Nests and Eggs Mural - Huntington Beach, CA - Murals on Waymarking.com

During the late 70's, a shopping center was built kitty-corner from the Huntington Beach Civic Center, which was a marvelous combination of architecture, science education, and commerce. The entire place was planned around a theme of shore and seabirds; there were many tile murals depicting the birds in stages of their lives, and in literature. Multiple dioramas on bird life history and local birds species were placed throughout the center, done in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Even the signage to businesses had a bird theme; the dentist office, for instance had an Archeopteryx on it, the only fossil bird with teeth. The parking lot featured pelican sculptures, crosswalks were marked with the tracks of webbed feet, and many of lighting fixtures were shaped like eggs. It won several awards for design, however, because it was more of an open air mall, and many of the stores were not visible from the street, it began to suffer declining visits and lack of patronage. The owner applied for redevelopment into a more traditional strip mall. Local art patrons organized a "Save the Birds" campaign and many of the murals were moved to the Civic Center, where they are now displayed as public art.

This mural, located next to the police station entrance, depicts nesting places of various birds and what kind of habitat is used. The artwork is a bit abstract compared to many of the other nearby murals, in tones of red and brown. Nests are shown by area and marked by a silhouette of the type of bird, but are not to scale (i.e. all the three dimensional eggs are all the same size). There is a smaller tile work mounted next to it as a legend. A few of the eggs on the mural are missing.

Note: the silhouette of gull near the sun was used as the old shopping center's logo.

Bonus Points:
Q: Where do you think California Least Terns nest? Why do you think this might have contributed to them being listed as endangered?

A: Answer here.

City: Huntington Beach Location Name: Huntington Beach Police Station Artist: Barbara Beall - Beall Art Studios Date: late 1970's Media: Glazed Tile Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and description of your visit. One original photo of the mural must also be submitted. GPSr photo NOT required.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/11/2022 bluesnote visited it 04/22/2012 G3cube visited it 08/01/2010 shell1fish visited it

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