Notes about your surroundings

Bay Bird Counts--The Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society is seeking volunteers to help with its monthly bird counts at Upper Newport Bay. The next count will be held Saturday.

The census is taken by six teams at low tide and lasts about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

The count will begin at 6 a.m.

For more information, call the chapter office at (714) 261-7963.

Skimmer Alert--The biology department at Cal State Long Beach is interested in hearing from anyone who has seen a black skimmer with a color band used in recent years on chicks at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.

Those who spot a bird with a color band are asked to record the location, date, flock size, number of banded birds and particularly the numbers read on any of the bands.

Send to Dr. Charles T. Collins or Kathy Gazzaniga, Department of Biology, Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif. 90840 or call (310) 985-4813.

Spring Wildflower Walk--The Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim will hold a naturalist-led walk Saturday around its grounds to look at the wildflowers in bloom.

The walk will begin at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.

The center is at 6700 Walnut Canyon Road, Anaheim. To reach it, take the Riverside Freeway east to Imperial Highway. Exit the freeway and head south to Nohl Ranch Road. Turn left and travel about three miles to Walnut Canyon Road, and turn left again. Go past the Anaheim Hills Golf Course; the nature center is at the end of the road and parking will be on the left.

For more information, call the center at (714) 998-8380.