William R. Mason Regional Park

At one time known as University Park, Mason Park is tucked into the University of California, Irvine campus. It has two distinct areas, one with lawns, cultivated gardens and a large artificial lake I walked some days go, the other a 'wilderness' park. The marine layer seemed to be breaking up at lunchtime so I headed to Irvine to find blue skies. Anticipating another day of gloom, I had made a mani-pedi appointment so I only had a couple of hours, but managed to see some good birds in the time, and even to get photos of a few.

Broad paved paths made walking easy, but the dense shrubs on either side helped the birds stay out of view, and I heard a number of birds I couldn't identify. But there were a group of Lesser Goldfinch eating thistle seeds, several Pacific Slope Flycatchers hawking from a vine covered tree, and Common Yellowthroat feeding young in the reeds.

Upper Newport Bay, California

"A skulking masked warbler of wet thickets, the Common Yellowthroat is far more frequently heard than seen." - so I was rather pleased that my skulking was rewarded by some ok images.

Interesting fact: Males are apparently monogamous within a breeding season,  however females show no fidelity to their mates and often attract other males with their calls.

Talbert Nature Preserve

Common Yellowthroat

Belted Kingfisher

Bushtit

Talbert Nature Preserve is just a few minutes away from Newport Beach in Costa Mesa, and as I had a few hours free on my last day in California I headed here for a walk. Though I had set my trusty GPS, I had a momentary problem finding it. I parked in the small parking area, but the 'preserve' seemed to be just a paved bike track alongside a large fenced storm-water drain. I was there, however, so I set off along the bike track.

A short way along the canal, I took a gravel path designated for walkers which soon became the nature preserve I was looking for. There were six different habitats (i.e. wetlands, sand dunes, woodlands), which were signposted with basic information about the vegetation, wildlife and ecological importance. The paths were primarily roped off from the surrounding area, so while at times I could hear lots of birds, it was difficult to photograph them.

I was thrilled, however to get photos of three birds that I have been seeing regularly without any opportunity of grabbing a pic. Not great photos, but certainly good record shots.

The kingfisher flies around Newport Bay regularly, I see it perched on boats out in the harbour. But it had so far always been too distant, or noticed too late. There have been large groups of busy bushtits at a number of places, but they have stayed deep in the shrubs and scattered when I came too close - I wasn't even sure of their ID previously. The yellowthroat has been a rapidly moving patch of gold in the shrubs at a number of spots around Orange County, but my only images of him had him pretty well obscured by branches.


With the Santa Ana River on one side and the Costa Mesa Bluffs on the other, the Talbert Preserve provided good views of a number of raptors. A small pond held ducks, egrets and a heron.

Downtown Milwaukee

Milwaukee County Parks publishes a map of the Oak Leaf Birding Trail which includes an innercity loop that passes through four parks; Pere Marquette, Red Arrow, Zeidler, and Cathedral Square. A break in the weather tempted me into a longish lunch break during the conference to wander the loop.

Despite being quite small parks, they seem to play an important role as links between larger reserves, providing a corridor for birds and wildlife. The route also passed alongside the river, were there were ducks and geese, as well as gulls. There were a number of warblers hunting for insects, the Tennessee Warbler spends its summers in Canada, and was passing through Wisconsin on its way to Central America.

Bird List:

Canada Goose
Mallard
Herring Gull
American Crow
Tennesee Warbler (Pictured above)
American Goldfinch
Northern Cardinal
American Coot
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Rock Dove
House Sparrow