Notes about your surroundingsHummingbird Program--South Coast Audubon,...

Notes about your surroundings

Hummingbird Program--South Coast Audubon, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, will present a program on “Hummingbirds: Jewels of the Jungle” by Esther and Robert Tyrrell on Wednesday.

The public is welcome to the program, which is part of the chapter’s regular meeting. It will begin at 7 p.m. at the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point.

The Tyrrells spent two years in the jungles of the Caribbean researching hummingbirds. The program will feature more than 100 high-speed color slides.

Sixteen species were photographed, including the tiny Cuban bee hummingbird, the blue-headed hummingbird of Martinique and the long-tailed Jamaican streamertail.

The Tyrrells will explain the structure of the hummingbird’s plumage and the justification as to why the birds are known as “nature’s helicopters.”

Hummingbirds’ behavior--including their diets, how they guard their territories and how they court and nest--will also be discussed.

The Orange County Marine Institute is at 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive.

Wetlands Tours--Guided public tours of the Bolsa Chica wetlands will be conducted Saturday morning. The tours, sponsored by Amigos de Bolsa Chica, will depart from the wetlands’ ecological reserve every 20 minutes beginning at 9 a.m. The last tour will depart at 10:30 a.m.

Those who would like to take the tour are asked to meet at the ecological reserve on Pacific Coast Highway about one-half mile south of Warner Avenue, across from Bolsa Chica State Beach.