Day 7 - Carpinteria Birding, and a milestone?

Today I set out for Carpinteria, the eastern edge of Santa Barbara County coastline.  My primary goal was to see 2 returning rarities, the Gray Hawk and the Prairie Warbler.  There were also plenty of other species in the area that would be nice to add to the year's list.  The forecast was for warmth, and the day did not disappoint in that way.  By the time I arrived at the "Gray Hawk Stakeout" it was plenty warm.

Perhaps too warm, for after an hour of searching I could find neither the Gray Hawk nor the Prairie Warbler.  I was hot and frustrated, so I did what any sane person would do - I pedaled to the Cajun Kitchen and had lunch.

Along the way I peeked through the fence at the "pond" (as in "See-ment" pond) next to Kim's Market.  This has to rank right up there with least scenic birding spots in Santa Barbara County, now even less attractive as it is presently adjacent to an active construction site.  Nonetheless, there were Green-winged Teal and Ring-necked Ducks present, and the year's list grew by two species.

The "pond" next to Kim's Market, Carpinteria

After lunch, I stopped by the nearby Carpinteria Salt Marsh.  The tide was a little low, but there were still a few birds present I had yet to see this year.  The best of these were 2 pairs of Blue-winged Teal.  While not exactly rare, they are not exactly all over the place either, so it was nice to have them "in the bag" so to speak.  I also added Marsh Wren, Least and Spotted Sandpipers.

Blue-winged Teal, Carpinteria Salt Marsh

Pied-billed Grebe, Carpinteria Salt Marsh

I then proceeded back to the "Gray Hawk Stakeout" and made a circuit looking for said hawk.  No luck.  I returned to the area frequented by the Prairie Warbler.  I searched for another half an hour.  One thing about this spot - although it is next to the beach, it is also next to the freeway and train tracks, with a busy frontage road and lots of semi-truck traffic to boot.  So loud I could not hear myself think, much less the little "chip" of a Warbler.  I am wondering why the hell a bird would choose to live here anyway?  Oh yeah, then there was also the guy trimming some branches in the middle of the patch typically frequented by the warbler - that helped, I am sure.

Frustration level rising, and trying to get a little distance from all the noise, I stepped across the train tracks and began searching the thin row of trees between the tracks and the beach.  Bingo!  Beautiful bright yellow warbler, black striping on the sides, and a brownish mask.  This bird seemed to me brighter than the Prairie Warbler I saw here last winter.  Alas, it was quite shy and I was unable to get a photo.

Spirits rising, I cruised around for another half hour searching for the Gray Hawk, but no luck with that - 1 for 2 on the rarities today.  I will no doubt be back to visit with the Gray Hawk.  In addition to the Warbler, I added Lincoln's Sparrow and American Kestrel.

On the way home, I was passing the beach near the Mission Creek outflow when suddenly all the Gulls and Waterfowl took flight.  When you see this it is always wise to look up, for the birds are often reacting to an overhead predator.  That was the case, as a Peregrine Falcon made a loop for two overhead.  Add that to the list!

Last stop of the day, the breakwater at the Santa Barbara Harbor.  It looked like a nice sunset was developing, so why not?  In addition to a flyby Caspian Tern, there was a most cooperative Osprey perched at the end of the breakwater.  Two more species, for a total of twelve today!  What started as a slow day turned out pretty well, with a fantastic sunset to finish things off.  I imagine there will be few more days this year adding this many species to the list.

Osprey, Santa Barbara Harbor

Goodbye Sun

With the addition of today's 12 species, the year's total stands at 138.  This may be a milestone!  In April 2012 local birders Jared Dawson and Wim Van Dam undertook big day walking and biking, ending up with 126 species.  I have just surpassed that mark (only took 6 days!).  At this time I know of no other larger Green Birding tallies for Santa Barbara County.  If anyone has other Green Birding tallies to share, please let me know!

Today I rode 37.2 miles

More later,
Glenn

Day 6 - Walking for Grasshopper Sparrow

Today I opted to go for a walk instead of a bike ride.  Elings park is about a 15 minute walk from the house, and some good birds can be found there.  When I left home I was hoping to add at least 5 species to the year's list.  I figured this would not be a problem, as this year I have yet to encounter many of the more common species.

