Hi Everyone,

On Saturday April 20, twenty-three birders walked around beautiful Wilderness Gardens Preserve and we found 52 bird species.

It was a relatively cool overcast morning compared to the frequent hot weather walks in past years at this location.

Lots of really good birds were found: Costa’s Hummingbird, Ash-throated Flycatchers, Western Kingbird, Phainopeplas, Nashville Warbler, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Hooded Orioles, and Bullock’s Orioles. But the best bird of the day had to be the unexpected appearance of the American Bittern.

Here is our species list:

Mallard
California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Turkey Vulture
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
White-breasted Swift
Anna’s Hummingbird
Costa’s Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Cassin’s Kingbird
Western Kingbird
California Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Rock Wren
House Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Wrentit
Western Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Phainopepla
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
California Towhee
Song Sparrow
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Hooded Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole
House Finch
House Sparrow

JIM BECKMAN,  trip leader

Here’s several really good photos that Aedyn Loefke took today at Wilderness Gardens Preserve.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Ash-throated Flycatcher, American Bittern, Coyote.