Ginko on Sunday, March 13, 2011

On Sunday, March 13, 2011, the Southern California Haiku Study Group will have a ginko at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. We will meet at 10:00 at the foot bridge near the parking lot on Pacific Coast Highway.

For those who wish to carpool, contact Debbie at dkolodji@aol.com or Wendy at bachouse272@aol.com.

After our haiku walk, we will stop by Subway on the way to Wendy's house (or bring your own lunch). At Wendy's, we will share and workshop haiku, as well as eating our lunches.

Previous visits to Bolsa Chica by the haiku group have produced excellent haiku, many of which were published in our group anthologies, including last year's anthology title haiku by Margaret Hehman-Smith. It is an inspirational place, teeming with birds.

Dress in layers. There is no shade, so it can warm up, yet the wind is very cold when it blows off the ocean. Wear sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses. Bring your writing notebook, something to write with, a camera if you wish, and binoculars if you have them.

It's a wetlands area, mostly flat. You can expect to see pelicans, cormorants, great blue herons, snowy egrets, great egrets, willets, marbled godwits, terns, loons, ducks, gulls, grebes, plovers, sandpipers, and long-billed curlews. You might see black-crowned night herons, a hawk or osprey, an American avocet or even a reddish egret.

Here are some photos of the birds of Bolsa Chica from photographer Kirk Bensen:
http://www.pbase.com/kirkbenson/bolsa_chica.

Here are photos from the November 2009 SCHSG Bolsa Chica ginko and workshop at Wendy's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkolodji/sets/72157622766026238/