I got a bit of a late start, and the day was heating up by the time I got to the park - quite a change from only 3 days ago when I was breaking through ice on my bike.  The warm day may have reduced the bird activity, for it seemed a bit quieter bird-wise than my last few visits.  

I was greeted by this Mockingbird as I entered the park.

Northern Mockingbird, Elings Park

As I wandered around the top of the park I did manage to tease out a few new species: Purple Finch, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, House Wren, and Fox Sparrow (Slate-colored).  As the day continued to warm, I decided for one more pass around the top and then head for home.

I saw a sparrow-like bird dive into a nearby bush.  I waited, and it flew to a nearby bush.  There I could see it was a smaller sparrow with a large bill, short tail, thin white eyeline, and orange/yellow area between the eye and bill - a Grasshopper Sparrow!  A very nice find, and hello #5 for the day.  (There was one Grasshopper Sparrow reported at Elings Park during the Christmas Bird Count.)  While there are a few fairly reliable spots to see this species in the county, it is nice to have it taken care of.  This eliminates a potential chase situation later in the year.

I was able to get a couple of photos for identification purposes, but the bird refused to come out of the bush and pose nicely for me.

 Grasshopper Sparrow, Elings Park

Grasshopper Sparrow, Elings Park

With the addition of today's 5 species, the year's total stands at 126.

Today I walked about 2.5 miles.

More later,

Glenn

Day 5 - Goleta Birding, Hits and Misses

As I mentioned before, in the wake of the Santa Barbara Christmas Bird Count there are many birds out there that would be useful additions to my year's list.  In fact, if I could see them all I could instantly add 50% to the present total.

Many of these birds were found in Goleta, the community located to the west of Santa Barbara.  So I decided to head out that way and track down some of the more difficult to find species.  Target species for today included Red Phalarope, Black-vented Shearwater, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Parasitic Jaeger. These are all sea-dwelling birds and would be found looking from the bluffs and scanning out over the ocean.  Also on the list, the rare (for Santa Barbara) Dusky-capped Flycatcher.  In addition to these notable species, there were a couple dozen more common species I might encounter.

My first stop was the little pond in Anisqoyo Park, located in the student community of Isla Vista which is adjacent to the University of California Campus (UCSB).  On CBC day 5 Hooded Mergansers were found in this spot.  Since it was on the way and these ducks can sometimes be hard to find, I stopped.  Within short order I was watching 5 female Hooded Mergansers diving among the multitude of Mallards.

That taken care of, I headed west of Isla Vista to do some seawatching from the bluffs.  Although it was high tide, most of the birds were (as usual) well offshore.  A spotting scope would have been helpful (note to self - figure out how to haul the scope!).  I took me quite a bit longer than I had anticipated to scan through the birds on the water.  There was a good level of activity with many loons, pelicans, grebes, and gulls.  I did not find any Phalaropes or Jaegers, but was successful in locating a Black-vented Shearwater and 1 or maybe 2 Rhinoceros Auklets in among the gulls.  OK, 2 for 4 on the seawatch, but 2 high quality sightings - and the Auklet was not a species I had anticipated seeing this year.

With less time left than I had anticipated, and many opportunities for places to visit, I decided to pass a couple of very good birding spots and head directly for the Dusky-capped Flycatcher.  I figured I should concentrate on the unusual birds first, as they may disappear at any time.  I eventually found my way to the spot where the bird was reported, and had been seen yesterday.  Right away I ran into local birder Wim Van Dam, fearless leader of the wildly successful Santa Barbara CBC mountain crew "Team Edelweiss".  He had not seen the Flycatcher, but did point out a pair of White-tailed Kites perched nearby.  I had not seen this species yet this year.  Their numbers have been dropping due to the severe drought, and at this point in time it is always nice to find one (or two!) of these beauties.

White-tailed Kites, Goleta

We searched the area for about half an hour, but the Flycatcher was not to be seen - by us.  Of course, as the day wore on there were sighting reports both before and after we were looking.  Hopefully this one will stick around and give me another chance.

On the way home I made a couple of quick stops to round up some more common species.  First stop was the UCSB Soccer field, which is very attractive to geese at this time of year.  There were 3 species of geese present, including the Greater White-fronted Goose, as pictured below.

