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.