For our Birdwatchers group’s excursion, early morning coastal overcast quickly burned off to clear skies, with temperatures from the low to upper 70s and delightful, cool ocean breezes.  We enjoyed a leisurely walk on the trails of 569-acre Guajome Regional Park, just south of Highway 76 in Oceanside.  The habitats ranged from open stands of eucalyptus and other trees and lush, dense thickets of willows and scattered Mexican fan palms, to wetlands of bulrushes and cattails and the 12-acre Lake Guajome.

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Highlights included excellent views of Western Bluebirds, Nuttall’s and Acorn woodpeckers, Western Scrub-Jays, Anna’s Hummingbirds, and Yellow Warblers, and a close-up view of a Bewick’s wren.  Most breeding season singing has stopped, but we did hear bits of songs of Yellow and Orange-crowned warblers, Common Yellowthroat and Song Sparrow.  On the cattail-bordered lake were a few Pied-billed Grebes, Coots and Mallards, and a single Double-crested Cormorant feasting on fish.  While enjoying the lake views, we heard a “mystery bird” calling as it flew back and forth above the water.  Research revealed that the distinctive three-note calls were of a shorebird -- the Greater Yellowlegs.  We then enjoyed lunch at Marisco’s Las Palmas in Vista. 

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