[Top Left] Organizer Julianna Krolak listens with her sons as Walter Wehtje (in shorts) explains bird patterns and relationships at Ormond Beach. Botanist Rick Burgess shades his eyes as he scans for endangered plants to discuss. [Top Right] Port Hueneme Mayor John Sharkey congratulates Julianna Krolak on organizing the second Winter Bird Fesival at Ormond Beach. No Oxnard city councilperson appeared at either Festival; Mayor Sharkey has attended both. [Bottom Left] A ground squirrel watches a variety of ducks along with all the humans at Ormond Beach's far west end. [Bottom Right] The Coulter's Goldfield flowers (shown actual size), a sensitive and declining native annual species, are somewhat endangered in Southern California but grow rampantly at Ormond Beach.
Photos by Roger Pariseau
[Top Left] Botanist Rick Burgess offered snippets and pictures of many plants found at Ormond Beach. [Top Right] Some of the birdwatchers at Ormond Beach's lagoon. The experts clarified the uniqueness of Ormond Beach's lower and upper beaches, its salt marshes and dunes, the contribution made to its ecosystem by its uplands and how all this ties into the mountains. [Lower Left] Halaco's slag pile appears to be drifting south into the lagoon. The heavy metals and other contaminants from this waste pile, built on what was once a full-sized lagoon, are creating hazards to the ecology and to the neighboring humans. [Lower Right] Ormond Beach's lagoon at low tide becomes a grocery for thousands of birds.
