Dear Friend,

Earth Month is here! Ok, Earth Month is every month for us, but April only comes once a year. This April we are opening the 2025 Wings Over Bolsa calendar photo submissions and honoring our volunteers who give countless hours of their time to help make Bolsa Chica incredible.

Bolsa Chica is vital for the wildlife and the native plants that flourish at Bolsa Chica, and as the preeminent organization dedicated to supporting the thriving Ecological Reserve and sacred cultural site at Bolsa Chica, our work is instrumental. Support us today and help keep Bolsa Chica a healthy haven for the wildlife and plants whose survival relies on it.

Our printed newsletter and spring fundraiser will also hit mailboxes this month so keep an eye out for all that! Happy Earth Month!

It's time to prepare for the Bolsa Chica Land Trust’s 2025 Wings Over Bolsa calendar! We encourage you to submit your photos to the annual calendar and would love to see your amazing photographs of the birds, animals, insects, and landscapes of Bolsa Chica. The purpose of the calendar is to inspire and educate the public about the importance and beauty of Bolsa Chica's birds, wildlife, and ecosystem.

Calendar photo submissions will open on Monday April 8, 2024 and close Friday May 3, 2024.

If you would like to submit photos for consideration in the 2025 calendar, please visit our website at the link below:

https://bclandtrust.org/wings-over-bolsa-calendar-submission-guidelines/

This calendar gives so many people an opportunity to see the birds and wildlife of Bolsa Chica through your camera lens. Please feel free to share this with other Bolsa Chica photographers too. Thank you in advance for sharing your work with us and for sharing in our appreciation and love of Bolsa Chica.

“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” ― Alexander Den Heijer

This month has National Wildlife Week, Native Plant Week, and, of course, Earth Day. Bolsa Chica is critical open space for wildlife, native plant communities, and a valuable ecosystem for the health of the planet. There are 23 listed species (both plant and animal) that call Bolsa Chica home and about 5 different habitats that make up the Bolsa Chica ecosystem. In addition, thousands of people flock to Bolsa Chica for physical and mental rejuvenation. The acts of walking among flowers, hearing the birds sing, or even smelling the salt breeze float by have a positive effect on one's health.

None of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of the Bolsa Chica Stewards and volunteers who have been diligently restoring the native habitats at Bolsa Chica. Our Growing Space native plant nursery recently doubled in size to accommodate the expanding success of growing CA native plants. All of these plants are then planted on-site during our community-based habitat restoration volunteer days twice a month.

Please support the BCLT Stewards and help us buy the seeds and equipment to continue to nurture native habitats at the Bolsa Chica. Your donation helps save and preserve the open space at Bolsa Chica forever and restore degraded acres to native sustainable habitats. Without you, conservation and protection of the Bolsa Chica ecosystem could not happen. But together we can secure the future of Bolsa Chica as a healthy sustainable open space for wildlife, for plants, for us all!

National Volunteer Week is April 21-27th and we want to take a moment to thank all the volunteers, past, current, and future for all the hard work and commitment you share with us! Thank you, education docents, beach cleanup volunteers, informational table volunteers, and Growing Space nursery and restoration volunteers! Without you, we couldn't educate thousands of students and community members, grow and plant thousands of CA native plants, nor remove hundreds of pounds of trash off our coast.

Thank You!

April's Bird of the Month: Allen's Hummingbird

Allen’s Hummingbird is one of the smallest birds, but also one of the most aggressive in defending its territory. Allen’s has been seen courageously joining forces with a Mockingbird and a Crow to mob and harass a Cooper’s Hawk. Its courtship display (perhaps also a territorial one) is a spectacular J-shaped dive from high in the sky. The diet of this hummingbird is about 80% nectar from flowers, and 20% insects and spiders. At Bolsa Chica the native Bladderpod plants bloom almost year- round, and their flowers provide a major part of the nectar for this species, along with bees and butterflies.

3.75” long; 4.25” wingspan; 0.11 oz.

photo: Les Coombes

Reminders When You Visit Bolsa Chica

Here are some things to remember during your visit:

• Please stay on the trails. Not only could you disturb nesting birds, but snakes are often not far off the trails.
• Enjoy the flowers, but please do not pick them.
• Do not feed the animals.
• Do not litter. Please pack out your trash, including food scraps.
• No bikes or ebikes.
• No dogs.
• No drones.
• Enjoy being with nature!
• If you see any BCLT Stewards working along the trail, say hi! We are happy to answer any questions.

Support Bolsa Chica Today!

Questions? Email us at Info@BCLandTrust.org or call (714) 846-1001

Photo Credits:

flowers- Debbie Pavich, coyote- Mike Zampelli, Stewards in volunteer, sunset- Bequi Howarth, Miracles docent with kids, outreach table- Jeff Rokos, volunteers on beach- Mike McMahan, Allen's Hummingbird- Les Coombes