Author: Jim Houghton
Jim has slowly learned how to operate a fairly primitive WordPress website. It doesn't look like much, but all the SFVAS information anyone needs is here. Gifts of good-quality white wine are welcome but not required.
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April 30, 2021
What? More Mallards??
Mr. & Mrs. M. -- photo by Gary Park Mallards are by far the most common duck seen in California and the United States. Mallards breed throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and have been introduced into New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South…
March 21, 2021
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Know Your Natives! Get Involved!
Get Involved with the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area Habitat Restoration Effort! The California Native Plant Society Invasive Plant Removal Team is offering another free Saturday training/work session/ 8:00 to 11:30 on May 29 We had 26 Volunteers for our last weeding and accomplished a great deal. We filled 58 bags and donated a total of more than…
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February 25, 2021
Feeder Freakout? No…
Update on this post: the "salmonella pandemic" in SoCal continues to be a non-event and a freakout kept alive on social media because that's what social media does best. Be a good bird-lover and keep your feeders clean, refresh your bird-baths regularly, and plant bird-friendly natives when it's practical to do so -- but don't…
January 27, 2021
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Guide to Preventing Window Strikes
It's common -- and depressing -- knowledge among birders that residential windows account for a significant portion of the many millions of avian deaths caused by glass every year. Until fairly recently, there wasn't much a homeowner could do about it; the outside of a glass pane reflects landscape and sky, with interior blinds, curtains,…
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April 23, 2020
Bored? Bird!
No doubt many, if not most, of our members and friends are doing some birding – or a lot – while in forced domestication. After all, it is migration season. Hermit Thrush, Gary Park Even though most of the choicest migrants are seen in parks and on hikes, nevertheless the observant back-yard birder will see…
April 4, 2020
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Griffith Park Raptor Survey
In January of this year, Courtney McCammon contacted SFVAS to see if our chapter wanted to partner with Friends of Griffith Park in their 3rd season of monitoring raptor nests. Courtney partners with Dan Cooper and their data is shared with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We were excited to learn about this program and…
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July 24, 2019
Birds of the Mojave Desert Three-day Workshop
Beginning on Friday evening, this course will examine the important role of these stopover areas in the conservation of neotropical migrant birds and introduce the techniques used to identify the common families of birds found in the vicinity of the Desert Studies Center. On Saturday, students travel by car to various migrant bird traps near…
June 23, 2019
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Wild Wings Closing — and Opening!
The Wild Wings Backyard Nature store has been a fixture for San Fernando Valley birders and nature lovers for eleven years. Scott Logan and Bonnie McFarlin have always been there to answer questions, make suggestions, and provide us with high-quality bird-feeding groceries and equipment. Scott is known for his popular bird walks and his encyclopedic…
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May 9, 2019
Haskell Creek Cleanup A Big Success!
SFVAS celebrated Earth Day 2019 early with a hugely successful cleanup of Haskell Creek in the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve. The April 13 event saw a threefold increase in our usual number of volunteers for this annual springtime effort, from around 50 to 150. Partnerships with Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) and the…
April 22, 2018