A group of Junior Naturalists from the Audubon Center at Debs Park visited the Tejon Ranch last weekend at the invitation of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy. The group of young people learned about the recent agreement to preserve up to 240,000 acres of ecologically significant wildlands, and explored the terrain. In addition to observing birds, the group went up a running stream and learned about aquatic insects, caught dragonflies and looked for signs of life. These are kids that rarely get out of urban Los Angeles, so the opportunity to see a live deer, a Red-Tailed Hawk and learn about Acorn Woodpeckers was particularly special. (pictured above, Mike White from the Tejon Ranch Conservancy talks about the Tejon Ranch landscape)

Tom Maloney, executive director of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, shows the Junior Naturalists a pacific spiketail dragonfly (Cordulegaster dorsalis)

All photos by Andrea Jones