LAAS Expresses Concerns with Ballona Wetlands Project

Los Angeles Audubon Society has submitted a pair of letters regarding the proposed construction project for the Ballona Wetlands. A judge ruled that the original Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s project was deficient and ordered that the project could not proceed until a new, legally sufficient EIR was prepared. LAAS concurred that the original EIR was flawed and disagrees fundamentally with the project desired by CDFW.

CDFW recently issued a request for comments on their preparation of a new EIR with a 30-day comment period. LAAS is respectfully requesting that this comment period be extended to 75 days in the interest of public participation and transparency. You can read the letter here.

The planning for the Ballona Wetlands project has been funded by the Wildlife Conservation Board and CDFW is going back to the WCB for even more funds to redesign the project to account for accurate estimates of future possible flooding in Ballona Creek. CDFW used a lower estimate of flooding in the original EIR, even though they knew that higher flows were possible. The Wildlife Conservation Board may schedule consideration of the additional funding as soon as November 15. LAAS opposes this timing, and is requesting that instead the funding decision be schedule only after the scoping period for the EIR so that all parties know and understand the scope of the revisions that might be necessary.

LAAS opposes further funding of a planning process that has been flawed in many ways and has led to a proposed project that is inconsistent with current understanding of the ecology of the area, does not account for current estimates of sea level rise, and does not address the adverse impacts to groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.

You can read our letter to the Wildlife Conservation Board here. And you can express your concerns to the WCB by calling them at (916) 445-8448 and requesting that they not fund further Ballona Wetlands planning until there is a commitment from CDFW to reopen the project design and to incorporate the changed environmental conditions and legal requirements since the current design was selected in 2008. A lot has changed since then and Ballona deserves a restoration plan that reflects current scientific understanding and has the full support of the environmental community.

Replay - Dr. Rebeca Méndez - CircumSolar

CircumSolar is a long-term project by Rebeca Méndez where she follows the journey of a small bird, the arctic tern (sterna paradisaea) on its annual migration from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again, an approximate 55,000-mile journey that is the longest migration recorded. With the tern as its protagonist, CircumSolar looks to explore larger themes critical to our time, such as the unstoppable force of migration, the ecological concern of climate change, the VI mass extinction, and the geopolitics of the changing landscapes of coastal lands and the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Watch the presentation from December 9, 2020.

Replay -- Dr. Travis Longcore: Light, Dark, Bird, Fish: Biological Impacts of Artificial Light at Night on the California Coast

Research by Levi Simons, Karen Martin, and Travis Longcore. Presented by Travis Longcore at the evening meeting of the Los Angeles Audubon Society on May 11, 2022.

Replay -- Dr. Amy Collins: Shining a Light on Nighttime Bird Migration

Each year, billions of songbirds partake in spring and fall migrations across the US. Many of these migrations take place at night, while we are all sound asleep. Amy will present her latest research on what tools we can use to monitor these mass migrations, and what characteristics of the landscape play a pivotal role in stopover locations.

Dr. Amy Collins is a Postdoctoral research fellow at Colorado State University. Her research investigates the impacts of light pollution and urbanization on nighttime bird migration. Amy has spent considerable time in LA where she conducted part of her PhD work examining the effects of light and noise pollution on wildlife movement and behavior. For more info on Amy’s work, please visit amycollinsecology.com or check out her Twitter @amy_christina

Replay -- Dr. Eric Wood: Income inequality, racial segregation, and urban avifauna

Public lecture given on February 9, 2022 by Dr. Eric Wood (Cal State Los Angeles). The Wood Lab - http://www.ericmwood.org/

Replay -- Bill Wilson: Birds & Beans Coffee

Half of the people in the US have a cup of coffee every day but few understand the environmental impact of coffee. Even fewer prioritize origin and know how coffee farming affects people, farms, forests, and birds all over the world.

Bill Wilson is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Birds & Beans coffee. With the help of three other families and support from Scott Weidensaul, Bridget Stutchbury and Kenn Kaufman, they launched their company in 2008 to save the Smithsonian ‘Bird Friendly®’ shade grown coffee certification. Bill shares the story of Birds & Beans, which is not only Bird Friendly®, but also USDA Organic, and Fair Trade, and show how this approach helps to save birds, tropical forests, family farmers and their workers, local rural economies and the Earth we all share.