Greater White-fronted Goose, Goleta

My last stop was at Goleta Beach.  It seems there is always something interesting to see at this park, bird-wise.  Although I did not spend much time searching, the pick for today was a pair of Hooded Mergansers.  I must say these are some of my favorite ducks, especially the males - as you can see below.

Hooded Merganser (male), Goleta Beach

I believe there will be more visits to Goleta in my near future.

Overall today I added 13 species to the year list, including one life bird, the Rhinoceros Auklet.

Today I rode 31.7 miles.

More later,

Glenn

Day 4 - Some Target Species

One consequence on the Christmas Bird Count is that there have been many talented birders scouring the area - and they discovered quite a few unusual birds.  This is a bit overwhelming, to the point where I am not quite sure which direction to point my bike next.

There are a several very high quality birds in the area right now, a number of which I have never seen before.  The one generating the most excitement is a Dusky-capped Flycatcher, which was last seen in Santa Barbara about 10 years ago.  I have seen them in Arizona, but never Santa Barbara.

Some birds, such as Red Phalarope, Ancient Murrelet, and Rhinoceros Auklet can be seen from sea shore - but a scope would be helpful.  I still need to figure out how to haul my scope around on the bike.  (Hello, I could have figured this out before this project started, no?)

A couple of the interesting birds are within easy riding distance of the house, so today I set out to see them:  Black Scoter, and Painted Redstart.  Before this happened I heard a Great Horned Owl calling from our neighbors tree, another bird to add to the year's list and a nice way to start the day!

You may recall a couple days ago I was at the Santa Barbara harbor scanning through the Surf Scoters.  Later that day there was a report of two Black Scoters within the Surf Scoter flock.  This is a bird I have never seen before, and is not recorded in Santa Barbara every year.  This report was especially frustrating to me, because it is highly likely these birds were there when I was looking at them, but I did not identify them.  Note to self - pay attention, examine the common birds carefully, and be open to the unexpected.

I cycled to the harbor, proceeded out on Stearns Wharf, and began examining the Scoters floating in the harbor.  After a few minutes I found the Black Scoters, identified by the pale lower sides of the head and contrasting dark cap.  Eventually one came close enough for a decent photo.  Nice to see my second life bird in one week!  During this search I managed to add two other species to the list, Glaucous-winged Gull and Pelagic Cormorant.

Black Scoter, Santa Barbara Harbor

After success with the Black Scoter, I rode up to Rocky Nook Park, which is located near the Santa Barbara Mission.  Two days ago a Painted Redstart was located here.  This colorful member of the warbler family is more typically found in Southern Arizona, and can not be expected to be found in Santa Barbara every year.  I was lucky enough to find one last fall, which was the first reported sighting in Santa Barbara County in several years.

I arrived at the park and began searching in the area where the bird was reporting.  Within a few minutes I heard it calling, and then saw it flitting about in the treetops.  A difficult bird to photograph, I managed one rather poor photo, but proof nonetheless!  A fine morning, adding two species to the year list that I would have not expected to see.

Perhaps the world's worst photo of a Painted Redstart

Today I rode 10.2 miles.

More later,

Glenn

Day 3 - Santa Barbara Christmas Bird Count, "Greenish" Birding

January 3 was the Santa Barbara Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  This is an annual event held in many locations across the country, where on a specific day birders do a census of the birds within a specified count area.  The area is a circle, and the same size for each local count.  There is a bit of rivalry between counts to see who can tally the most species.  Santa Barbara is generally near the top of the list.  For me the best thing about the Santa Barbara count is that it attracts many skilled participants, both local from out of town.  Last year the Santa Barbara CBC had the most participants of any count in the United States.

As I had been assigned an area in the mountains, Green Birding was not possible as I needed to drive to my assigned area in the upper Santa Ynez River Valley (Paradise Road).  As it happens, the road is closed due to a rainstorm in December that dumped some debris on the road in a few places.  This presented me the opportunity to cycle across the river and up the valley on the closed road, which I did, hence "Greenish" Birding.  More on this in a moment.

