Contest! Audubon Guide to Animals of the L.A. River

New Guide to Local Fauna

The Audubon Center at Debs Park has produced a new bilingual guide to local animals. It’s called Animals of the Los Angeles River: Arroyo Seco and Environs.

It’s one of those 8.5″ by 3.5″ wide fold-out guides that shows the image of each animal, its common name, latin name, and size, published by Waterford Press.

The animals selected are ones that can be spotted at the following five sites along the Arroyo Seco: Los Angeles River confluence with the Arroyo Seco, Debs Park, Pasadena’s Lower Arroyo Seco Nature Park, Hahamongna Watershed Park, and the Angeles National Forest.

It includes mammals, insects, reptiles/amphibians, and plenty of birds. Some fairly common species (including opossum, tiger swallowtail butterfly, coot, even parrots and pidgeons) and many less common (including white-tailed kite, mountain lion) – at least to my amateur eye and in the places where I frequent. I am really happy to get the Spanish names for lots of our local critters – kildeer are chorlo tildío, rattlesnakes are culebra de cascabel. Though there is a disclaimer that “Spanish common names vary from region to region. When in doubt please use the Latin name.”

The guides are on sale at the Audubon Center for $6 each. They’re not available yet on-line, but you can send a $6.59 check to Audubon Center at Debs Park, 4700 N. Griffin Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90031, and they will mail you one.

OUR FIRST CONTEST! Thanks to the Audubon Center’s director Jeff Chapman, Creek Freak will be giving away one of these guides to a lucky Creek Freak reader. All you have to do is post a comment below. Include in your comment one of your favorite spots on a Southern California waterway. Deadline for entries is 12noon on Friday April 17th. Winner will be picked at random and announced here. We’ll get in touch you via email, then mail you the guide (US addresses only.) No purchase necessary.