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

Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 2, Nov-Dec 2016

Black-crowned Night-Heron, Photo by Dessi Sieburth

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 2, November December 2016

ON THE COVER

Black-crowned Night-Heron, Photo by Dessi Sieburth

•YOUNG BIRDERS: Helping Birds Through Photography, By Dessi Sieburth

•CONSERVATION CONVERSATION: Western Snowy Plovers Past and Future in Coastal Los Angeles, By Travis Longcore

•Ballona Docents Head South, Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education & Volunteer Coordinator

•State of California, Audubon California and Restoring the Salton Sea

•Birds of the Season–October 2016

•Always Excited About Your Firsts: The Chase, By Louis Tucker, Field Trip Leader

•INTERPRETING NATURE: Celebrating Shorebirds, Joyce Realgeno, Education and Restoration Staff, and Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education

Western Tanager, Vol. 83 No. 1, Sep-Oct 2016

Inside this issue

•Tales of a Budding Naturalist—A Photo Essay: It All Started with the "Pinkies", By Jamie Lowry

•CONSERVATION CONVERSATION: Caring For Nature in An Age of Utility, By Travis Longcore

•Summer Camp 2016 at Kenneth Hahn Recreation Area, Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education, Photos by Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education

•Birds of the Season–August 2016, By Jon Fisher

•Breeding Bird Atlas Goes to Print, by Larry Allen

•INTERPRETING NATURE: Sun Prints, Smart Phones and Technologies New and Old: Alternative Avenues to Appreciating Nature Now, By Robert Jeffers, LAUSD Educator and Los Angeles Audubon Board Member, and Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education

•YOUNG BIRDERS: The Tricolored Blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), By Dessi Sieburth

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 6, Jul-Aug 2016

Tejon Ranch Landscape Fields of Gold (May 2016) | Photo by Jason Koenig

This is a view of the hills shrouded in clouds as we travel west to Big Sycamore Canyon, from the 300 Street gate.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

• ON THE COVER: Tejon Ranch Landscape Fields of Gold (May 2016) | Photo by Jason Koenig

• ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER: Jason Koenig

• TEJON RANCH: At Last We Get to Go Back up To the Mountain ‐ How ‘Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Away From The Ranch? | By Louis Tucker, Field Trip Leader for Los Angeles Audubon

• YOUNG AUTHORS: My Trip to Alaska | By Dessi Sieburth

• INTERPRETING NATURE: 2015-2016 Greenhouse Intern project abstracts | By Stacey Vigallon, Director of Interpretation, and the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Interns

• Let's Get Outside | By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education

• Birds of the Season—June 2016 | By Jon Fisher

• PRESS RELEASE: Your Breeding Bird Atlas Arriving Soon | By Larry Allen

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 5, May–Jun 2016

A Caspian Tern banded 11 years ago in Oregon has been seen here in Playa del Rey. The bird was banded as a chick at East Sand Island in the Columbia River estuary (near Astoria, OR) on 7/12/2005. The bird has not been seen in the study area in the Pacific northwest since 2012. (photo by Dean Schaff)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

• YOUNG AUTHORS: The Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus), By Dessi Sieburth

• Anza-Borrego Bonanza, By Nick Freeman

• Birds and Other Wildlife seen, March 19-20, 2016 Anza-Borrego field trip, by Kurt Leuschner, KLeuschner@collegeofthedesert.edu

• Birds of the Season — April 2016, By Jon Fisher

• Los Angeles Audubon’s Schoolyard Habitat Program receives generous support from UCLA students in Philanthropy as Civic Engagement Class

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 4, Mar-Apr 2016

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 4, Mar-Apr 2016

• BOOK REVIEW: The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling | Linda Oberholtzer

• Open Wetlands at Ballona: Everyone is Invited! | Cindy Hardin

• INTERPRETING NATURE: Susan Miller Dorsey High School EcoClub and Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program | Ingrid Carrillo & Stacey Vigallon

• YOUNG AUTHORS: Why Field Notes Are Important | Dessi Sieburth

• Birds of the Season | Jon Fisher

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 3, Jan–Feb 2016

An elegant Snowy Egret carefully scans the lake water for food at the Marriott Manhattan Beach Golf

Course in Manhattan Beach, CA. (Photo courtesy of Marriott Manhattan Beach Golf Course and

Audubon International)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

• Sanctuary Golf Program Nurtures Birdies of a Different Feather, By Lisa Freeman

• INTERPRETING NATURE: From Los Angeles to California’s wild landscapes, and back., By Emily Cobar, Greenhouse Program Alumna, and Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education

• YOUNG AUTHORS: The California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica), By Dessi Sieburth

• Grateful for Grants, California State Parks Foundation

• Birds of the Season — December 2015, By Jon Fisher

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 2, Nov-Dec 2015

Worm-eating Warbler on Dec 28, 2014, 115th CBC | Photo by Don Sterba

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

• President’s End‐of‐the‐Year Appeal, By Margot Griswold, Los Angeles Audubon Board President and Education Chair

• Los Angeles Audubon Society Receives Disney Conservation Grant 2015

• INTERPRETING NATURE: A (Mostly) Native Garden, By Joyce Realegeno, Greenhouse Program Alumni, and Stacey Vigallon, Director of Environmental Education

• YOUNG AUTHORS: Volunteering at the Christmas Bird Count — You Never Know What Bird You’ll Find, By Dessi Sieburth

• NATURE CORNER: The Western Spadefoot Toad: Poster Child (Amphibian!) for Past, Present and Future, By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education

• Ralph W. Schreiber Ornithology Research Awards for 2016: Call for Applications, By Ryan J. Harrigan, Grants Committee Chairman

• Birds of the Season — October 2015, By Jon Fisher

Western Tanager, Vol. 82 No. 1, Sep-Oct 2015

Fledgling Northern Saw-whet Owl, Big Bear, CA during the annual summer trip to Big Bear, CA —July 2015 | Photo by Mary Freeman

Inside This Issue

• INTERPRETING NATURE: Los Angeles Audubon’s 2014–2015 Greenhouse Intern Abstracts, By Stacey Vigallon, Director of Interpretation, and the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Interns

• FIELD TRIP REPORT: The Summer of 2015 at Big Bear — Birds and Owls!, By Mary Carmona Freeman

• Nature: A Powerful Childhood Influence, By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education

• Birds of the Season — August 2015, By Jon Fisher

• YOUNG AUTHORS: The Golden Eagle in Denali National Park, Alaska; An Interview with Carol McIntyre about Golden Eagles and the Threats They Face, By Dessi Sieburth