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At an urban L.A. school, an unexpected oasis

An Anna's hummingbird feeds at a sage plant in the urban garden at Leo Politi Elementary School west of downtown Los Angeles. The campus has become a sanctuary for birds, native plants and an array of insects -- much to the delight of its students.

An Anna’s hummingbird feeds at a sage plant in the urban garden at Leo Politi Elementary School west of downtown Los Angeles. The campus has become a sanctuary for birds, native plants and an array of insects -- much to the delight of its students.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Leo Politi Elementary west of downtown wanted only to make a dreary corner of campus more inviting to its 817 students. Workers ripped out 5,000 square feet of concrete and planted native flora. What happened next was unforeseen. The plants attracted insects, which attracted birds, which attracted students, who, fascinated by the nature unfolding before them, learned so much that their test scores in science rose sixfold.
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Behold the avian visitors

Students from Leo Politi Elementary use binoculars to study the birds that frequent the vegetation on campus. “At our school, flycatchers drink the water in the vernal pool,” said one student, who dreams of becoming an ornithologist. “Scrub jays hang out in the oaks.”  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A good resting spot

A yellow-rumped warbler sits on a tree branch at Leo Politi Elementary. The school’s garden grows where a towering apartment complex once stood.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Creating a sanctuary

In partnership with Los Angeles Audubon, Leo Politi in 2008 became one of the first elementary schools in the city to apply for and win “schoolyard habitat” and partner’s grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Worth retrieving

A bushtit pulls material from a crevice on one of the buildings at Leo Politi Elementary.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Amid the nature

Brad Rumble, principal at Leo Politi Elementary, leads some of his students through the campus garden. The school is compiling an online illustrated survey of every species documented in the sanctuary.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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