Batiquitos Lagoon, found on the coast between Carlsbad and Encinitas in San Diego County, California, is a 610 acre tidal wetland of brackish water connected to the Pacific Ocean on one end with flows of fresh water from San Marcos Creek and Encinitas Creek on the other end. It has a drainage basin of about 55,000 acres. Part of it is a State Marine Conservation Area run by the California Department of Fish and Game as a nature reserve. The north side of the lagoon has a 1.75 mile long nature trail along its shore.
Judy and I visited the morning of January 12, 2022, and walked from a parking area on Batiquitos Avenue to and past the nature center and under and around the I-5 Freeway bridge to view the area of the lagoon beyond it and to the ocean.
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| The Lagoon from a point southeast of the nature center (which is out of the photo to the left). |
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| This is a small side-arm of the lagoon near the nature center (which is out of the photo to the left). The I-5 Freeway is directly south (behind) just a short distance. |
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| This area is directly east. |
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| Another section of the Lagoon on the other side of the I-5 Freeway. |
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| From the I-5 Freeway looking south, a train trestle crossing the lagoon right before the ocean. |
Following are photos of birds I took:
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| A brown pelican. |
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| Great blue heron |
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| Snowy egrets |
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| Willet |
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| Western gulls |
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| Song sparrow |
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| Least sandpipers |
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| Redheads (ducks) |
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| Several buffleheads (ducks) |
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| Lesser scaup (duck) |
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| Northern pintails (ducks) |
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| American wigeons (ducks), a first sighting for me. |
Looking out on the water, it seemed that there were just three or four species of ducks. I'm surprised by how many you identified. The buffleheads were my favorite, mostly because they really stood out in the crowd.
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