The day started for me in the San Marcos Pass area.  My assignment there was to see a Scott's Oriole.  In general this is a rare species for Santa Barbara County, but one or more have been wintering in this area for many years.  This assignment is nerve-wracking for me, for if I do not find this bird it is quite possible that nobody else will.  I arrived shortly after 7AM, set up my scope where I was confident one would appear, and waited about 20 minutes before one actually did.  It posed nicely for my scope/camera setup, I snapped some photos and headed on to my next assignment.  In addition there were two other Scott's Orioles were seen during the count in a different location.

Scott's Oriole (adult male) Santa Barbara CBC

I arrived at the locked gate at Paradise Road and headed out on my mountain bike.  The car thermometer read 36 degrees.  My tires broke though a thin icy crust as I crossed the Santa Ynez River.  My plan was to ride to the Upper Oso campground to find Lawrence's Goldfinch.  It was very cold at first, but the sun came up and started to warm things up.  Soon a flock of Lesser Goldfinch and Pine Siskin were coming to the creek to drink and bathe.  After an hour of searching and following the flock around the area, I played a call of Lawrence's Goldfinch.  Immediately a small gray finch with a light bill and yellowish wash on the breast flew directly towards me and landed nearby on a branch - Lawrence's Goldfinch!  This was a great find, as one had not been recorded on the Santa Barbara CBC for about 5 years.

With this bird in hand (so to speak), I began the ride up to Gibraltar Reservoir.  Target bird there was Common Goldeneye.  This duck would likely not be seen anywhere else in the count area.  My route and elevation profile for this portion of the ride is shown below - a healthy climb in the middle!

Route from Lower Oso to Gibraltar Dam and back

About a mile up the road I looked up and saw a raptor soaring above the ridge.  The question here is always "Red-tailed Hawk?" and nearly 100% of the time the answer is yes.  In this case, the answer was no.  The bird was rather uniformly dark, front underside of wings darker, head lighter brown, and long finger-like feathers at the end of the wings.  Golden Eagle!  A very nice find.

The rest of the ride was unremarkable in the bird sense.  I arrived at the reservoir, and searched unsuccessfully for the Common Goldeneye.  Some other interesting ducks: Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser - but the target bird was not to be found.

On the return I got word that one of our target species, Rock Wren, had not yet been found.  I knew a pretty reliable spot for this.  After packing up the bike in the car, I stopped by Sage Hill Campground on the way back.  I got out of the car and started walking towards the likely spot.  Along the way I heard a Phainopepla calling from the top of an oak tree, then saw it - another desired species.  Just then a van pulled up and the "loud family" emerged.  Parents, 3 kids, and a dog.  They did not talk, they shouted.  I walked farther and farther from the campground, trying to escape the noise.  Finally I heard and then spotted the desired wren flitting around on a rock.  Success!

So I biked 19 miles, and saw some great birds.  However, since I did not leave from and return to home under my own power, these birds will not be included in the Green Year total.  Hence, "Greenish" birding.

More tomorrow,

Glenn

Day 2 - Varied Thrush

This morning I had a little time for Green Birding, so I set off for a brief visit to a local park and the Santa Barbara Waterfront.  I did not have a great deal of time, so I planned on ticking off some species I knew I was likely to find, rather than extensive surveys of all species present.

The first target bird was a Varied Thrush.  This bird has been described by a friend of mine as the "Sport Model" of Thrushes.  Here is a photo of a Varied Thrush I took last month in Santa Maria, California.

One reason I was eager to see the local Varied Thrush is that they typically are not very abundant in our area.  For some reason this year we have been invaded by them, and they seem to be everywhere!

To illustrate this, here are a couple of images showing Varied Thrush sighting report from ebird.  ebird allows birders to report and keep track of their sightings, and search the database for sightings.  This is perhaps the most significant development in birding in recent history.  Throughout the year there will no doubt be more from me about ebird.  Anyway, the top image shows Varied Thrush sightings around Santa Barbara for the years 2008-2013 (5 years of sightings).  The second image shows the sightings from 2014.  Quite a difference!

Varied Thrush Sightings 2008-2013

Varied Thrush Sightings 2014

With transient species such as this, it is best to "get while the getting's good" which is exactly what I did.  I left around sunrise, pedaled the mile or so to Mesa Park, and within 10 minutes had my Green Big Year Varied Thrush sighting.  Perhaps there will be more Varied Thrushes this year.