Note: We had some issues with an open mic and cross-talk early in the presentation but got them fixed about 10 minutes into the talk.

Ralph W. Schreiber 2021 Ornithology Research Awards

Call for Applications

The Los Angeles Audubon Society presents an annual research grant, the Ralph W. Schreiber Ornithology Research Award, to support research relevant to the biology of birds.  Award recipients are limited to students and amateur ornithologists with limited or no access to major granting agencies and who reside in southern California (from San Luis Obispo, Kern and San Bernardino Counties south) or are currently enrolled in a southern California academic institution.  There is no geographical restriction on the research area.

One or more awards will be given out in 2021.  Between $1500 and $5000 are awarded each year. The application deadline for the 2021 Research Award is April 30, 2021; grants will be awarded in June, 2021.

Direct any questions to Ryan Harrigan, Grants Committee Chairman, @ Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, La Kretz Hall, Suite 300, Box 951496, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1496, By email: iluvsa@ucla.edu

Dr. Schreiber was curator of birds and mammals at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, known for his research on Pacific seabirds, including the impacts of the pesticide DDT on Brown Pelicans, who died in the prime of his career.

2020 Christmas Bird Count

The Los Angeles Christmas Bird Count is going to be held Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021

In 2012, Audubon dropped the $5 fee to participate in the CBC, and most counts did away with the online registration process. Please consider donating to Audubon directly to support the count (including data management): http://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count

HOW TO CONTACT ME

Before the count: Please use EITHER my “work” email which is dan@cooperecological.com or gmail, which is lathrotriccus@gmail.com. Please do not use a Yahoo address to send me emails/messages.

Day of count: text is best: 323.397.3562

Via ebird: LosAngelesCBC

MEETING TIMES/LOCS

SPECIAL COVID INFORMATION

Due to COVID-19 concerns, we can’t do group meet-ups where random people show up.

However, I’d still like to assign a small number of people large, bird-rich areas that they can cover together.

EMAIL ME IF YOU’D LIKE TO BIRD AS A “DISPERSED GROUP” IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

-  Del Rey Lagoon, Playa del Rey

-  Kenneth Hahn Park, nr Culver City

-  Echo Park Lake (meet 7 AM at boathouse)

OTHERWISE…

1. If you’ve done this CBC last year/before, please contact me and let me know if you’d like to do the same area you covered in the past.

2. If you’d like a new area, contact me and let me know that too.

3. If this is your first time (or if you were with a group before), please either:

            Count in your neighborhood, or

            Contact me for ideas on where to go.

HOW THIS WORKS (ON COUNT DAY)

We count all morning, then you text me at some point to me know if you got any rarities, or missed any common birds you were pretty sure you’d find (we can discuss this in advance).

Cell: 323.397.3562

Some people continue to count in the afternoon/evening (areas that weren’t well covered, or later for owls), or will chase birds that were found that morning.

Please use the computer or device you’re reading this on to locate all of the locations mentioned above or below, but feel free to confirm details with me.

HOW TO SUBMIT DATA

Starting in 2015-16, we switched to an “all-eBird data collection” procedure, as follows:

1. Count birds at your location, and keep track of numbers of all species seen or heard;

2. Enter your (or your group’s) sightings into eBird (www.ebird.org), ideally using existing “hotspots”;

3. While viewing your completed list, click “Share w/ Others in Your Party” on the right-hand side, and share with the following username: 

LosAngelesCBC 

Please DO NOT share your lists with “Dan Cooper”, “lathrotriccus@gmail.com”, dan@cooperecological.com” or “dcooper137”

4. I will then log in as user LosAngelesCBC and “accept” your list, which adds it to the database. Failure to do this means your checklist isn’t counted in the total.

5. If you can’t figure out how to use ebird, send me a list of your total species and individuals, and I can do it for you.

I will post a summary of the count a few days afterward, but you’ll always be able to see your sightings, and others’ who did the count, in eBird.

That’s it!

Dan Cooper, Los Angeles CBC Compiler