Join a field naturalists' club

This is a juvenile Cooper’s hawk, that was sitting on my back fence when I got up to make a coffee, and shortly thereafter hopped into the tree by the time I got my glasses and my camera. He remained there up until the time I left for work. They like to surprise their prey, which are dove-sized birds. My neighbours have a few that come around. I bet they are sufficiently warned away for a while.

This morning I went on a bird walk at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve with the San Fernando Vallay chapter of the Audubon Society. This place is literally like two blocks from where I live and near where I go running all the time. I’ve gone birdwatching here myself many times, and many of the entries under my goal to photograph birds were taken during these trips. Since I started pursuing birdwatching more seriously as a hobby earlier this year, I was thinking I could benefit and learn more from others who are really into it. I did some research and read about the Audubon Society whose mission is to “conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife”. I was vaguely aware of the Audubon Society and knew they had something to do with birds but frankly didn’t know much about them. When I saw that there was a local chapter of the group that did walks in my area, I decided I needed to check them out (also with motivation from joining this goal which Jane invited me to).

I brought a hat (as it was a hot, sunny day) and a pair of binoculars (leaving my camera behind thinking I would learn more just observing rather than messing with pictures) and met about 15 people at the trailhead at about 8 AM. I will say that I was the youngest person by at least 10 years. I wonder if that’s because older people have more time to get involved in things like this or because younger people just aren’t interested. I hope it’s the former and not the latter reason. There were a couple of other first-timers like me but most of the people were seasoned birdwatchers. The leader of the group, a guy named Chris, pointed out some things to me that helped me in bird identification. The walk lasted about three hours, and it was really fun to see the passion people had for birdwatching.

We saw so many species of birds and so many that I had never seen before though I had been to this place many times. Among the species we saw included (I’m just listing the ones I hadn’t seen before): western bluebird, yellow-chevroned parakeet, hermit thrush, hooded merganser, greater yellowlegs, long-billed dowitcher, California thrasher, western tanager, Townsend’s warbler, ring-necked duck, ruddy duck, chipped sparrow, and a northern cardinal (an east coast bird introduced to the west about 100 years ago that is extremely rare in the west).

I haven’t actually joined the Audubon Society yet, but I’m definitely leaning towards it. I will definitely go on more of their walks they have in various places around my area. It seems like they have something going on almost every weekend.

http://www.pqspb.org/

While I was in DK, I got bit by the birdwatching bug. I don’t have any journal entries or pics, just started feeding the birds there and have kept it up since I came back. On the weekend, I went to a lecture on extinction, where a passenger pigeon in a glass case was donated to the museum. Such a sad story. In any case, that’s where I made the connection to this group, Bird Protection Quebec, and I will be joining them on their next expedition (which may just be a walk in the woods). I looked up the Montreal Field Naturalist’s Club but the next event they were having was a lecture on rocks. That struck me as kinda boring for me right now – though I am sure that if I went to it, I would find it interesting. But I am trying to keep focussed on animals, wildlife, and conservation for several reasons and topics, and not deviate or cast the net too wide in my pursuits. So this group that I’ve found is something I’m looking forward to experiencing!