I proceeded downhill towards the beach.  As I dropped in elevation, the air got colder and colder.  When I hit the beach to look for my next targets, there was frost on the grass.  Now folks from another part of the world may think this is no big deal, but it is rather unusual to get frost at the beach in Santa Barbara.  This did not seem to bother my next targets, a group of geese that have been reported for a few days - 4 Greater White-fronted Geese and a Cackling Goose.  They were eagerly nibbling away at the frosty grass.

A look over at the beach yielded one of my favorite species, the Black Skimmer, there were about 40 of them.  When I get a chance I'll post a photo of these interesting birds.  

Scanning over the harbor from the pier, there was a large group if Surf Scoters.  These are sea ducks that dive for mollusks, such as mussels and clams.  The cool part is that they eat them whole.  Here is a photo of an immature male Surf Scoter I took last fall in Goleta.  I searched through the group, looking for a rarer White-winged Scoter, but could not find one.

Immature Male Surf Scoter

I returned home by 9AM and had added 9 species to the year list.

I biked 8.5 miles.

Tomorrow is the Santa Barbara Christmas Bird Count.  I have been assigned an area in the mountains.  There will be some biking, but I will drive to the trailhead, so this will not be included in my Green Big Year Tally.

More Later,

Glenn

Day 1 - A good start!

A little long-winded post, but a great start to the year!

For me January 1st is always an exciting day to look forward.  Today had the added excitement of beginning the Green Big Year.  I started the project by watching the birds visiting our feeder and bath in the yard.  This morning it was just about as cold as it gets here in Santa Barbara, perhaps below freezing.

This did not appear to slow down the birds.  The first species of the year I identified was a White-crowned Sparrow, chipping away at the ice in the birdbath.  Well not really, but I was surprised this little Sparrow was intent on taking the polar plunge.  An hour of watching in the yard yielded 22 species.  Nothing highly unusual, the most notable bird was a White-throated Sparrow which I see here from time to time.

With the temperature warming up a bit I hopped on the bike (forgetting my camera in the process) and pedaled about 10+ miles out to Lake Los Carneros in Goleta.  A Nelson's Sparrow Had been spotted there yesterday afternoon.  It has been several years since this species has been seen in Santa Barbara County, so it generated some excitement among local birders.  When I arrived several of them were searching the area for said bird.  I would have preferred that they all had their binoculars pointed at this bird when I arrived, but it was not to be, and it has not been reported again as I write this.  The transient nature of such sightings is par for the course.

A consolation was the presence of two immature Thayer's Gulls, a species I had yet to positively identify in person.  Adding a species to one's life list is a good way to start the year!  I spent some time birding around the lake, enjoying the warming temperatures.  I collected another 26 species before departing.

Next stop was Devereux Slough and environs.  I was hoping to see the Orioles - a female Bullock's Oriole and a Male Baltimore Oriole have been reported here for a couple weeks.  Earlier in the morning I had gotten directions for a blooming Eucalyptus Tree that they favor.  Sure enough, within a few minutes of arrival I had great views of both Orioles, the Baltimore being especially gorgeous.  As a bonus a Nashville Warbler (also previously reported) was there as well.  3 unusual birds straight away - the morning was going quite well!  I spent about an hour looking over the slough, adding 19 species to the day's total.

Moving along to Coal Oil Point, which is located near the mouth of the slough, and provides a good vantage over the beach and sea.  The tide was very low, and there were many shorebirds present.  Also a good amount of activity out over the water - a spotting scope would have been helpful (I need to figure out how I can haul my scope around on the bike).  Another half hour or so, and 18 species were added to the list - nothing out of the ordinary.

At this point I decided to start heading for home.  Of course there are always a few more places to check out along the way, so I stopped at the lagoon at UCSB for a quick look.  15 minutes and 8 species later, I was on the way.  One final look out over Goleta Bay yielded a couple of Surf Scoters - the last of the 94 species on the day.

This is certainly more than 1/3 of the species I am likely to see all year in this endeavor, so a fantastic start!

I rode 28 miles today, chilly but not much wind.

Happy New Year!

Glenn