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Anstine-Audubon Nature Preserve 2437 Hutchison Street
Vista, CA 92084

If you share our goals
We invite your contributions. All donations are tax deductible. Gifts can be directed toward the endowment fund, or other special uses. Contact Claude Edwards for more information.

Please make all checks payable to the San Diego Audubon Society, and mail to:

San Diego Audubon Society
4891 Pacific Highway #112,
San Diego, CA 92110

or make a donation online

Anstine events:

Photos by Claude Edwards, Walt Shaw & Chris Redfern

Anstine-Audubon Nature Preserve

The Anstine-Audubon Nature Preserve is an eleven-acre site located within the County of San Diego adjacent to the cities of Vista and Oceanside . It is managed as an open space area by the San Diego Audubon Society in the same manner as its much larger and wilder preserve, the Silverwood Wildlife Sanctuary situated east of Lakeside.

The property was previously owned and occupied by John and Lois Anstine (pronounced “an-steen”) from the late 1940's to the late 1990's. During this time they added to the house and built other structures, manipulated the creek and created a pond, and planted and maintained flower beds and a small fruit orchard. In the mid-1990's, Mr. Anstine asked San Diego Audubon to manage and maintain the property as open space, and they agreed. Mrs. Anstine passed away in 1988 and Mr. Anstine passed in 1999.

Three native plant communities occur within the boundaries of the Anstine Preserve - Coastal Sage Scrub, Southern Willow Riparian Forest, and Coast Live Oak Woodland. Non-native and disturbed conditions are also present as a result of habitat removal, construction, and other human activities on and off site. Since 1999, nearly one-hundred species of plants, five species each of reptiles and mammals, and nearly one-hundred species of birds, have been recorded on the site.

Organized volunteer cleanups have been instrumental in removing dead trees and fallen limbs, stacks of old firewood, old and new weeds, and a variety of human refuse. Volunteer work-days take place periodically and interested persons are welcome to contact us to participate (redfern@sandiegoaudubon.org).

Entrance Sign Request

We are seeking help to design, construct, and pay for a sturdy sign to identify and promote the Anstine-Audubon Nature Preserve to visitors, volunteers, neighbors and passersby, just inside our entrance gate on Hutchison Street, in Vista. To learn more and to help us with this request, please contact Claude Edwards, Anstine Committee Chair, at (619) 282-8687, or keps1@flite-tours.com.

Demonstration Gardens

Springtime is planting time and we are seeking motivated and energetic individuals to help design, construct, and maintain two planned demonstration gardens at the Anstine-Audubon Nature Preserve. One is planned for the bed beside the old garage and the other in the area between the driveway and the caretaker's residence. To learn more and to help us with this request, please contact Claude Edwards, Anstine Committee Chair, at (619) 282-8687, or keps1@flite-tours.com.

Recent Activities

On Thursday, May 1, 50 employees of Invitrogen removed invasive plant species and planted nearly 200 new native plants. This is the third year that Invitrogen has worked at Anstine as part of thier Global Volunteer Day. This planting brings to over one acre of native plants in what was formerly a farmed plot. Thank you Invitrogen.

At the April 26th Volunteer Workday, we continued in our effort to remove weedy plants from the habitat restoration areas with help from a small number of volunteers including Jan and Brian Burke, Barbara Rogers, Emil Kotik. Emil also constructed and installed new bird nest-boxes. A crew from Hernandez Tree Service cut down and removing an extensive cover of tall and dense weeds from the property.

I recorded 24 species of birds. Most birds were singing, and are indicating breeding on-site, such as Red-winged Blackbird, California Towhee and Song Sparrow. An interesting observation was a family of seven Long-tailed Weasels, Mustela frenata , of the southern California subspecies latirostra . The weasels were trying to escape from the aloe patch by the driveway, possibly forced from the dense weeds cleared from the swale by the house. This is a first sighting for the Anstine Preserve.

In the next month we will focus on establishing new hiking trails in the southeastern portion of the site and maybe one or two new demonstration gardens – in addition to habitat restoration and maintenance. We are accepting donations of new or used garden tools such as round-tipped shovels, flexible and stiff ra ke s, branch loppers, and brooms. If you would li ke to donate tools, or join us for next month's volunteer workday, Saturday, May 31, please contact Claude Edwards at (619) 282-8687 / keps1@flite-tours.com, or Becky Wilbanks at (760) 295-1548.

Birds Recorded On 26 April 2008

Turkey vulture	Western scrub-jay	Spotted towhee
Red-tailed hawk	Black phoebe	California towhee
California quail	American crow	Song sparrow
Mourning dove	Bushtit	Black-headed grosbeak
Anna 's hummingbird	Bewick's wren	Red-winged blackbird
Nuttall's woodpec ke r	Wrentit	Brown-headed cowbird
Northern flicker	Northern mockingbird	House finch
Pacific-slp flycatcher	Common yellowthroat	Lesser goldfinch