Notes about your surroundingsCaspers Field Trip--South Coast...

Notes about your surroundings

Caspers Field Trip--South Coast Audubon will host a bird-watching field trip to Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park on Saturday.

Because the park acts as a corridor for mountain lions, visitors must be over 18.

The trip will begin at 8 a.m. The park’s entrance fee is $2. Participants are asked to bring a lunch, and any binoculars, bird books, or telescopes they may have.

The 7,600-acre Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park is in an unincorporated area of the county at 33401 Ortega Highway, about 7 1/2 miles east of Interstate 5. Participants are asked to meet in the parking area left of the park’s front gate.

For more information, call Betty Temme at (714) 858-8698.

Young Birders Program--South Coast Audubon will also host a program on wintering birds for children ages 5 to 12 on Wednesday.

The free program will be at 6 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club, 1304 Calle Valle in San Clemente.

Bay Tour--A guided nature walk at the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, sponsored by the California Department of Fish and Game, will be held Saturday at 1 p.m.

The walk is free and will include an introduction to the reserve and all the activities the department uses to explore, investigate and care for it.

Those who would like to go on the walk are asked to meet at Shellmaker Island off Backbay Drive in Newport Beach.

For more information about the walk and other programs at Upper Newport Bay, call the California Department of Fish and Game office at (714) 640-6746.

Newport Bay Field Trip--The Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society will host a field trip to the west side of Upper Newport Bay on Jan. 31. The trip will begin at 8 a.m.

January is one of the best times of year to bird-watch in this area--participants will likely see a variety of shorebirds, as well as ducks, grebes, terns and gulls.

Those who would like to participate are asked to bring binoculars, bird book, a telescope if they have one, a jacket and their lunch.

The group will meet near the YMCA building at 2300 University Drive. To reach the site, take the Jamboree Road exit from the San Diego Freeway south to University Drive, make a right. The YMCA is at University and Backbay drives.

For more information, contact the Sea & Sage chapter office at (714) 261-7963.