San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary

Pied-billed Grebe


Western Grebe


Clark's Grebe


Black-crowned Night Heron


Black Phoebe


Vermilion flycatcher


"Cassink's Kingbird



Common Yellowthroat


Common Yellowthroat (female)



We visited San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary and went shopping in the OC. Here are the birds we saw.

Hahamongna Watershed Park

We went to Hahamongna Watershed Park in hopes of finding some rarities. Although we didn't find any, we got good views of some early migrants.


California Thrasher


Orange-crowned warbler


Female Lazuli Bunting



Yellow Warbler


Female common yellowthroat




Wilson's Warbler


Red-crowned Parrot

Birding Back Bay in Newport Beach

We went to Back Bay in Newport Beach in hopes of finding a California Gnatcatcher. We settled for a Common yellowthroat, several Say's Phoebe, and many hummingbirds.

American Avocet and Friends at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary

We went to San Jaoquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine. There were about 20 American White Pelicans flying around and resting on one of the ponds, with about 100 cormorants swimming and diving. We've never seen that many cormorants swimming together before.

The best photos were the avocet and the common yellowthroat.

American Avocet


American White Pelican with Cormorants



A lot of cormorants



Common Yellowthroat

Birding at Prado Regional Park in Chino

Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher


Common Yellowthroat


Tropical Kingbird

Barn Swallow

Prado is always reliable for Vermilion Flycatchers and Common Yellowthroats. We also found the tropical kingbird.

Birding at Prado Regional Park, Chino

Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermillion Flycatcher (Juveniles)

We went birding on the morning of July 4 at Prado Regional Park in Chino. The most exciting find for us was the Vermilion Flycatcher. This one was feeding two juveniles. 

The western grebes were also caring for a juvenile.

Western Grebes

Whe we first arrived, we saw a few common yellowthroats and later we saw the lesser goldfinch.

Common Yellowthroat

Lesser Goldfinch

On the way out we spotted a few Nutmeg Mannikins.

Nutmeg Mannikin

All in all, it was pretty good birding for a quick trip to a nearby park.