Protect the Ramona Grasslands and other great places in California

A ferruginous hawk. © Mary Claypool

One of the best places on the West Coast to spy ferruginous hawks during winter is the Ramona Grasslands of San Diego County. To catch a glimpse of these and other raptors, attend a “Hawk Watch” on Conservancy-protected lands this February.

At first, you only see cows. The Ramona Grasslands appear to be just a sleepy patchwork of ranchlands. Ringed by low mountains and scrubby foothills, this wide, flat valley is carpeted in suntanned grasses and scattered with pale orange boulders. A handful of houses can be seen in the distance, but traffic on the two-lane road is often no more than a lone farm truck. It is hard to believe that you are only an hour from San Diego and the Pacific Ocean. It is also hard to believe that these bucolic fields harbor a remarkable diversity of plants and animals.

But to the trained and patient eye of a birdwatcher, the grasslands reveal their secrets. Known as a raptor “hot spot,” the area boasts an abundance of burrowing owls, golden eagles, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, kestrels, merlins and falcons. And in winter, more birds arrive, the most notable being a rare small contingency of ferruginous hawks in from the Great Plains and Canada.

	Birdwatching at the Ramona Grasslands © Richard Herrmann

The largest hawk in North America, the ferruginous (fer-OO-jin-us) hawk was so named because its red coloration calls to mind rusty iron (ferrous.) It is one of the Unlucky 13, a list of imperiled grasslands birds identified for protection through The Nature Conservancy’s Prairie Wings program.

To discover why ferruginous hawks and other raptors are drawn to the Ramona Grasslands, you must look beneath the undulating grasses. Another layer of life teems there – tiny rare plants, dormant fairy shrimp, endangered arroyo toads and Stephen’s kangaroo rats. But the secret is lower still, in the holes that dot the soil. Gophers, the hawk’s preferred prey, abound in the grasslands and the visibility afforded by the wide open fields makes for easy hunting. It also makes for excellent birdwatching.

Hundreds of birders flock to the grasslands each winter to catch a glimpse of ferruginous hawks and other wintering and resident raptors. To aid this quest, biologists from the Wildlife Research Institute, one of the Conservancy’s local partners, lead Hawk Watches each Saturday through February. These free events include an educational presentation and guided birdwatching opportunities on lands protected by The Nature Conservancy.

When: Saturdays in February, 9:00am – noon
Where: Meet at Wildlife Research Institute headquarters, 18030 Highland Valley Road, Ramona, CA
Cost: Free
For more information: (760) 789-3992