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Gerardo Garcia is a geology student at Pasadena City College and lives just down the street from the Center. He reached out to us last December with the idea of leading geology walks here at Debs Park. He views the Center as a cultural oasis removed from the hustle and bustle of the city and wanted to get more involved, while also applying what he’s learning in school to the real world. He is passionate about geology and is fascinated by how the Earth works: how it was formed, what it's made out of, and what this can tell us about the world we inhabit today. Gerardo especially likes how Debs Park provides a glimpse into how Northeast LA might have looked millions of years ago, and how you can clearly see the evidence of sea level rise and fall when exploring geological features throughout the park.
Gerardo is now leading Rock Walks here at the park on the 4th Saturday of every month! This month’s walk will be taking place on Saturday, May 25th from 9:30-10:30am. We are super excited to be offering this unique programming and to incorporate geology further into our conversations surrounding birds, plants, conservation, and community engagement. We owe it all to Gerardo and his commitment to supporting the Center and providing this experience for the community. Thank you Gerardo! Check out the website he created for more info.
Purple sage, salvia leucophylla, is in full bloom here at the Audubon Center at Debs Park. This plant is in the mint family of Lamiaceae, yes the same family as spearmint. It is an aromatic plant, we encourage you to rub the leaves and smell. That smell attracts insects, specifically beetles. Why? For the role of pollination of course. This is one of California’s native plants, and you can tell right away! The lightness of the plant, or silvery undertone, allows them to remain cool during California hot days since it absorbs less heat, but there is something cooler. These leaves’ silvery undertones are also composed of crenulated leaves, where the leaves are fuzzy and feel like felt. Our favorite part of this plant however, is definitely there beautiful flowering stalks that are composed of little small flowers, making it a perfect natural food source for our hummingbirds in the park.
Spring migration has begun! And how do we know? Because flocks of warblers are migrating through Los Angeles including Debs Park. Warblers during migration are known to travel in mixed flocks, or in groups with a variety of warbler species. Most of these warblers have dashes of yellow, but there is one in particular that is black. That’s right, the Black-throated Gray Warbler, Setophaga nigrescens, barely makes the cut to join the other bright warblers with the perfect amount of yellow right on the nares. This warbler actually breeds in Los Angeles and we can find them around in the park until it decides to return to its’ wintering grounds. Their diet consists mainly of insects, but more study is needed to see if they will eat anything else. Los Angeles is their breeding ground and they have a preference for dry conifer forest and mixed woods. Females only incubate the eggs, but males and females feed the nestling. Their clutch size is usually 4 eggs, and is not well known when the young leave the nest. I guess we can say this one mysterious bird, but not too much because you can see them at Debs.
Walk along our Scrub Jay Trail and you'll see fields of spears covered in deep purple flowers. Hiker, say hello to Arroyo Lupine. This California native is relatively common and can be found throughout the state, parts of Arizona, and Baja California. It's known from many types of habitat and has been known to colonize disturbed habitat. This fleshy annual herb grows up to a meter. The flower cluster is a series of purple-blue flowers with white or pink patches on their banner, each between 1 - 2 centimeters long.
Hoot hoot, what's that sound you've been hearing in the Butterfly Loop? It's a Great Horned Owl watching over her nest up high in the trees. Found almost throughout North America and much of South America is this big owl. Aggressive and powerful in its hunting (sometimes known by nicknames such as "tiger owl"), it takes prey as varied as rabbits, hawks, snakes, and even skunks, and will even attack porcupines, often with fatal results for both prey and predator. Great Horned Owls begin nesting very early in the north, and their deep hoots may be heard rolling across the forest on mid-winter nights.
Feeding Behavior
Hunts mostly at night, sometimes at dusk. Watches from high perch, then swoops down to capture prey in its talons. Has extremely good hearing and good vision in low light conditions. In north in winter, may store uneaten prey, coming back later to thaw out frozen carcass by "incubating" it.
Eggs
2-3, sometimes 1-5, rarely 6. Dull whitish. Incubation mostly by female, 28-35 days. Young: Both parents take part in providing food for young owls. Young may leave nest and climb on nearby branches at 5 weeks, can fly at about 9-10 weeks; tended and fed by parents for up to several months.
Young
Both parents take part in providing food for young owls. Young may leave nest and climb on nearby branches at 5 weeks, can fly at about 9-10 weeks; tended and fed by parents for up to several months.
Diet
Varied, mostly mammals and birds. Mammals make up majority of diet in most regions. Takes many rats, mice, and rabbits, also ground squirrels, opossums, skunks, many others. Eats some birds (especially in north), up to size of geese, ducks, hawks, and smaller owls. Also eats snakes, lizards, frogs, insects, scorpions, rarely fish.
Nesting
May begin nesting very early in north (late winter), possibly so that young will have time to learn hunting skills before next winter begins. In courtship, male performs display flight, also feeds female. Nest: Typically uses old nest of other large bird, such as hawk, eagle, crow, heron, usually 20-60' above ground; also may nest on cliff ledge, in cave, in broken-off tree stump, sometimes on ground. Adds little or no nest material, aside from feathers at times.
With your help, more than 300 residents showed up and showed out for their communities! Over 100 individuals left public comments encouraging the Board to approve our amendments, including our Conservation Program Coordinator, Cindy Castaneda and our Fund II Apprentice, Tania Romero.
As always, your participation and activism for community needs astounds us and we are so grateful to everyone who attended, shared, tuned in, and gathered around the issue of Park Equity! We’ll continue keeping you up to date with Measure A and any other policy issues that affect our parks and communities!
Thanks again for your support!
The ACDP team
This Saturday March 16th, the Audubon Center at Debs Park proved that birds and politics do mix well! We were honored to host Coffee & Birding with Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo of California’s 51st District and 30 local community birders. We invited our community to come out and bird with Audubon staff and Assemblymember Carrillo’s office throughout Debs Park, featuring breath-taking sights of Downtown LA, cool birds, and great conversations.
The event began at 8:30 a.m. Birders met at our Center’s courtyard for some hot coffee and pan dulce. Before the walk, birders had an opportunity to connect with Assemblymember Carrillo and her staff to discuss local issues, avenues for change, and community concerns. Our community was also able to learn about measures being debated in Sacramento, which provided greater transparency on California politics. After warming up with some hot coffee, Center Director, Marcos Trinidad and Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo gave a short introduction. After that, walkers strapped on their binoculars and were off!
The walk went through Debs Park’s City View trail and up to Peanut Lake at the top of the hill. Peanut Lake is a great birding location with different types of waterfowl, warblers, finches, and even raptors. Some of the day’s sights included orange-crowned warblers, hermit thrushes, and bushtits. The highlight of the walk was a Blue heron that flew above the birders across the park! Throughout the walk, birders were welcome to talk to Assemblymember Carrillo and her team.
The walk ended back at the Courtyard, where families were excited to learn about the different activities held at the Audubon Center at Debs Park. We were happy to provide an event that combines our two loves – community advocacy and good old-fashioned birding! We were proud to be able to provide a fun and unique opportunity for our community to learn more about the birds that surround us every day in Northeast LA and local advocacy. We hope to see our birders and the rest of the community again for our bird walks on the 2nd and 3rd Saturday of every month and for our Advocacy Days on the 4th Tuesday of every month!
We send out periodic emails about programs, events, and volunteer opportunities at the Center.
Audubon Center at Debs Park is located at 4700 Griffin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90031
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