Water Discovery Open House

Thank you to all of the educators who visited the Santa Ana Watershed Association's interpretive center on Saturday, August 27 for the Water Discovery Open House.   Teachers from 6 school districts in the area visited and learned about the Water Discovery Program in the park.    

What is the Water Discovery Program?

The Santa Ana Watershed Association, in a partnership with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, offers a free education program focusing on water conservation, wetlands, and watershed issues.  By incorporating hands-on techniques in an outdoor setting, Naturalists engage students to learn about water ecology and conservation.  The program consists of stations placed throughout the park encouraging observation, imagination, and critical thinking.  Programs are aligned with state science standards and are customized to meet the needs of each grade level.  

Check out what's changed at the Park!

Check out what's changed at the Park!

The Santa Ana Watershed Association (SAWA)  has made some changes to the Chino Creek Wetlands and Educational Park's Interpretive Center.

The Interpretive Center first open its doors in April of 2008 to the public and since has served as a starting point for the Park for the public to learn about the Santa Ana Watershed.

The Interpretive Center allows students to explore the watershed through several exhibits. They will have a hands on encounter with one of the native snakes housed in the nature center.   Topics included in the center are native animals, SAWA projects, and conservation methods.   

The Santa Ana Watershed

The Santa Ana Watershed catches stormwater from a 2,650 square mile region and channels it into the Pacific Ocean at the City of Huntington Beach. It stretches from the peaks of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, through the coastal plains in Orange County all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana River (River), flowing over 100 miles, drains the largest coastal stream system in Southern California including parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, as well as a sliver of Los Angeles County. The total length of the River and its major tributaries is about 700 miles, one of the largest River systems in California.

Education

There are a number of opportunities to learn about the watershed. Parks and Recreation Areas along the river allow people to experience pristine pockets of habitat firsthand, such as the Chino Creek Wetlands and Educational Park and the Prado Wetlands. At these areas, visitors can find a variety of interpretive displays revealing the many interesting facts about the River.

To learn more about the Park and the Santa Ana Watershed please contact either Carrie at SAWA carrie@sawaedu.org or Lucia at IEUA ldiaz@ieua.org.

Water Discovery Open House

Saturday, August 27 
10:30am-12:30pm


Want to learn more about the Water Discovery Field Trip Program at the park?  Visit the Santa Ana Watershed Association's Interpretive Center in the park at 15975 El Prado Road this Saturday.   Education staff will be on hand to answer questions about the Water Discovery program, give park tours, and demonstrate activities.   Hope to see you there!

Fruits Ripening in Our Demonstration Garden.

The GIES blog has an update on some of their garden friendly fruits in our park, take a look!

Beautiful bright red pomegranates and purple grapes underneath.

A Medlar...

Check out what is growing at the Chino Creek Park's Demonistration Garden!!

Medlar? Whats a Medlar? A Forgotten Fruit.

Certified Wildlife Habitat

The Chino Creek Wetlands and Educational Park is now a Certified Wildlife Habitat site with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

In September the park will be receiving its signage from NWF!!

Search for us on

http://www.nwf.org/naturefind/

Cooper's Hawk

Photo by John Mellin

In our Backyard...

In late February a pair of Cooper's Hawks made their home at the north end of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) campus. Staff had found that the Hawks produced 2 eggs in their nest. Around early May staff had noted that the two young hawks started peaking over the nest. Since the nest was in close proximity to the Agency’s parking lot a warning needed to be sent to staff to be aware of the aggressive female hawk protecting her young.

Photo by John Mellin

Cooper's Hawks

Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications. Both species are sometimes unwanted guests at bird feeders, looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds).

Cool Facts

• Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle. In a study of more than 300 Cooper’s Hawk skeletons, 23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or wishbone.
• A Cooper's Hawk captures a bird with its feet and kills it by repeated squeezing. Falcons tend to kill their prey by biting it, but Cooper’s Hawks hold their catch away from the body until it dies. They’ve even been known to drown their prey, holding a bird underwater until it stopped moving.
• Once thought averse to towns and cities, Cooper’s Hawks are now fairly common urban and suburban birds. Some studies show their numbers are actually higher in towns than in their natural habitat, forests. Cities provide plenty of Rock Pigeon and Mourning Dove prey. Though one study in Arizona found a downside to the high-dove diet: Cooper’s Hawk nestlings suffered from a parasitic disease they acquired from eating dove meat.
• Life is tricky for male Cooper’s Hawks. As in most hawks, males are significantly smaller than their mates. The danger is that female Cooper’s Hawks specialize in eating medium-sized birds. Males tend to be submissive to females and to listen out for reassuring call notes the females make when they’re willing to be approached. Males build the nest, then provide nearly all the food to females and young over the next 90 days before the young fledge.
• The oldest known Cooper's Hawk was 20 years, 4 months old. (allaboutbirds.org)http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/lifehistory

Phot by John Mellin