Notes about your surroundings.

Starr Ranch Field Trip--The Sea and Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society will host a field trip to the Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park on Saturday. The trip is open to the public, and those wishing to participate should meet in the parking lot adjacent to the park’s entrance booth at 8 a.m.

The trip will include exploring various side roads and canyons in the Bell Canyon area of the park. Participants should wear good walking shoes and bring binoculars and their lunch.

There is a $2 entrance fee at the park, which is at 33401 Ortega Highway in an unincorporated area north of San Juan Capistrano.

Rarities--It is fall migration time for birds and the best time of year to spot lost migrants, which are birds that are rare to the area that have gotten lost. According to the Sea and Sage Chapter of the National Audubon Society, the number of migrants that have been spotted in the county has been sporadic. However, there have been three first-recorded sightings of birds thus far.

An immature blue-footed booby was found Sept. 7 in a weakened condition in a Huntington Beach schoolyard. Although taken to a local bird rehabilitation center, it died a few days later.

An adult white-rumped sandpiper was spotted by Doug Willick and Loren Hays at San Joaquin Marsh in Irvine on Sept. 9 through 13. Also at the marsh, Richard Webster spotted a garganeySept. 12. There have been less than 10 sightings of this duck, a Eurasian variety of the teal, in California.

Other rarities spotted in September include a white-face ibis at San Joaquin Marsh and San Diego Creek; seven greater white-fronted geese and a sage thrasher, also at the marsh; a juvenile stilt sandpiper at the Santa Ana River in Anaheim; a bay-breasted warbler at Huntington Central Park and a hooded warbler at UC Irvine.

Other warblers seen in the county include four Virginia, a Tennessee, several palm, blackpoll and black-and-white varieties, and a redstart.