The Chino Hills State Park Interpretive Association (CHSPIA) held its second fundraiser called Nature's Notes in March 2007.  Like our previous event, Nature's Notes consisted of two events in one.  The first event was a Campfire program where the general public was invited to attend.  The second event was the actual fundraiser, which was a Camp Out and required web registration.

The Campfire Program
We made notes of our own singing campfire songs with the audience and had a great time doing it. Our Campfire presenter was Evelyn Brown, a naturalist from the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust.  Her presentation covered common birds we would see out and about our neighborhood as well as birds we'd likely see in nature.  Though we had a few bird calls that wouldn't work in the presentation, for the most part we heard the majority of calls.  Audience members were able to distinguish various calls and the quiz at the end proved fun and informative. To view Evelyn's PowerPoint, please follow this link.

The Camp Out
Earlier in the afternoon families and a large boy scout troop arrived early to pitch their tents.  In the morning, we had hot chocolate and coffee before we took our nature hikes.  The group was divided into several more manageable sizes and we each took off into a different part of the Park.  Reports back from the groups were that there was quite an abundance of birds.  Hikers saw everything from turkey vultures to hummingbirds, kites to red tailed hawks and even heard/identified the calls of several birds but never actually saw the bird. Evelyn's presentation sure helped the hikers identify by sight and sound!
 

Event Sponsors:
Thank you to the organizations that made this event possible: Albertsons, Stater Brothers, and the California State Parks Foundation.