Lake San Marcos is an unincorporated residential area surrounded by the City of San Marcos, which itself surrounds the 55 acre Lake San Marcos reservoir. We have friends with a home next to the reservoir and a dock in their front yard. In July 2022 we visited and got a tour of the reservoir by boat. The reservoir attracts a lot of water birds and the boat is a great way to get close to the wildlife.
Following are photos I took on an approximate one hour boat ride:
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| American coot |
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| A black crowned night heron on a boat docked in the water. |
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| Common gallinule, also known as a common moorhen. |
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| An immature common gallinule. |
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| Gadwall |
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| Great blue heron |
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| Great-tailed grackle |
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| Green heron |
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| Mallard |
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| Pied-billed grebe |
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| Western grebe |
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| One of many black swans, the only black swans I've ever seen. |
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| Black swans originated in Australia. |
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| Wikipedia notes that black swans have been introduced to several areas in Southern California. These are breeding birds, raising their young on a small island in the reservoir. |
We visited our friends a number of months earlier, during the winter, when the reservoir had many, many ducks.
A bunch of old coots looking at coots. Egad[wall]!
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