Walk Recap–Los Cerritos Wetlands Oct. & Nov.

Fall is in full swing and our species counts at both our 2nd Saturday Hellman Lowlands walk and 4th Sunday Zedler Marsh walk are showing it!  To see our Facebook page photo gallery of these walks, click here.

Clark's Grebe, © Cindy Crawford

Clark’s Grebe, © Cindy Crawford

At the Zedler walk on October 28th we observed 25 species at this little pocket marsh with restored coastal sage scrub uplands, and along the trail to the marsh passing by the channel and Calloway Marsh.  Our group included all ages.  Our young birders (ages 4 and 9) were great at spotting and counting birds, and really enjoyed “Larry the Snowy Egret” (named by the locals), a rather tame Snowy who came in for a landing twice very close to the group.  Highlights included a Clark’s Grebe, a Pied-billed Grebe, Spotted Sandpiper running along a muddy bank feeding and doing the classic “tail bob”, and up close looks at Savannah Sparrow, Say’s Phoebe and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  

 

Peregrine Falcon © Jerry Millett

Peregrine Falcon © Jerry Millett

November 10th at Hellman Lowlands our birding class attendees along with instructors Charlie Collins and Anne Maben also joined the walk to do some field work, with local Biologist Robb Hamilton also attending.  Over 45 species observed!  Sightings included hundreds of Canada Geese flying in to the retention basin, two Snow Geese, a Greater White-fronted Goose, a Peregrine Falcon, Cassin’s Kingbirds, Greater Yellowlegs, Belted Kingfisher numerous Killdeer.  We witnessed a Red-tailed Hawk catch and eat a Botta Pocket Gopher. 

 

 

Belted Kingfisher (female), © Jerry Millett

Belted Kingfisher (female), © Jerry Millett

November 4th we hosted a field trip for Audubon Assembly participants at Los Cerritos Marsh (better known as “Steam Shovel Slough”).  We observed large number of Willets, Black-bellied Plovers, Marbled Godwits and Greater Yellowlegs along with the usual Canada Geese, Cassin’s Kingbirds, various sparrow species, Red-Tailed Hawks, Kestrels and others. 

Our Hellman Lowlands and Zedler Marsh walks continue in November & December and we always expect great bird sightings this time of year.  These two monthly walks are per an agreement with the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority (LCWA), which El Dorado Audubon is a partner in the LCWA Stewardship Program.   Our monthly LCWA 2nd Saturday and 4th Sunday walks will continue in 2019, which we will post on our website once the official 2019 Stewardship Program Schedule is released. 

Remaining 2018 Los Cerritos Wetlands Walks are listed below with some adjustments for holidays.  If you would like to participate in Christmas Bird Count at Los Cerritos Wetlands leave a voicemail for our President Mary Parsell at 562-252-5825.  (To participate in the Christmas Bird Count for other locations, click here to see our CBC article.)

Nov. 25th 3pm to 5pm, Zedler Marsh

Dec 8th, 8am to 10am, Hellman Lowlands

Dec 15th, all day, Christmas Bird Count (various areas including all of Los Cerritos Wetlands)

Dec 16th, 3pm to 5pm, Zedler Marsh (moved to 3rd Sunday in Dec. due to Holidays)

September Program & Beginning of our New Fiscal Year!

We have a lot of great events and walks scheduled for our new year beginning in September.  You should be receiving our September newsletter in your mailbox soon.  Our first program of the year begins with Tom Ryan on Least Terns, details below.  At the refuge the September tour is a National Public Lands Day event, which you will find on our September calendar for your convenience along with all our regularly scheduled walks.  Note Colorado Lagoon walks will resume in October.  Also on September 15th we’ll be participating with El Dorado Nature Center for California Coastal Cleanup Day.  In October we are pleased to present our first birding class — many thanks to Anne Maben and Charlie Collins for putting this great resource together for all of us!  Finally, 2019 is our 50th Year Anniversary!  We hope you enjoy all the activities this year and look forward to seeing you soon!

September Program:

Tom Ryan — Studies of the California Least Terns: migration, dispersal and predicting the population trends

Our first general meeting of our new year kicks off with a few short announcements followed by a presentation on Least Terns by biological consultant and researcher Tom Ryan.

Mr. Ryan has been trapping and marking adult California Least Terns throughout colonies in Southern California since 2012. He has conducted studies of their movements using light-level geolocators and more recently has been attaching field readable alphanumeric bands in order to better understand movements between their colonies and to look at the population structure. Colony monitors have noted lower productivity at colonies for the past 10 years and there is fear of a population decline in the coming years. He will show how biologists are trying to study this issue and present the latest information that informs us of where their population is heading. He is also teaming with researchers in Baja California to try to determine the southern extent of the “California” least tern.

Join us for this interesting event on Thurs., Sept. 20th, at 7:30 p.m., El Dorado Nature Center, 7550 E. Spring St., LB. Doors open at 7:00 p.m., program ends 8:30 p.m. followed by a brief Q&A, doors close at 9:00 p.m. Parking is free and light refreshments will be served. Please bring recyclable cans/plastic bottles with caps removed to help support chapter activities. Hope to see you there!

Birding Classes!

** Class is now full**

This workshop is now closed, with 7 people on the wait list. Please contact Anne Maben at afmaben@gmail.com close to the workshop to see if there will be any openings.

For those who registered please watch your email for communications from the instructors, if you can’t make it to class please call the instructor so those wait-listed may attend. Thanks!!!

 

El Dorado Audubon is pleased to present our fall series birding class, developed and taught by Dr. Charles T. Collins and Anne Maben.   To register for this class please click here.  

A FREE series of three (4 hours each) workshops during fall bird migration are available to both our friends and members. Each interactive workshop will scaffold new concepts and skills including:

  • Bird evolution, adaptations and behavior
  • Bird form and function
  • Birding strategies for identification and appreciation
  • Understanding local habitats and best local birding spots
  • At least an hour of class time at El Dorado Nature Center/Regional park to practice new skills
  • Additional resources/training such as birding apps, hyperlinked documents on buying binoculars, wildlife cameras; digital photography tips, favorite birding field guides and links/descriptions to local field trips for birding

Workshop dates are Saturdays 8am to 12 noon:  Oct. 20th, Oct 27th and Nov. 17th (will be held near El Dorado Park).  

In addition, three optional accompanying field trips for class participants to practice their skills will be also offered on Nov. 10th (wetlands habitat, 8am to 10am), Jan. 5th (coastal ocean ecosystems, 8am to 12 noon) and Feb. 2nd (spring migrants in oak woodlands habitat, 8am to 12 noon), which participants won’t want to miss! 

Additional information and updates will be posted here on El Dorado Audubon Society’s website.  To register, please click here.  There will be a limit of 30 class participants as space is limited.  There will be a wait list should space become available due to any cancellations. 

Please contact Mary Parsell at (562) 252-5825 or by email mfp2001@hotmail.com if you are interested or have any questions.

About the instructors: 

Dr. Charles Collins is a retired CSULB Professor of Ornithology, a founding member of the El Dorado Audubon Society and continues to conduct research on swifts and local tern/skimmer species.  Anne Maben has been an educator for 45 years, a wildlife biologist studying endangered species in Micronesia and currently serves teachers as a Professional Learning presenter for the UCLA Science Project.

Photo credit:  Anne Maben