Mapping Migraciones

The two married and started a family in Northeast Los Angeles, one block from the current location of the Audubon Center at Debs Park. Over 70 years later I continue to live in Northeast Los Angeles with my wife Yuliana and my two children Paloma Ziji and Bija Fox.

Nature is a way for me to experience the untamed beauty that exist all around us. Nature is a way for me to connect to a moment in time when there was a balance. When I'm out and can observe nature, I able to understand that the natural world around us doesn't change, we change. We as humans change how we view the world and how we connect to the world. When I can watch a bird live in the moment, I'm able to connect to a moment in time where I can reflect and appreciate our role as caretakers of this planet.

I learned to be grateful that I was born in this country and to a family that values hard work and honesty. I'm grateful for the struggles that my family has gone through to migrate here because it has prepared us to develop coping mechanisms and a family structure that is unbreakable. As we experience intense hardships due to the pandemic, I'm able to apply principles and values that allow me to guide my children through a crisis with compassion and love. 

When I'm in nature, I feel the peace he described. I think back on all his stories and try to imagine what nature looks like through his eyes: a place to explore, to grow, and to heal.

My mom knew how important it was to take advantage of education in the US. She enrolled me in gifted programs, magnet schools, and extracurricular activities to ensure I was getting as many opportunities to succeed academically.

Their chest is light brown with a white belly, which often creates a hooded appearance as they soar gracefully through the sky. Swainson’s hawks have long wings with pointed tips. Male and female look similar.

No one called my abuelos "birders" but they seemed to know all the birds in their environment. And, they seemed to know much of the behavior of birds, especially their songs. They knew when birds were mating, where they build their nests, what foods they ate, among other observations. My abuelos lived outdoors with birds every day, most of their lives. 

These birds have rounded wings and - relative to its size - a long, slim tail. Males have a distinct black crown patch (corona negra). Some mature females can have a smaller black crown patch. However, young birds and many females have no black crown patch.

With a distinct buffy (brownish-yellow) eye ring and lores, the area between the bill and eyes, this bird gives the appearance that its wearing “spectacles” or glasses. The underside is white with dark brown spotting on the throat and chest.