MSN_071819

malibusurfsidenews.com news
Malibu surfside news | July 18, 2019 | 5
Junior ranger program
provides food for thought
Children learn
about select birds’
eating habits
Suzy Demeter
Freelance Reporter
SPONSORED COLUMN
Malibu Welcomes Door To
Door Valet Cleaners
Door To Door Valet Cleaners is a family-owned business founded in 1989 with
a simple mission: to provide you with the most convenient and best quality
dry cleaning services.
With open and imaginative
minds, children took an
interactive look at some of
the food-foraging tactics of
the region’s avian inhabitants
during the latest session
of the Santa Monica
Mountains National Parks’
junior ranger program.
The Bird Beak Buffet
program was presented
Friday, July 12, by Ranger
Nico Ramirez at the Visitors
Center.
Ramirez introduced the
group to a discussion and
activity on how the different
shapes of beaks help birds
crack, tear, pluck, or scoop
their food.
Activity tables displayed
photos of birds and descriptions
of their method of
obtaining food, and a tool
to simulate how they get to
their food source.
The great blue heron,
with its long beak, can spear
fish, frogs and, surprisingly,
squirrels. Chopsticks and
clay fish were used to demonstrate
the technique. The
participants used the chopsticks
to pick up the “fish.”
Woodpeckers, meanwhile,
use their beaks as chisels on
tree limbs to pluck out insects.
To imitate the woodpeckers’
method, children
picked up skewers and tried
to spear clay “insects” from a
wood block with holes.
William Snyder enjoyed
the woodpecker display. He
Ranger Nico Ramirez explains a chart showing the
shapes of birds’ beaks during a National Park Service
junior ranger program on Friday, July 12, in the Santa
Monica Mountains. Photos by Suzy Demeter/Surfside News
Junior rangers (left to right) James Dear, Olivia Dear
and William Snyder display the pins they earned during
the Friday, July 12 program on birds. This week’s junior
ranger program is to focus on species of bees that live in
the Santa Monica Mountains.
learned that the bird’s spearlike
tongue helps scoop out
the insects.
Once the children made
their rounds, they were
given a chart and, with the
help of their parent, they
matched each birds’ photos
to a correlating plastic bird
skull. Clues to which bird
was which required them to
study the shape of the beak,
the size and the eye socket.
Olivia Dear found the owl
display most interesting.
Her brother James Dear
said the activity he enjoyed
was cracking seeds with pliers
since he learned small
birds like the black-headed
Grosbeak use their beaks in
a similar way.
Please see ranger, 6
We are proud to announce the upcoming opening of our newest
location directly adjacent to the Whole Foods Market within
the Park at Cross Creek.
Our experts have a deep knowledge of textiles and garment care. We’re always
available to handle all of your wardrobe and home-cleaning needs, including
laundry, dry cleaning, tailoring and specialty work, such as preserving wedding
and bridal gowns and cleaning leather, drapery and upholstery.
We are not your average dry cleaners. We don’t simply want to serve the
community; we strive to be part of the community. We have been serving
Malibu residents for years from our Santa Monica location. After the recent
fires, we helped complete restoration for nearly 40 homeowners who saw
serious damage to clothes, linens, drapes and textiles. We also allowed our
clients to use our fleet of vans to help transport their belongings. We look
forward to continuing our work with local families while Malibu recovers!
Your skin is the largest organ in the human body. You wouldn’t use just any
product on your body, right? Well, we wouldn’t either. That’s why we are proud
to use ONLY organic and toxin-free products. We also offer complimentary
pick-up and delivery 6 days a week.
Call (877) 374-2567 to schedule your collection today, or request a pick-up
online by visiting us at www.doortodoorcleaners.com
The Veera Family
Your “Clothes Friends”