LaCosta Wetlands Finally Has Something Fun

So, it is Monday and was trying to figure out where to check after dropping of the youngest at school. I decided to give LaCosta Wetlands one more try even though it has been fairly boring of late. I t was very quiet when I first walked the main trek out to the fields and I was about to call it quits when I took one last look over the far pond just because. I saw a yellow flash. I had to walk to the back.

When I got to the far side where I saw the yellow I only found larger birds. Most of them were feeding on the berries of a Virginia Creeper which was topping a Cypress tree. I was pleased to see a Brown Thrasher emerge, though.



Northern Mockingbirds and Blue Jays soon joined the Thrasher and grabbed a snack before doing their vigil to chase off a possible enemy.



That enemy would be a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks that were cruising the area.



Suddenly, a few birds bolted to the Cypress tree behind me. I followed and discovered that there were several Yellow Warblers feeding on the backside of the tree. My first Yellows of the season. A couple of female Prairie Warblers were in there, too.



I waited for a long time but they would never move to my side of the tree so I only got a couple of shots through the branches before they headed out later.



Making matters worse, a juvenile Northern Mockingbird was forcing the warblers away from the tree when it could. Grrrrr...



I gave up after 15 minutes and headed back to the van. Next to the main bridge, several Northern Mockingbirds were hanging out in the Muscadine Grapes draping several trees.



I counted at least 16 Northern Mockingbirds at this spot, adding to the 16 over by the warblers, and they were popping in and out of the vines and picking berries as they went along.



I was most surprised at the number of juveniles in this flock. They were everywhere.



The young birds were chasing one another around and would sometimes stop for a cute, sunlit pose.



Ihave no idea what is wrong with this youngsters feet. Some weird growth going on.



Yet another Northern Mockingbird juvenile checks me out through the leaves.



Out of nowhere, a new Brown Thrasher arrived and began exploring the grapes.



On the tree to my left, an adult Northern Mockingbird serves as sentry.



One of the other kids pops out below the sentry to assess the situation.



Back at the grape vines, I got my favorite shot of the morning as an adult seemed to warn me off from getting too much closer.



Time to head home. When I got back to the parking area I saw a bird up on the wires. A juvenile European Starling was perched in full view. My first photo of a juvenile. I only saw my first one on a web cam a month ago.



Finally, some action at the wetlands. I was about to give up on this area after a year of checking but perhaps it will get more interesting this year as migrants return.