On Saturday afternoon I went for a walk on a trail at the Eastern end of San Elijo Lagoon. There are woods and grasslands and reed beds. A calm, warm day with bright blue skies.  Sounds of birds everywhere but not many visible. However the sounds of a woodpecker tapping revealed a Nuttall’s just above my head in thick willow trees.

Song Sparrows flitted through the undergrowth

The bulrushes in the reed beds were beautiful 

 A Black Phoebe perched on a rock at the edge of the marsh

Beautiful late Summer wildflowers were everywhere

Jays called from dead trees and sage scrub

A king bird – a Cassins, I think was also perched in the dead branches

And Prickly Pear cactus was scattered through the grassland and scrub.