Afternoon at the Lagoon

We’re on a quick trip to California to celebrate a milestone birthday, and had to check out the birds at the Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad, southern CA while we were in that area. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon with lots of songsters in the bushes to photograph. There were flowers and trail walkers everywhere, and the birds didn’t mind us pointing cameras at them.

Batiquitos Lagoon is a 500+ acre ecological reserve in Carlsbad CA. A 3.4 mile trail runs along the north side and is popular with walkers, runners, and wildlife.

The first bird we heard, with a song like a bouncing ping pong ball, was the Wrentit, the lone representative of its family in North America.

Chaparral vegetation was lush and aromatic, and the birds continually darted in and out if it, across the trail.

Another loud and melodic songster — a House Wren, sat in full view before darting into the sticks.

Tiny Bushtits were numerous, emitting their high-pitched squeaks just to let us know they were there. Flocks of a dozen or so individuals stay closely together, both when foraging and when perched.

Two kinds of mustard were flowering along the edge of the lagoon.

House Finches sang loudly and continuously. I’ve never seen such brilliant red ones as these.

A photogenic male Lesser Goldfinch was photobombed by a passing hummingbird.

The magenta pink throat of a male Anna’s hummingbird is striking in the green-brown vegetation.

Wow, what a pose by a pair of House Finches.

And then came the surprises…a Cooper’s Hawk flew in and landed right in front of the camera. How often does that happen?

And in the category of how birds tease bird photographers…

A Cassin’s flycatcher posed so nicely among the flowers and then ducked its head behind one!

Some birds just love to express their annoyance with photographers by giving them the “butt view”.

Golden light in the lagoon at the end of the day…