Our next stop is Paradise Pond behind the Taqueria San Juan (which you’ll want to put on your list of places to eat). This small wooded pond area is chock full of migrants, and you never know what you’ll see. There are two chalk boards where birders write what they see so you can get an idea of what to look for on that day. When there is water in the pond, White Ibises, Green Herons and both Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-herons are common along with Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes on the edges. Philadelphia, Warbling and Red-eyed vireos can be seen, and it seems like a new warbler appears every day, my personal favorite sightings being a Cerulean, a Chestnut-sided, and a Bay-breasted, because I usually don’t see them elsewhere. When there is not much water the plants grow up in the pond area making it easier to see the orioles, grosbeaks, hummingbirds, and flycatchers. I like to go about 9:00 a.m. because the birds start to get active once the sun makes it up over the trees, but you might want to stop back in later in the day to see if anything new has shown up.
Next let’s go on over to Charlie’s Pasture, a relatively new and very well done nature trail through acres of open scrub, meadows, mud flats and ponds beside the shipping channel. In the scrub and meadows you might find meadowlarks, Dicksissels, buntings, kingbirds, hummingbirds, orioles, and Scissortail Flycatchers. Hawks and Caracaras are sometimes to be spotted, and if you are looking for Seaside or other sparrows, this is the place to go. I haven’t had any luck with the Seaside Sparrows, but I have seen a flock of Le Conte’s sparrows there. If you take the trail by the ponds and mudflats you’ll get to see shorebirds like Dunlins, Yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilts, and Reddish Egrets. Out in the mudflats there is usually a pair of Horned Larks and some Wilson’s Plovers. If it rains while you are there, go to the mudflats right after the rain, because that is the best time to see hundreds of Dowitchers, Willets, Egrets, Least Sandpipers, and the other peeps. Keep an eye out for a Long-billed Curlew or Marbled Godwits. It’s impossible not to admire the bright pink Roseate Spoonbills and marvel at their namesake bills. I’ve also seen a coyote in the distance, a rattlesnake close up and a tarantula on the trail. The wildflowers are beautiful there and I sometimes end up with as many photos of plants as birds.
Reddish Egret at Charlie’s Pasture after a rain
-Susan Decker
49 Southwest Highways & Fields
sometimes to be spotted, and if you are looking for Seaside or other sparrows, this is the place to go. I haven’t had any luck with the Seaside Sparrows, but I have seen a flock of Le Conte’s sparrows there. If you take the trail by the ponds and mudflats you’ll get to see shorebirds like Dunlins, Yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilts, and Reddish Egrets. Out in the mudflats there is usually a pair of Horned Larks and some Wilson’s Plovers. If it rains while you are there, go to the mudflats right after the rain, because that is the best time to see hundreds of Dowitchers, Willets, Egrets, Least Sandpipers, and the other peeps. Keep an eye out for a Long-billed Curlew or Marbled Godwits. It’s impossible not to admire the bright pink Roseate Spoonbills and marvel at their namesake bills. I’ve also seen a coyote in the distance, a rattlesnake close up and a tarantula on the trail. The wildflowers are beautiful there and I sometimes end up with as many photos of plants as birds.