HOBBY TAKES WING\Bird watcher finds feathers abound in Simi.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

The Northridge Earthquake was a mixed catastrophe for Marc Bolinger.

After the shaking stopped, the avid freshwater fish collector found that his 60-gallon tank was a casualty.

"The earthquake ruined my fishing hobby," said Bolinger. "So I had to find something else."

Three months after the 6.7-magnitude quake of 1994, Bolinger found his new interest - right outside his bedroom window.

Bolinger remembers it vividly. It was an early April morning and he noticed a hawk sitting on a telephone pole just outside his back yard. He watched in awe as the graceful, magnificent bird caught its prey and had a feast right before Bolinger's eyes.

"It was so cool," Bolinger said. "The way it could turn on a dime, swoop down and catch something without stopping."

As months went by, Bolinger's interest in bird watching grew. With a pair of "thrashed" $50 binoculars, he caught glimpses of owls, roadrunners and hermit thrushes - all birds in areas close to Bolinger's Simi Valley home.

"You don't have to go very far to see them," said Bolinger, who claims he has seen 150 species in Simi Valley alone. "Some people think you have to go places like Costa Rica to see so many different birds, but that isn't true."

At 25, Bolinger is one of the youngest members of the Conejo Valley Audubon Society.

"Half of them are 20 years older than me - a lot of them are doctors and lawyers, and have the money to take bird watching trips far away," Bolinger said. "I'm probably the poorest member of my Audubon, but I don't need a lot of money to enjoy it."

While the group typically schedules hikes or bird watching trips, Bolinger prefers to enjoy his hobby solo.

During early morning walks down the Arroyo Simi bike path, Bolinger has caught glimpses of stilts, spotted sandpipers, yellowlegs, snipes and soras. This winter, he spotted two hooded mergansers.

In Tapo Canyon Park on the north end of town, Bolinger found some new species in the fall, including blue-gray gnatcatchers, bluebirds and even a bobcat. Across the road from the park, Bolinger spotted a power line tower with a nest that belongs to a pair of dark morph red-tails.

Rancho Park, too, has been visited by a variety of birds, including water pipits, flickers, red-breasted sapsuckers and loggerhead shrikes. Scaups, shovelers and common waterfowls have also caught Bolinger's eye.

While Bolinger's favorites are birds of prey, he is interested in every bird he has spotted over the past two years.

"I'm a big enthusiast," Bolinger said. "I like to go hiking to different habitats. I read all the books, watch the birds and see what they do. So many of them have totally odd behavior."

While scoping out different feathered species over the past two years, Bolinger has collected a variety of bird paraphernalia - an oriole nest, a hummingbird nest, hawk feathers, owl feathers, turkey vulture feathers.

Because his job as a furniture mover takes him all over the state, Bolinger often stops at small gift shops, swap meets and garage sales where he looks for tiny porcelain statues of owls and hawks.

His bedroom alone is an open book of his hobby. The walls are covered with collages of birds he has spotted, his bookshelves are filled with bird watching books and National Geographic magazines, and a calendar filled with bald eagles is tacked to a wall next to his bed.

While most of his friends "aren't into nature, period," Bolinger said he doesn't need a clique of bird watchers to enjoy himself.

"Life is so stressful anyway," Bolinger said. "Everywhere you go, there's constant traffic and people. But when I go out in the hills to look for birds, it's a place where I can just quietly blend in."

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Photo (color) The Northridge Quake accidentally started Marc Bolinger's bird watching by destroying his fish tank. Dusty Locke/Special to the Daily News