Our Birdwatchers Club group was really fortunate with the weather that was mostly sunny with scattered low coastal clouds, a light breeze and temperatures from the low 60s to the low 70s. We followed trails that loop through riparian woodlands and open expanses ablaze with colorful wildflowers and flowering shrubs.

The 43-acre Los Jilgueros (The Goldfinches) Preserve is one of a number of preserves maintained by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy.Numerous birds filled the air with their springtime songs. These included a melodious “concert” of Black-headed Grosbeaks’ robust musical phrases; the loud and distinctive jumble of Yellow-breasted Chats’ whistles, caws, squawks, clucks and hoots; and the phrases and trills of such others as Yellow and Orange-crowned Warblers, Song Sparrows, Spotted Towhees and Bell’s Vireos. We had the good fortune of observing a sleek, shiny-black male Phainopepla with its distinctive crest.

Highlights of the preserve’s three ponds were Ruddy and Ring-necked Ducks, a Mallard with her fuzzy ducklings, a Pied-billed Grebe, a Snowy Egret, and a Common Gallinule (Moorhen). And we enjoyed a close-up view of a male Allen’s Hummingbird – its areas of golden-rufous plumage dazzling in the sunshine. After nearly three hours of birding, we enjoyed a delicious lunch on the covered patio of nearby Garden Center Café in Fallbrook.