Santa Barbara County Birding Day 2, July 31

After spending the night near Santa Barbara, we woke up and hit a few beaches along the coast.  Brewer's blackbirds were pretty common on the beaches, and weren't bothered by beach-goers.  This is a bird we rarely get to see so it was awesome to get an up-close look!

male Brewer's Blackbird

Nearby, a flock of gulls was relaxing on shore.

First Year Western Gull

First Year Ring-billed Gull

Adult Western Gull (has only one eye)

 

Our next stop was Santa Barbara Harbor.  This was an excellent stop!  A jetty with a walkway on it protects the marina and harbor, and the ocean-facing side is lined with huge algae-covered rocks.  About half-way down the jetty, we started seeing Wandering Tattlers and Black Turnstones!  All the people walking on the jetty had no idea they were there because of a big cement wall that acts as a wave-breaker.  A few people peeked over the wall to see what we were photographing and got a glimpse of them!

Black Turnstone, the Ruddy Turnstone's evil twin, balancing on slanted rocks

At a few beaches in the area, hungry Black Turstones were running around after waves, picking up and eating small mussels and sand crabs.  They seem famished, and are recent arrivals on the Santa Barbara coast right now.   We also saw a Surfbird fly over, but didn't get a good look at it.

Black Turnstone on the beach

This Black Turnstone were so preoccupied with eating

that a huge wave plowed right into him! (and me)

This one has a small mussell

These Wandering Tattlers (lifer) were on the ocean side of the jetty in groups of 3 to 4. 

This tattler perched on a rock as I hid nearby.

Afew Tattlers narrowly escaped incoming waves.

The tattlers would run to shore after every wave, and would be chased back up again by it.

The Wandering Tattlers were also frantically eating, and this one caught a huge sand crab!

While I was photographing shorebirds, Alex found this Common Merganser fishing

 in the marina.The water was so clear you could see him hunting underwater!

Butterflies were far and few, but we did find this

small Western Pygmy Blue fighting the wind.

Next we took a trip to the nearby Museum of Natural History, where they had an excellent

 collection of bird taxidermies. In the museum gardens, Oregon Juncos were hopping around.

We decided to go back to Santa Barbara Harbor since the birds were cooperative and the lighting was great.  We found a flew small flocks of Western Whimbrel on shore, and throughout the evening, more flew by, likely migrating down the coast. 

Western Whimbrel in Santa Barbara Harbor

Double-crested Cormorant, a common bird of the harbor

As the sun started setting, the turstones and tattlers settled in to dark rocky crevasses.  Alex and I took a walk down a small sandy beach, and found this Long-billed Curlew foraging along the shoreline.  He knew we were watching him, but didn't seem to care as we inched forward for some great photos.

 Long-billed Curlew foraging on beach

The curlew eventually flew towards Alex, but was flushed back towards me by some people.

When he landed he showed a quick glimpse of his bright rufous and cinnamon underwing,

which seemed dramatically red in the setting sun. We spent the night again in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara County "Target" Birding with Wes Fritz, July 29 and 30

With the cuckoo project in full swing with more than a few active nests, Alex and I were due for a few days off.  Since we didn't get to spend enough time in southern California, we decided to head back to try to get a few shorebirds that are migrating down the coast now (Wandering Tattler, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, etc.).  Also, Alex's birthday is coming up, and to deny him a birding trip on his birthday would be cruel. 

Two days ago, July 29th, we met up with Wes Fritz of "Target Birding," who is one of the best birders in California, and the United States, for that matter, with a PA list larger than ours.  Wes is a professional bird guide, and runs Target Birds, where he can easily get you as many lifers and CA species as you ask for in a day.  He knows this place like the back of his hand, and if you miss a species somewhere, he's got about 20 different places to find it.  Luckily we found him through a birder friend we met on our last trip...we've found CA birders to be some of the friendliest we've met anywhere! 

