Quail Hill Open Space Bird Walk

Join Pete Gordon for a weekday morning of birding the Quail Hill Loop Trail and the Irvine Ranch Water District Settling Ponds at the Quail Hill Open Space Preserve. This trip will last about 2-3 hours depending on the number of bird species we encounter. The pace will be relaxed. The skill rating for this trip is “All Levels”: We will stop when hearing or seeing any birds along the trail. The focus will be on bird sightings. The terrain is open grassland and scrub with a seasonal pond during rainy seasons, and the settling ponds include wetlands and woodlands. Some of the birds that we might encounter on the trip include California Quail, White-tailed Kite, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Lesser Goldfinch, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Grasshopper Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Greater Roadrunner, Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, and Common Yellowthroat. Meeting Location: Meet Pete at the Quail Hill Trailhead at 34 Shady Canyon Drive at 7 am. Directions: Quail Hill Open Space Preserve is located in Irvine California just off Interstate 405 at Sand Canyon/Shady Canyon Drive. If the Quail Hill Trailhead Parking Lot is full, park across the street at the Quail Hill Community Park and then walk across the street to the Trailhead Parking Lot. The address is 35 Shady Canyon Dr. The difficulty rating for this trip is “Easy to Moderate”: The loop trail is about 2 miles along a wide dirt path with minimum elevation gain. The settling pond area covers less than 1/2 mile and is flat with little elevation gain or loss. There are restrooms and water available at the Quail Hill Trailhead parking lot, but please bring bottled water with you on the trip as it can get rather warm as the morning progresses, and I recommend wearing a hat. There is no shade on the loop trail and limited shade at the settling ponds. Please wear closed-toe shoes or hiking boots. I recommend you bring binoculars, and if you enjoy photographing birds, your camera. (During the warmer portions of the year, rattlesnakes are present at the preserve.)