NIGHT ON THE TOWN? Want to see...

NIGHT ON THE TOWN? Want to see the critters that roam the county’s wilderness areas after dark? Beginning in March, the 1,200-acre Rancho Mission Viejo Land Conservancy, near San Juan Capistrano, will host nocturnal hikes the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. . . . Gray foxes, great horned owls, badgers, deer and bats will cross the path of the hikers guided by biologists. Promises conservancy director Jill Davidson: “With all of us in a group together, it is perfectly safe.”

LEND A HAND: If you are good at pulling weeds, you can help prevent native plants from being choked out of 17,000 acres of future wilderness parks. Trisha Smith, project director for the Nature Conservancy, which manages open space along the coast and some of the canyons here, says volunteers of all ages are needed next month to remove weeds that are crowding out native shrubs. . . . She calls the work “hard but satisfying.”

BIRD COUNT: America’s most popular wintering spot for red-tailed hawks is off-limits for most people: the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station’s national wildlife refuge. . . . That’s a finding from a recent survey of all birds of prey on the base. Bird expert Pete Bloom, who helped with the survey, says he counted 187 red-tailed hawks on the 5,000-acre base. The birds, which migrate from as far north as Alaska, are attracted by the large piece of coastal open space and an abundance of squirrels and gophers.

WHERE’S THE FISH? Winter is not a good time for ocean fishing. There are so few fishermen at Newport Pier that Baldy’s Bait and Tackle there has closed until Jan. 11. While popular shallow water ocean fish are not biting well, there are still fish to be caught, says Don Massie, senior wildlife biologist for the State Department of Fish and Game. But he adds: “You have to know how to do it and where to go.” . . . . He recommends hot-water outflows like the one at San Onofre for bonito, barracuda and bass. Farther out to sea this is the season for deep water rock cod.