So, that evening, we joined Wes for some owling.  Wes monitors an amazingly high population of Western Screech, Long-eared, Barn, Great-horned, Pygmy, and Northern Spotted Owls in a (secret) canyon near his home.  This is a beautiful canyon filled with grassy meadows and the biggest California live oaks I've ever seen, which in turn are full of cavities of all sizes to accomodate owls of all sizes.  We started out listening for some Long-eared Owls, but didn't hear any.  On the next few stops, we heard tons of Western Screech Owls, and heard Long-eared owls in the distance, while Barn Owls were shrieking in the background.  If you love owls, then this is one of the best nights of your life.  Up the road a little, we tried to get some Pygmy owls to come in, but only heard them in the distance.  We didn't end up seeing them, but Wes usually has them all over the place! The best find of the night was at the highest elevation of the canyon, where we found a juvenile Northern Spotted Owl, that was calling as soon as we go out of the car.  He flew right in over us!  Wes was really excited about this one, since it showed the owls were able to fledge chicks this year.  Alex and I were so excited we forgot to take photos. 

Back down the road, we got a Western Screech to fly into a huge California live oak, and stare at us for a few seconds.  In the background, tons more were calling.  We tried again for Long-eareds, but only heard them.  In total we heard 6 species of owls within the area of only a few miles!!!!!!!

Western Screech Owl

The next morning, we went back to the canyon to see if we could catch a glimpse of a Pygmy Owl.  We didn't, but we did see the following specialty birds, in addition to Warbling Vireo, Orange-crowned and Wilson's Warbler, and Lazuli Bunting.

Pacific Slope Flycatcher (very common)

Nuttall's Woodpecker (finally!)

Wes and Alex birding

California Towhee (very common)

Next, Wes took us to his friends ranch, which has to be the best place to see Yellow-billed Magpies up close!  With a great array of feeders, this is an excellent stop, but you can only get here if you take a tour with Wes!!!!  There were also tons of hummingbirds around.

Yellow-billed Magpie and Band-tailed Pigeon

magpie feeding frenzy

The magpies stuck around for some great photos!

Band-tailed Pigeons

female Anna's Hummingbirds were everywhere

(notice magpie in background)

Anna's Hummingbird

Lesser Goldfinch

Wes took us to a few more birding spots, even though he was about to go on a 2 week long birding trip...the man loves to go birding!  On the way, he stopped so we could photograph this dark Western Red-tail.

At another spot, we picked up a few shorebirds, including Baird's sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Semi-palmated and Black-bellied Plovers.  There were also tons of Belding's Savannah Sparrows here, and a few juvenile White-crowned Sparrows.  At a nearby ocean overlook, Wes found us a Pacific Loon, Sooty Shearwaters, and Pigeon Guillemonts with the scope!

Belding's Savannah Sparrow

juvenile White-crowned Sparrow

The landscape in the area is really dominated by agriculture, including corn, grapes, squash, lettuce, and even this field of "gourmet" artichokes.  There were also a handful of marigould fields, which are used for seed. 

artichoke field

marigould field

At another spot, Wes found us a few Chestnut-backed Chickadees.  He wasn't satisfied with the look, so we went to another reliable spot, where I got this great photo...thanks Wes!!!!

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

We said goodbye to Wes and got on our way.  Visit Wes's website to set up a birding tour in Santa Barbara County, CA if you plan to be in the area soon!!!!  He knows all the secret spots and can show you everything on your target list.  He is also great company and can take you to a bakery where you will eat the best cookies of your life.

We headed for the city of Goleta next, but stopped at a park first, where we found this Band-tailed Pigeon on the side of the road!

There was also a huge family group of Acorn Woodpeckers

This California Quail sat quietly on a post near the road

In Goleta on the coast, we found a huge tree with red flowers, that was the scene of a constant hummingbird battle.  Most were Anna's, but an Allen's was darting in and out as well.

Anna's Humminbird

Anna's Hummingbird

We watched a few small flocks of whimbrel, likely migrating south, land on the

 sandy beach nearby for the night

These noisy Double-crested Cormorants were fighting over a skinny, shaky branch, but

eventually decided they could all fit for the night and sleep in peace.

Double-crested Cormorants on roost