Notes about your surroundings.

Birding and Hiking--A field trip for bird-watchers to Moro Canyon, part of Crystal Cove State Park, will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday. Sponsored by the Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society, the trip will include a 2 1/2-mile hike into the canyon, but people not wanting to make the 5-mile round-trip trek are invited to join the group for the early part of the walk.

Those who hike into the canyon will be able to enjoy the large oak and sycamore trees that grow deep in the canyon, as well as its shallow sandstone caves.

Bird-wise, species spotted in the past in the canyon include blue grosbeak, phainopepla, lazuli bunting, orange-crowned warbler and Cooper’s hawk, according to the chapter office.

Those wishing to participate are asked to meet at the Crystal Cove State Park ranger station. To get to the ranger station, take Coast Highway to just north of Laguna Beach, turn onto the inland road north of El Moro Elementary School and go about a quarter of a mile north. There is a $4 entrance fee. For more information about the trip, call (714) 543-7393. Starr Ranch Trip--The Sea & Sage chapter is also hosting a field trip to the Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary next Sunday. Spring is an especially good time to visit the sanctuary, for the birding opportunities as well as the scenery. With the recent rains, the greenery and wildflowers will be plentiful. Birds that inhabit the sanctuary include the California black-tailed gnatcatcher, which is on the federal threatened-species list.

Unlike past trips, the group will enter through the Dove Canyon entrance and not through Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park. People who would like to participate should first obtain a pass from the chapter office so that they can enter through the Dove Canyon gate. Call (714) 543-7393 for more information.