Common Ground Dove | Lesser Nighthawk | Pacific Golden-Plover | Lesser Black-backed Gull | WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER | Zone-tailed Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | “Black” Merlin | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Phoebe | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Bay-breasted Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager | Scarlet Tanager
Common Ground Dove | White-winged Dove | Mountain Plover | Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Phalarope | Lesser Black-backed Gull | American Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Broad-winged Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | Pacific Wren | Red-throated Pipit | Lapland Longspur | Chestnut-collared Longspur | Grasshopper Sparrow | Clay-colored Sparrow | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Cape May Warbler | Blackburnian Warbler | Magnolia Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager | Painted Bunting
Lesser Nighthawk | Pacific Golden-Plover | Sabine’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Little Blue Heron | Western Cattle Egret | Broad-winged Hawk | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Tropical Kingbird | Chestnut-collared Longspur | Grasshopper Sparrow | Lark Bunting | Clay-colored Sparrow | Orchard Oriole | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Painted Bunting | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | American Redstart | Cape May Warbler | Magnolia Warbler | Blackburnian Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Palm Warbler | Summer Tanager
White-winged Dove | Lesser Nighthawk | Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Sabine’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Little Blue Heron | Western Cattle Egret | Broad-winged Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | Grasshopper Sparrow | Clay-colored Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Orchard Oriole | Baltimore Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | American Redstart | Palm Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager | Painted Bunting
American Golden-Plover | Pacific Golden-Plover | Sabine’s Gull | Franklin’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Little Blue Heron | Broad-winged Hawk | Zone-tailed Hawk | Great Crested Flycatcher | Tropical Kingbird | Scissor-tailed Flycatcher | Gray Vireo | Grasshopper Sparrow | Clay-colored Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Baltimore Oriole | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | American Redstart | Palm Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting | Painted Bunting
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.
Sign up to join our mailing list to receive our newsletter and updates on upcoming events.
