Pasadena Audubon Society

From Laura Garrett, conservation chair:
The 88-acre Mater Dolorosa Monastery is planning to sell 15-20 acres of its property to a developer who plans to build several houses there. This is potential Spotted Owl territory. CA Fish & Wildlife has already been apprised of the situation.

A coalition of Sierra Madre folks, including the Sierra Madre Mountain Conservancy, has begun the work of trying to stop this project. If you are interested in learning more, please visit www.stopmonasteryhousingproject.com.

From Laura Garrett, conservation chair:

Now we wait. On January 21st, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works closed its public comment period on the Draft EIR of their massive sediment removal project.

Note Class is full and there is a waiting list.

Sponsored by Pasadena Audubon Society and Eaton Canyon Nature Center

Birding provides enjoyment and challenge throughout life, getting you outdoors on your street
or around the world. Birding increases your ability to observe and appreciate the world around
you. And finally, birding is proven to keep you young! (Well, three out of four isn't bad!) So,
why would you put off learning how to be a better birder any longer?

Here is a great new app for beginning birders!
eBird just published an App called Merlin that may be successful! The app is free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/merlin-bird-id-by-cornell/id773457673?mt=8

Merlin takes you through a five question process and only deals with the
over 280 of the most common birds in North America. It has the added bonus of using
the eBird database to give you results specific to your area.

From Laura Garrett, our conservation chair:

Birders: Some of you have asked me about the situation at Hahamongna. It is not good at all. The County is collecting comments right now about their plan to permanently remove 42-120 acres of habitat from the dam up to JPL. In their draft EIR, they said the impacts to recreation, including birding would be "minimal." It is critical that we tell them this is simply not true. Their plans also permenently destroy the habitat where the Least Bell's Vireo nested in 2012.

While children look forward to December 25th with great excitement,
what gets most birders motivated at taht time of year are Christmas
Bird Counts. As the year draws to a close, what better way to end it
than participating in the Pasadena-SanGabriel Valley CBC? And after
that you'll still have then shopping days left.