Rare owls thrive in ghost town near Los Angeles airport

[turbinetree]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Researchers have discovered a group of rare owls thriving in a nature preserve near Los Angeles International Airport, according to a newspaper report Sunday.

The 10 burrowing owls are the most seen at LAX Dunes Preserve in 40 years, the Los Angeles Times reported. Among the raptors are a breeding pair that stand guard over a nest.

“This is very exciting — a real stunner,” said Pete Bloom, a biologist and avian expert who helped conduct a wildlife survey this month.

Scientists attribute the return of the migratory owls to ongoing restoration work at the 300-acre (120-hectare) preserve that used to be the beachfront community of Surfridge. The neighborhoods disappeared decades ago as the jet age boomed and have been reclaimed by sand, native brush and invasive weeds.

https://apnews.com/9cb41bf4ade7446abdb6e4adcaee978f

Don't tell the current administration in the white house..................................

[Stuart G]

1. K and R...nt

[StarryNite]

2. Awww I love owls.

Thank you for sharing.

[turbinetree]

13. Wado------------Thank you

[mr_lebowski]

3. Interesting backstory on Surfridge ...

https://southbay.goldenstate.is/paradise-lost-the-rise-fall-of-surfridge/

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Very cool. Thanks for posting this, turbinetree. ♡

[turbinetree]

14. Wado------------Thank you

[DemocracyMouse]

5. This is FANTASTIC!!!!!!

Ecologists sometimes call the reclamation of wilderness "rewilding."

We need more of that and we can all do this in our own backyards and communities: Put up posters and call a "rewilding strategy meeting." Be sure to serve beer and make it a weekly gathering.

[calimary]

7. That's not a bad idea.

As Jeff Goldblum’s charactervsaid in “Jurassic Park:” life finds a way”!

Given half a chance, that is.

[DemocracyMouse]

11. Beer and getting offline to have "Rewilding meetings" would delight

Goldblum's character too!

[iluvtennis]

6. Amazing...thanks for sharing

[turbinetree]

15. Wado------------Thank you

[denbot]

8. Very cool, years ago we planted native buckwheat to try and attract the El Segundo Blue Butterfly.

We live in the a city next door to El Segundo and went drought resistant over a decade ago.

After ten plus years, our buckwheat survives, but we’ve always known the chance to attract a “Blue”, had about the same chance as a lottery ticket. One of the hearty drought resistant plants that first thrived in our front yard was the Mexican Primrose, which we knew was an invasive species, but was pretty, and gave color during the long period of waiting for native plants to establish in our front yard.

We’ve noticed our California Poppies are very slowly being replaced by the local variant California Costal Poppy, though both were seeded at the same time as the former . This process is slow, but seemingly sure, and now we will try to encourage the California Primerose mentioned in the article, which until now we assumed was a pale variation of the dominant Mexican Primerose.

I’m guessing we will see unicorns frolicking in the front yard before we see an El Secgundo Blue Butterfly, and it is a certainty that we’ll see dragons before a burrowing owl comes to call..

But what the hell, we are laying out the welcome mat anyways.

P.S. I’m writing this from a frozen truck parking space in Sun Prairie Wisconsin, thinking about how nicely our poppies will bloom in the next three or four weeks. Hopefully Mrs denbot will greenlight some home time soon.

[SunSeeker]

9. Back in high school we used to hang out there and watch the planes take off from LAX.

The streets and street lights were still there but all the houses were gone. It was surreal, kinda post-apocalyptic.

Glad something good came of it, besides providing teens a place to party.

[Raine]

10. That's WONDERFUL

I know that area, like someone else said I remember seeing streets and sidewalks etc with no houses it was kind of a creepy sight. I'm thrilled that nature has taken it back!

[Vinca]

12. I've never heard of burrowing owls - will have to look them up.

We had a gorgeous barred owl in a tree behind the house the other day. They're beautiful birds.