Earth Day is on the immediate horizon, ground will soon be broken on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, and the City Nature Challenge BioBlitz 2022? That's ready to flutter its proverbial wings near the end of April.
We're in a gaze-outside, appreciate-the-wildnerness, wonder-at-it-all, adore-the-outdoors frame of mind, in short, though to say we're always living in that wildlife-loving world would be completely accurate.
Enhancing this feathery, sunbeamy, leaf-laden frame of mind?
The Natural History Museum, an incredible institution that is again coming through for Southern Californians eager to know more about the earthlings that live just beyond their backdoor.
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Those earthlings are, quite often, of the caw-producing, wing-flapping, land-on-a-branch variety in our region, which the museum describes as the "birdiest" county in the country.
But if you've spent two hours, er, two minutes in Los Angeles County, you already knew that. Birds? We've got them, no ifs, ands, or beaks about it.
To celebrate the birdiness of our avian-tastic area, the Exposition Park-based bastion o' science just unveiled a new digital series called "Backyard Birding."
The free-to-watch videos are all about upping our bird-spotting, bird-knowing game, and Dr. Allison Shultz, Assistant Curator of Ornithology, and Kimball Garrett, Emeritus Collections Manager of Ornithology, are the experts leading us on this joyful journey.
Some of the info-packed stops along the way?
You'll learn about the bird diversity of Los Angeles County (home to gulls, owls, crows, and an assortment of latecomers, from peacocks to parrots), habitats, and seasonality, too.
And house finches? Chances are as strong as a little cheerful chirp is adorable that there is a house finch somewhere in your vicinity right now, if you happen to be in Southern California.
The Natural History Museum is a repository, or perhaps birdpository is more accurate, of great facts, information, tips, and routes to appreciating our urban wildlife.
Start with Backyard Birding now, ahead of the big city-wide BioBlitz, and get up on the flyers, flappers, and feathered friends fliting about your immediate area.
