It is alarming where ever I walk now to do birding, at how super dry everything is, with many distressed and dying trees. I can understand how the horrific Lake County fire took off so fast - there is little or no moisture in any of the vegetation to slow any kind of fire down.
A song sparrow in the dry grasses, at the Laguna
Even the Western bluebirds looking a little ragged, from the heat and lack of water? at the Laguna
Western Bluebird poised for action, high on an oak branch, the Laguna
Black Phoebe at the Laguna, also, like the bluebirds, hunting insects
Stunted wild rose, from the drought
Solitary duck in the pond at the Laguna, at least some water here. This looks like a faded male mallard.
 A Great Blue Heron was camped out at the pond |  Some snowy egrets flew overhead. |
A small group of kildeer took turns flying around the pond, at the Laguna.
Yellow warbler at the Laguna In one of the large oaks in the Laguna, a flock of bright yellow birds were hopping about. Assuming at first they were Wilson's warblers, I realized actually they looked different, and must be yellow warblers - the males have brown stripes on their breast feathers, no black caps like the Wilson's.
Brown stripes in front and yellow eye-ring denote the male Yellow Warbler
Female yellow warblers are more olive green looking, and with a pale eye-ring - the Laguna.
There was also a larger, yellow-colored bird in the branches of the same old oak tree, and I determined it must be a female Western tanager (below),
Female Western Tanager? At the Laguna
As I walked further through the park, there were more female Western tanagers
This part of the park is near a vineyard, where the grapes are close to being fully ripe, something the tanagers seemed to appreciate - here is one with a partial grape.
Beautiful Red-shouldered hawk was perched high in one the oaks, carefully watching me as I captured its image, at the Laguna
Same hawk, from the side, as I moved away from it.