The Los Angeles County Arboretum is in Los Angeles County, in Arcadia, and covers 127 acres. It was a small part of the 13,319 acre Mexican land grant given to Hugo Reid in 1845 known as Rancho Santa Anita and was previously owned by the Mission San Gabriel. Probably the most important feature for wildlife is 4 acre Baldwin Lake, a sag pond (the low point between two fissures that collects water) which is part of the Los Angeles River watershed. It used to be about 12 feet deep, but silt from surface runoff has decreased the depth dramatically to about 12 inches. The arboretum has gardens grouped by geography, including South America, Mediterranean, South African, Australian and Asiatic-North American.
I've been there several times and following are photos of some of the wildlife I've seen there:
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| I visited on July 25, 2020 and saw this mourning dove. |
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| Fence lizard |
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| I have seen very few wild turtles in my life. So I particularly love seeing the red-eared sliders in Baldwin Lake and other ponds and water features. |
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| A red-whiskered bulbul, a non-native transplant from tropical Asia. |
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| I visited again on January 22, 2022, primarily to look for hooded mergansers, which I'd seen sightings of them there on eBird. |
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| Fox squirrel |
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| Canada goose |
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| Mallard |
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| Pied-billed grebe |
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| Ring-necked duck |
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| Snowy egret |
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| Yellow-rumped warbler |
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| Common slider |
Love some of these names--bulbul and yellow-rumped warbler, to name two.
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