Notes about your surroundings

Fall Fair--Seven- to 10-year-olds are invited to the Oak Canyon Nature Center for an Autumn Harvest Festival from 1 to 3 p.m. today.

The program features creative workshops, including a nature hike through the canyon to see the fall color. There will also be demonstrations on making applesauce, dried apple snacks and decorative apple wreaths.

The workshop costs $6.50 per child and includes all crafts, activities and take-home materials.

Oak Canyon Nature Center is at 6700 Walnut Canyon Road in Anaheim. For more information, call (714) 998-8380.

Whereabouts: Take the Riverside Freeway to the Imperial Highway turnoff. Exit and head south to Nohl Ranch Road. Turn left and travel about three miles to Walnut Canyon Road, and turn left again. Pass the Anaheim Hills Golf Course. The nature center is at the end of the road; parking is on the left.

Bird Calling--Volunteers are needed to participate in the annual Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 16. The count, first organized by the National Audubon Society in 1900, surveys winter bird populations. It is the longest continuing survey of wildlife in North America.

The count focuses on areas of high bird population reaching from the coast to inland parkland and wilderness areas. Key spots to be worked are Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, Laguna Niguel Regional Park, Huntington Central Park and the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. Many other locations will be included, so if there’s a particular park or beach you’d like to cover, make your preferences known.

Birders of all experience levels are welcome to join in the count. Many volunteers are needed at the different sites and each location will require bird spotters and people to record the number of types of birds identifies.

Contact the Sea & Sage Audubon at (714) 261-7963 or South Coast Audubon at (714) 661-7525.