Whittier Narrows Natural Area and Wildlife Sanctuary

 park, birdwatching area

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1000 N. Durfee Ave.
South El Monte, CA 91733
(626) 575-5523

parks.co.la.ca.us/whittier_narea.html

The Whittier Narrows Natural Area has been a wildlife sanctuary since 1939. It was an Audubon site for many years until 1970, when the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation became the operator of the natural area. It is located in the flood plain of the San Gabriel River and leased by the county from the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Three hundred species of birds have been documented in the Whittier Narrows area, with the 300th species added in late 2007. Several are listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern. Seven birds are state listed and five are federally listed as endangered; two are state listed and three are federally listed as threatened; species of special concern: nine are listed - federally only.

Bird diversity is so great that on one day 102 species were seen. The Whittier Narrows Sanctuary is a small island of the now, rare coastal alluvial fan sage scrub habitat, which is also the foraging area for hawks and owls.

The Whittier Narrows Natural Area is part of the wildlife corridor from Orange County to the San Gabriel Mountains. Mountain lions and bobcats have been seen in the Whittier Narrows Natural Area in the last three years. The Discovery Center, a proposed project within the Sanctuary, could become a choke point, and interfere with the movement of the large predators in completing the corridor, a project that began thirty years ago.