As announced in last spring's newsletter, two perches for White-tailed Kites were placed along the Quail Loop Trail. The goal of this ongoing citizen science project is to facilitate foraging by White-tailed Kites over the large expanses of grasslands in the Quail Hill area of the City of Irvine Open Space Preserve. With spring's arrival this weekend, now is a good time to provide an update regarding the success of this experimental project.

Two additional perches were installed last month for a total of four perches along the Quail Loop Trail. In 2009, White-tailed Kites were not observed using the perches until late fall or early winter. Since then, these raptors have been seen consistently using them and foraging for small mammals and lizards. A motion-sensing camera has further documented successful foraging by this species as the kites often use the perches to eat what they have just captured. In order to gather data more regularly, the science staff has enlisted the help of volunteers to monitor the activity of White-tailed Kites and their use of the perches in 2010.

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Pam Matsufuji is a second-generation Californian, born and raised in Southern California. The Tustin resident is proud of her multi-cultural ancestry: She is half Japanese, with a blend of Native American and German comprising the other half. Pam says her Japanese grandmother would use a creative mix of poetry, dance and music to describe and delight in something as simple as a bug. Perhaps not surprisingly, Pam credits her grandmother for inspiring her appreciation for nature.

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