Chicken Enchiladas and Bird Watching at Plaza Linda Restaurant in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget
I saw an announcement for an Audobon hike at Rana Creek Preserve in Carmel Valley on the Monterey County Weekly’s Online Community Calendar and liked the idea of bird watching, but not the two-mile hike.
However, the dense oak forest by Rana Creek is similar to the forest surrounding Carmel Valley Village as well. There is even a restaurant where you can sit on an outdoor terrace right by the woods and do some bird watching as you eat chicken enchiladas or other delicious Mexican food at the Plaza Linda Restaurant.
(Plaza Linda is located at the eastern end of the Village along Carmel Valley Road before it mounts into the mountains toward Cachuaga.)
The trees you can see from Plaza Linda’s terrace are oak. They are an ecosystem for birds who occupy the tree’s canopy above the restaurant.
Three bird species of note for their colorful plumage (feathers) include:
-yellow-billed magpies
-goldfinches
-orioles
The following details will allow you to identify these birds easily:
*yellow-billed magpies
-yellow bills -black and white songbird
-feeds on insects, seeds, and acorns from oak trees
-yellow-billed magpies are only found in Carmel Valley, California
*goldfinches
-called a wild canary
-the male is bright yellow and black in summer. The male turns gray in winter -seed eaters
-goldfinches especially like thistle seeds, sunflower seeds, and dandelion seeds
*orioles
-black, yellow, and red plumage
-red-orange chest
-feeds on insects, fruit, and nectar -songbirds
I found the above information on the Audobon website, which has much more detail on these birds and other wildlife in Rana Creek.
For people who would like to go on the hikes at the Rana Creek Preserve and learn about the 200 wildlife species in this ecosystem in Carmel Valley, I have posted a link to the Rana Creek Preserve below:
https://wildlandsconservancy.org/preserve/rana-creek-preserve/
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
