Sanctuary Offers a View of Nature’s Splendor : All sorts of wildlife can be seen at the site. In the ‘80s, human migration to it was down but has picked up considerably in the ‘90s.

Ray Munson, manager of the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary, talks of the facility as the “best-kept secret in Orange County.”

But the secret is out.

More than 40,000 people--bird-watchers, school groups, families, world travelers--visited the 12-acre site last year, and Munson expects more in 1991.

“These things are very much cyclical,” he said. “People were interested in nature in the ‘70s, not so much in the ‘80s. Now it seems they are again in the 1990s.”

It seems much farther from the rapidly growing day-to-day sprawl of Orange County, but the sanctuary is just 16 miles from the Chapman Avenue exit of the Costa Mesa Freeway.

Fourteen of those miles wind east through Orange, past Irvine Lake and, finally, to Modjeska Canyon Road. A left turn on Modjeska Canyon leaves the visitor about two miles and 35 years from the rest of the county. Rural mailboxes, an apparently abandoned truck chassis, a small country store and many horses are seen along the way.

Visitors in the spring get a bonus, as many winter migratory birds have not yet departed, while summer birds are arriving.

Visitors might see an assortment of warblers, golden-crowned sparrows and brown towhees before they leave and perennial residents, such as squawky blue scrub jays, acorn woodpeckers and turkey vultures, Munson said.

Those looking for mammals may see bobcats, mule deer, coyotes, raccoons, possums and a few skunks, although the last two are basically nocturnal.

The sanctuary is not a zoo. There are no fences or walls. “This is all wild,” Munson said. “If you’re a wild animal, you take your chances.”

Munson, manager of the site for 20 years, has seen floods, occasional snow (the center is 1,350 feet above sea level in the Saddleback foothills) and brush fires.

He has also seen plenty of ornithological variety, including birds not often seen in Southern California. He estimated that he has seen 120 types of birds in 20 years.

“I’ve seen bald eagles, ospreys, a Brazilian cardinal and wild parrots--we have parrots around here right now,” he said. “Early in the morning and late in the afternoon are the best times, because birds don’t like heat. Cloudy days are better too.”

As might be expected at a wildlife sanctuary, the birds and animals are the stars, not the facilities.

A museum displays a mallard, a wood duck, a badger and other creatures that are, well, deceased but kept lifelike through the wonders of taxidermy.

Still alive are gopher snakes, desert tortoises, various types of mice, skunks, salamanders, newts, a nasty-looking tarantula and a seven-foot rat snake described by a pleasant and helpful Cal State Fullerton biology student as “mean.” There is also a chuckwalla, a type of desert lizard.

On the nature trail outside, trees, flowers and shrubs are labeled--especially the poison oak. There are picnic tables at various locations.

Braille plaques on one trail alert visitors to a black walnut tree, sagebrush, sycamore and scrub oak in front of them. Next to the 1/5th-mile-long Braille trail is a route that is accessible to wheelchairs.

The sanctuary began as a retirement home for Long Beach banker Ben Tucker and his wife, Dorothy Mae (she is credited with having invented the hummingbird feeder and the tiny birds are still particularly common at the site).

The family built the house in 1926, when Ben Tucker retired, and lived there until his wife’s death in 1939.

“She had developed a bird sanctuary behind the house,” Munson said. “When she died, her husband left the house, and it was donated to the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society. There apparently was no similar organization close by. It stayed open as a bird sanctuary, but it was just an old house with an observation porch.”

The house has burned down twice and has been rebuilt each time. Today, it is undergoing more renovation as Munson tries to save it from dry rot.

It might never have been developed had the San Fernando Audubon Society not transferred control to the Cal State Fullerton Foundation, an agency that is sort of a public-private liaison for the university.

“The foundation took control in 1969, and we started staffing it,” Munson said.

Officially, it is part of Cal State’s department of biological science. Prof. Barry Thomas is its director. And while Thomas gets to the sanctuary as often as his 12-unit teaching load will allow, Munson is there five days a week.

Cleveland National Forest virtually surrounds the area, which limits additional residential growth. This makes Munson optimistic that future growth will not crowd out the animals. And, since the foundation owns the property outright, there is no reason to fear losing control of the land.

The sanctuary does face a lack of money and help. “We need volunteers,” Munson said, “and we have some part-timers who work in conducting tours. We’ve had some donations from individuals, and another from Disneyland.

“We just don’t have the staff to do everything we’d like. We get calls from people who have sick animals, and we don’t have the budget for that.”

The sanctuary has two permanent residents, however, in zoo-size cages about 20 feet high and 15 feet around.

One is a beautiful red-tailed hawk that cannot be released because it has just one eye. A lack of depth perception can be fatal to hawks, which depend upon excellent vision to catch mice and other small animals.

In the cage next to the hawk is a turkey vulture that has a broken wing.

The Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary occupies facilities on both sides of the street at 29322 Modjeska Canyon Road. The telephone number is (714) 649-2760. The center is open every day but Christmas from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $1.50, and tours are given with advance reservations for groups.