Day 50 - Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Today I headed up to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden to follow up on a report yesterday of a Golden-crowned Kinglet.  Although I thought it was a long shot, it would be great to see this bird - I have not yet seen one in Santa Barbara County.  In these parts they live in the mountains, with the occasional visit down to the lower elevations near the coast.  In my experience they are small, fairly quiet, and tend to stay high up in the trees.

I spent the better part of 2 hours walking the lovely grounds at the Botanic Garden without spotting or hearing a Golden-crowned Kinglet.  There were quite a few birds about, many of them trying out their spring songs.  Every year it takes me awhile to get used to the new vocabularies the birds start using in the spring.

I will no doubt be back to the Botanic Garden this year.  Especially during migration it attracts a good variety of birds.  Also, when the meadow area is in bloom with wildflowers it is quite spectacular!

On the way home I stopped at Bohnett park.  I have never visited this park before, and it is not far from our house.  Recently a Warbling Vireo was seen here.  In a month or two these birds will be fairly common.  Right now they are "out of season" and perhaps this one has been hanging around all winter.  Although I did not find the Vireo I was pleasantly surprised at the number and variety of birds I encountered in this little forest oasis in downtown Santa Barbara.

So, no new birds today.  I have had a pretty good streak, the last 8 outings have produced new finds for the year.  Time to start a new streak tomorrow!

Here are a few photos from today:

Spotted Towhee

 Common Yellowthroat playing hide and seek

Hutton's Vireo

After the today the year's total still stands at 176. 

Today I rode 12.2 miles

More later,

Glenn