Il Dolce Far Niente: Birds

Nov 2014

Extremely dry season has continued in Southern California. Autumn colours have not shined as they did a year ago. Oaks and maple trees have changed their colours but lots of them have just dried out. What about other life in nature, have birds moved off to more moisture lands? Had it rained more in near by mountains and thus been able to grow as before? Were autumn colours more striking on mountains than near the coast?

These and other unscientific thoughts in mind headed to Mount Laguna, less than hour off east from San Diego. Mount Laguna belong to Cleveland National Forest. Its meadow lies on about 1600m above sea level and offers magnificent trails for hiking, trail running and mountain biking. Have been there multiple times during last two years, previous posts here and here.

Parked along the Sunrise Highway and started to hike via usual route, Sunset Trail towards Water-of-the-Woods pond. Weather was +5C and partly cloudy. Max temp promised +10C. Long waited rain overnight had made ground wet. Peak of autumn colours on noble trees seemed to be over, but still some striking colours were left. Eventually it was the evergreen forest which made the place so nice.

Ground squirrels had busy time, so did all little birds. Signs of deers on trail were not so common. Once arrived at the pond, spotted a Great Blue Heron standing still near the pond. Ducks had their own ceremonies on-going and were not bothered by others.

Four different trails left from the pond. Chose to continue the Sunset Trail towards north. Perhaps the most common sound was a warning sign from Acorn Woodpeckers, signaling to each other that a human being was disturbing their neighborhood.

The Sunset trail had its highest point about 1km after the pond. From there the scene opened towards west. Low hanging clouds covered some valleys. Great view.

Ascended to the north side of the meadow. Jumped into a Big Laguna Trail, back south towards Big Laguna Lake. The meadow was so dry. Ravens yelled somewhere near. Few mountain biker came across. Fabulous trail.

Soon noticed that the lake was out of water. Completely dry. What a disappointment. Crossed the meadow to east side.

Followed a while trail runners. It was about Mount Laguna Trail Marathon race.

Soon spotted few Red-tailed Hawks. Watched a while their gliding above the trees. Were they hunting? Majestic look when they stayed on top of the woods.

In some places on the trail it felt like there's no life at all, where as in some other places there's full of life. Birds gathered in small areas, many species. Obviously something good to eat. Catching these birds into photos would have taken much more patience.

Crossing the meadow last time and headed back to starting point on Sunrise Highway.

Epilogue

Life hasn't gone anywhere despite extremely long dry season. At least not so much when observing visually. Of course when the lake or pond is without water, waterbirds etc. need to find a new place. Hawks and Ravens were still there. So where many Woodpeckers and Ground Squirrels.

One the best places in San Diego County.

A few snapshot

Welcome!

Great Blue Heron

Spotted Towhee

Mountain Chickadee

Layered Mountains

Oak Titmouse

Look at the grip!

Downy Woodpecker

Dark-Eyed Junco

Autumn Colours I

Autumn Colours II

Northern Flicker

Big Laguna Trail

California Ground Squirrel

Red-Tailed Hawk I

Red-Tailed Hawk II

Mount Laguna Trail Marathon

In Descending Order

Hanging On

Pygmy Nuthatch

Moss

Townsend's Warbler

Autumn Colours III

Western Bluebird staying still on strong head wind

May I present, a Master Himself and His Collection, Sir Acorn Woodpecker

Autumn Colours IV

July 2013

On San Diego North County, at the city of Encinitas, there's a preserve area called San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve. It's namely a lagoon or a kind of salt marsh, which provides peaceful living conditions of variety of animals, mostly for various species of birds (some information told there's 300 different species of birds in there ...).

It's a pretty good place for human beings, too. There's a Nature Center, some self-guided trails, and especially over 5 miles of trails on the edge of the lagoon (trail map here). It seems to be popular for trail runners (no wonder it's quite flat and there aren't many flat sections near by).

Been few times there, at Nature Center and on its guided paths, but mainly on trails at lagoon itself. Going back and forth, one gets easily 15-20km at one go (plus two memory cards full of photos if one stays too long).

The east side trailhead is shadowed by massive eucalyptus trees. Trees and bushes there offer good shelter for various species of birds. Soon terrain changes and one start to see pine trees, very similar to ones at Torrey Pines.

The trail goes slightly higher than the lagoon, giving good sights across of it. Fairly easy to spot white Snowy Egrets or Great Blue Herons on grassland.

For birdwatching it's almost a paradise. As long as you've got patience staying calm and wait, you'll usually be awarded. From Hummingbirds to Ospreys, all sizes between them, various tones from almost screaming like, Woodpecker's monotonic knocking to beautiful singing.

There seems to live other species as well, signs at trailheads warn about Mountain Lions and Rattlesnakes. Former haven't met yet on live, though latter ones on multiple occasion. A Raccoon being the latest mammal on the met-once-list.

Though thousands of cars, which roar on Interstate 5 by crossing the lagoon, bring huge noise, one doesn't notice noise once you start to observe nature there. That's an unscientific fact.

All in all, it's a pretty good place to relax, get in better shape, charge your batteries or observe nature (or do all of them). Worth visiting (every now and then). And hey, gorgeous beaches on Solana Beach and Encinitas are just a couple of minutes away.