Birding in Orange County area? (1 Viewer)

[Natalie]

I'm going to be down in Anaheim in a couple weeks for the reptile show, and I wanted to take a day to go birding down there. I'm completely clueless about where to go, though... I found this page that lists a lot of locations, but I don't know which places are the best. I'm most interested in songbirds and hummingbirds, but I'm open to anything. Does anyone live in this area and know of some good places to go? I think I'm going to have most of the day free, so I might be able to go to a few different locations (preferably not too far away). Thanks for any help.

 

[HelenB]

In 2002, I had some free time while my husband was at business meetings in Santa Monica. I had a rental car, so I visited the Bolsa Chica Wetlands - check out the info I put together for Birdforum's Opus section: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Bolsa_Chica
The birding there is mostly seabirds and waterbirds, though, apart from the Belding's Savannah Sparrow, which is a notable subspecies found there.

On the same day I also went to San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary where there were songbirds and hummers. It would be October or November that I was there.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Natalie]

Thanks for the links! Shore- and waterbirds were my next choice after songbirds, so I'd be happy to go take a peek at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. The San Juaquin Wildlife Sanctuary sounds good also... At first I wasn't sure where Irvine was (I thought it was more inland like Bakersfield), but now that I see how close it is to Anaheim it's definitely worth taking a look.

 

[DavidP]

The other place you might want to check out is Irvine Regional park which has a nice mix of managed and wild areas and always seems to be good for birds especially at the edges between the two.
Check out Joe Morlans guide to Orange county for details of additional areas.
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ora.htm
As mentioned above the San Joaquim preserve is good and newport back bay nearby is also worth a visit.

 

[Natalie]

The regional park sounds good too... I'll try to make it over there as well. Thanks!