher
A Wet, Wet, Wetland, By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education & Volunteer Coordinator
Los Angeles County’s Breeding Bird Atlas Now Available
INTERPRETING NATURE: Being a Biologist for a Day is a Great Excuse to Get Out to the Beach!, Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education |Photos by Stacey Vigallon
Hang in There, I’ll Get To It In A Bit, Louis Tucker, L.A. Audubon Field Trip Leader
YOUNG BIRDERS: Birds are Citizens of the World: Protecting our Migrating Birds, By Dessi Sieburth
Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 3, Jan–Feb 2017
Burrowing Owl at Esperanza Elementary | Photo by Brad Rumble
This image was taken on December 9, 2016 when the bird was perched in a jacaranda tree adjacent to the student lunch pavilion. I took the shot with a Canon EOS Rebel t2i camera using a 55mm‐250mm lens.
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
My interest in native birds developed during my first decade working at a school near downtown Los Angeles. It was the absence of biodiversity due to poor urban planning which really got me interested in the subject. I started photographing birds to memorialize what I was seeing out in the field. As an elementary school principal, I see how students are fascinated with the local natural history. Given the opportunity, they truly become stewards of their campus and neighborhood. —Brad Rumble
Inside this issue
• A New Schoolyard Habitat at Esperanza Elementary School, By Margot Griswold, President Los Angeles Audubon
• YOUNG BIRDERS: Lost Migrants in Los Angeles County—Highlights of My 2016 Birding Year, By Dessi Sieburth
• Birds of the Season—December 2016
• Los Angeles Audubon’s Ballona Wetlands
• Emily Reed, LAAS Docent, Receives Disney Conservation Hero Award 2016
• Hummingbird Rescue: A True Story, By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education & Volunteer Coordinator
• Ninety years of change in the bird community of the UCLA campus, by Richard W. Hedley, Samuel A. Bressler, Sidhaant Shah, Jeffrey G‐H. Lee, Ryan J. Harrigan
• INTERPRETING NATURE: The Green Gift Workshop — creativity, discovery, and duct tape, By Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education