Ornithologist Kimball Garrett will lead a walk along the San Gabriel River across from Encanto Park on a Duarte Historical Society-sponsored search for the Least Bell’s Vireo ("LBV") on April 19, starting at 8:00 a.m.
Listed as endangered by the State of California in 1984 and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1986, this little bird has suffered from an altered habitat thanks to the damming and channelization of lowland streams and rivers. The LBVs are also threatened by parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds.
"Habitat protection and restoration, along with localized control of cowbirds around vireo breeding territories has resulted in a very encouraging increase in vireo numbers," according to Garrett.
According to Garrett, Least Bell’s Vireos arrive in early April and most have departed by late August. They winter in the Southern half of Baja. They are named after John Graham Bell (1812-1899) who collected the first specimen in Missouri in 1843.
Vireo hunters will meet at 8 at the Duarte Historical Museum, 777 Encanto Parkway, Duarte, for this moderate trek, which hopefully will produce a LBV, "but will most certainly result in a better understanding of the natural features of the area," says Claudia Heller, President of the Duarte Historical Society.
Garrett is collections manager at the L.A. County Museum of Natural History and has led birding expeditions to many exotic areas around the world. He is co-author of the book "Birds of the Los Angeles Region" as well as the Roger Tory Peterson Guide to Warblers. T
he expedition is free. For more information, log on to www.duartehistory.org. or call 626 358-0329.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment