Starr Ranch Family Nature Workshop

9Nov09 | 1 comments

Let me just say up front, if you or your kids like nature, this is a great event to attend!

Starr Ranch Sanctuary is a 4,000 acre preserve owned and operated by the National Audubon Society. Throughout the year, it offers educational opportunities for members, families and kids. One such event was the recent Family Nature Workshops at Audubon’s Starr Ranch Sanctuary on Saturday, November 7.



You were able to choose two workshops from seven different programs to learn about southern Californian wildlife and habitats presented by staff, guest biologists, and docents.

The workshops included:
• Cougars, Bobcats, and Coyotes!
• Hawk Research
• Southern CA Cougar Research Project
• Starr Ranch History and Habitats (truck ride)
• Plant Walk
• Reptiles and Amphibians of Southern CA
• Nature Walks

I was looking for interactive workshops which I thought would work best for our group of young kids. So we were directed to the "Cougars, Bobcats, and Coyotes!" and the "Hawk Research" workshops. They were a big hit!

First we did "Cougars, Bobcats, and Coyotes!". This was awesome as it taught you how to identify tracks and signs of our major predators. Then we went out to six scent stations on the trail and tried our hand at identifying the real live tracks and scat.



The scent stations were made of gypsum (which looks like powdered sugar) and a rock laced with some powerful (and awful) smelling stuff that is purchased as a scent lure.


Mountain Lion Track

If the guide stick was lined up at the very top of the tallest toe, you would see that the track is longer than 2 1/2 inches which would make it a Mountain Lion Track.


We found tracks of a Mountain Lion (Cougar), Bobcat, Coyote, Grey Fox, and a Striped Skunk.

We also found scat of a Mountain Lion, Bobcat, and Grey Fox.



This one was tricky. It is Mountain Lion scat (grey because of the deer fur in it) and on top of it is Grey Fox scat which has seeds in it. Apparently sometimes the Mountain Lion's scat tapers at the end instead of the usual blunt end.

And when you see scat with red chunks, it's not berries. It turns out it is from the fruits of the Prickley Pear cactus that the Grey Fox loves to eat.


Grey Fox scat with pieces of Prickley Pear Fruit

I adapted the information they provided and made an easy pocket guide for tracks and scat that you can download here:

Predator Track and Sign Pocket guide

Correctly identifying the tracks and scat is much harder to do in real life because the scat and tracks are usually not perfect and there tends to be some exceptions. So I highly recommend the workshop to get a better feel for it.

You may also be interested in this site for more tracking information:
OC Trackers

The second workshop we did was the "Hawk Research" workshop. Here we simulated tracking radio collared hawks with real telemetry equipment and GPS. The birds weren't real, they were boards painted to look like a certain hawk and they attached a radio transmitter.

The group was split up into 3 small groups and each group got to use the telemetry monitor to locate a bird. In addition, their was a brief presentation on the kinds of hawks that were found in the area.



Other highlights included a visit by a group of deer and spotting two tarantula burrows.


Skittish deer.


Tarantula Burrow

And a dust devil that formed a few feet in front of us.



Starr Ranch offers alot of educational programs including age-based junior biologists summer camps for kids 8 year old to teens. It is also great hands on experience for homeschool groups. You can find out more information here:

Starr Ranch

Note that all visits to Starr Ranch are by invitation only. So you must attend or arrange for one of their programs to visit.

It is located right in the Santa Ana Mountains between Dove Canyon and Caspers Wilderness Park.