On Saturday, April 19th, 31 birders got up early to make the trek to Murrietta to explore one of my all-time favorite places in Southern California, the Santa Rosa Plateau. This reserve was established by the Nature Conservancy to preserve a large parcel of native grasslands, oak woodland, chaparral, and vernal pool habitats. We were treated to beautiful weather and gorgeous displays of spring wildflowers, including the ephemeral Chocolate Lilies. Oh, and there were birds. We saw 57 different species, and one of the more memorable moments was the fabulous displays by the Red-winged Blackbirds over the vernal pools while listening to Meadowlarks and watching a Two-striped Garter Snake swim by. After exploring the vernal pools, we hiked to the old adobe on the property, where we found two very young rattlesnakes and a few Orioles. We hadn’t been to the Plateau in a long while, but hope to include it in our regular field strip schedule going forward. It is truly a beautiful place.
Thank you to Mary Jo for keeping the eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S227238227
