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Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 39 - September 30, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Finance..................................3
Hawthorne............................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals.................................6,7
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Passing of the Golden Shovel
Each year, a symbolic Super Bowl “Golden Shovel” is passed from one Super Bowl host community to the next. The NFL, Los Angeles Super Bowl Host Committee, Los Angeles Rams, Inglewood Parks,
Recreation and Community Services Department and NFL Partner Verizon joined forces for this iconic moment, which is the kickoff for the numerous Super Bowl LVI community greening projects. Over 140
volunteers joined the effort to plant 56 trees in honor of Super Bowl LVI. They will also participate in beautification projects including planting hundreds of flowers and plants, park clean up and painting.
Special thanks to our community partners NFL Green, Verizon, LA Super Bowl Host Committee, and the NFL. Photo courtesy City of Inglewood.
Friday
Sunny
79˚/61˚
Saturday
Sunny
77˚/64˚
Sunday
Mostly
Sunny
79˚/65˚
Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
Hawthorne Press Tribune
Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Dr. Allison Shultz Encourages
Bird Watching in South Bay
By Kiersten Vannest
urban areas. That is, how is human development
Los Angeles County is lovingly called the
affecting local bird populations?
“birdiest” county in the United States by
She says the museum specimens are a time
experts in the field. With over five hundred
capsule of sorts. She’s able to learn what
species of bird calling LA home, researchers
birds looked like when they lived fifty or a
like El Segundo resident Allison Shultz have
hundred years ago and compare and contrast
their work cut out for them.
that same species to today.
Shultz is the Curator of Ornithology at the
For example, one of her recent publications
Natural History Museum. A curator manages
revolved around the question of what
collections, and ornithology is the study of
traits best allow a bird to better survive in
birds. So, in short, Allison is in charge of
an urban environment “We asked: is it diet?”
all things avian happening at the museum.
she says.
What does that look like, exactly?
The theory was that birds with a more
“In my job, research is my number one
general diet would be more successful than
thing,” says Shultz, “which means that I think
birds with a specialist diet. Crows, for example,
about… questions in the natural world that
might do well in a city because they can eat
we don’t have answers to, and then I try and
a wide variety of foods.
collect data and figure out those answers.”
“The trace that we actually found that was
Using the museum’s library of over one
the best predictor of if a bird does well in
hundred thousand specimens collected over
an urban area or not was where they nest,”
decades, as well as data gathered by bird
she explains. Birds that can nest in buildings
watchers and her own work in the field,
and structures can reproduce better than those
Shultz works to solve the unsolvable.
that nest in tree cavities.
Her current specialties are bird colors, bird
In the South Bay, you may have seen (or
diseases, and avian interaction with urban
more likely heard) the brightly colored parrots
developments. “Birds don’t see color the way
that flock in the trees. According to Shultz,
that we do,” she says. In fact, birds can see
there are ten to twelve species of parrot in
more colors than the human eye, as they can
Los Angeles, and none of them are native.
also see ultraviolet colors. So as she studies
As new species are introduced through
color variations, she uses a series of tools that
things like stowaways on shipping containers
allow her to see plumage through the eyes
in the port of Los Angeles and runaway pets,
of a bird. Are tropical birds more colorful?
Shultz studies how the new birds interact
Are males and females colored differently,
with the native population and adapt to their
and why? What is actually producing these
new environment.
pigments? These are questions her research
Shultz emphasizes that anyone can be a
will be able to answer.
community scientist, and anyone can participate
As for urban evolution, Shultz studies how
in the ornithology community. Through
birds evolve to survive in rapidly growing
Allison Shultz curates the Natural History Museum’s department
of ornithology.
picture and report the birds they see on their
afternoon walk. The more bird watchers El
Segundo has, the more information Shultz
has to research.
How can you help your local feathered
friends? Shultz says you can start by planting
a native garden. By providing a habitat for
native species to visit and live in, you can
help ensure the survival of urban populations.
In addition to a native garden, cut down on
insecticides and rodenticides. More and more,
Shultz says she sees liver problems in rescued
birds, mostly stemming from poisoning left
out in yards.
Shultz has always loved animals and knew
from a young age that she’d grow up to work
with them. She thought of being a zookeeper
or a veterinarian. It wasn’t until she took a
“Natural History of the Vertebrates” class
that she fell in love with birds and being
sites like iNaturalist, anyone can take a See Dr. Allison Shultz, page 4