San Diego Botanic Gardens

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Family or group vacations are usually fraught with indecision and guilt for birdwatchers - how do you get away for a few hours on your own, how do you explain the attraction, and how do you compensate for abandoning the group?

Canyon Towhee

Staying with my son in Orange County, he came up with the perfect compromise. He usually goes on a lengthy cycle ride when he has a free weekend, and suggested that I drive to a birding location somewhere in a 80 to 100 mile radius, and he would ride. That gave me several hours to bird, before we met up for lunch and travelled home together in the car. The first of these outings was to the San Diego Botanic Gardens, in Encinitas, CA. While it is relatively small, there trails offer about four miles of walking and the diverse topography allows for distinct ecosystems from desert to coastal sage, to rainforest.

It was great to see a hummingbird in the Australian Garden - I've planted a large number of hummingbird attracting plants in my Toukley garden without attracting a single one! But the highlight for me was watching a tiny inconspicuous brown bird for some time, and then seeing its suprising red crest when a second bird flew into the tree, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Black Phoebe

Bush Tit

White-crowned Sparrow

Succulent Mariachi Band

Allen's Hummingbird in a Banksia

Orange-crowned Warbler

Bird List