Field Trip Reports Santa Barbara Rare Birds By Sheila Golburgh Johnson On January 10, at about 9:30 am, a cheerful group of about 25 birdwatchers, led by the intrepid Paul Keller, spread out at the San Marcos Foothills Coalition property to try to spot the Verdin that was sighted during the Christmas Bird Count. Although we spent about an hour looking, nobody saw the Verdin, a tiny gray bird with a bright yellow head and throat that is usually found in desert areas such as around the Salton Sea and Palm Springs. However, the sun was warm, the air fragrant, and we did see several other birds that made a great stop: a Red-breasted Sapsucker, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a California Thrasher, a Say's Phoebe, several Yellow-rumped Warblers (often called "Butter Butts" by ornithology students at UCSB), a couple of Fox Sparrows, and the usual assortment of White-crowned Sparrows, House Finches, California Towhees, Scrub Jays, and a Red-tailed Hawk. The next stop at UCSB to find the female Williamson's Sapsucker proved far more fruitful (birdful?). This rare bird (for our area) obliged us by busily pecking holes in a Canary Pine in typical horizontal Sapsucker fashion, on the bare areas of the tree trunk that were not obscured by needles. By the time our entire group was gathered, however, she flew around to the other side of the building, where she found another Canary Pine and continued drilling. I'm sure there must have been other birds around, but I was so intent on this Williamson's Sapsucker, a new bird for me, that I never noticed any others. Devereux Slough, our third stop, held quite a bit of water with an incoming tide. We did find our target bird, the Eurasian Wigeon, and had fun sorting out an abundance of ducks, among them Northern Shovelers, Pintails, three female Hooded Mergansers, Redheads, a Ruddy Duck, Greater Scaup, American Wigeon, as well as a Pied-billed Grebe, a pair of Double-crested Cormorants, Greater Yellowlegs, a Belted Kingfisher, numerous Black-crowned Night Herons with the adults in their nuptial plumage, assorted Herons, Egrets, Gulls, and Sandpipers. Throughout, Paul was a veritable fountain of bird knowledge, and at noon invited anyone who was interested to stay and look for the Baltimore Oriole.

It is January 24 and I have just returned from my first local Audubon birding outing. It was led by Dave Compton and, from my perspective, co-led by Paul Keller who drove the car I was in. We went to Figueroa Mountain making stops along the way which I can't pinpoint since I've only been in the state three weeks. Wherever we were, we saw a nice amount of birds on this cold, blustery and occasionally damp day. As a new resident of California, I was fortunate to see four life birds: Yellow-billed Magpies, a California Thrasher, an Oak Titmouse, and Wrentits. The 14 of us, caravanning in four cars, saw Red-tailed Hawks, the melodious Meadowlark, TVs, a Ferruginous Hawk, Western Bluebirds looking sharp in their little vests, the ever-popular House Finch, and a familiar sight from my former home in central Arizona, the Western Scrub-Jay.

Traveling from site to site Paul helped me learn the new flora of the area by pointing out live oaks, valley oaks, blue oaks (which grow at higher elevations), grey pines with their big chocolate cones, lace lichen, California holly (perhaps the name-sake of Hollywood?), golden cup oaks with their ping-pong size acorns, coulter pines, and big cone spruce. Of course, I was already familiar with the big pumpkin ponderosa pines; it was heartwarming to see them again.

Back to birds. We saw a flock of Brewer's and Red-winged Blackbirds, Crows, Ravens, White-crowned Sparrows, Acorn Woodpeckers, and Say's Phoebes with their mournful call. We heard a Bewick's Wren but were unable to see it. Let me rephrase that: Dave was able to identify the Bewick's Wren by its call. I have never birded with anyone with such an ear for bird vocalizations. What an added bonus to my experience! Mark was in his own car up ahead of us on the mountain road and called back telling us where he'd seen a Rock Wren. We drove to the mile marker and, lo and behold, it was there! At the top of the mountain, additional birds we saw were a Steller's Jay, a White-breasted Nuthatch, a Dark-eyed Junco, a Pygmy Nuthatch (by sound only), and an Anna's hummingbird. Yes, those were singular sightings. Our competent leader was sorry to say that he believed that was the least amount of birds he'd ever seen there. I was not disappointed, however, but happy to be seeing a part of my new state.

Heading homeward the lead car saw a bobcat and we all saw a colorful flock of Lesser Goldfinch and finally, an Osprey on a wire near Lake Cachuma. Thank you, leaders and fellow bird-spotters for an enjoyable day.

What a glorious day at the lake. Not only was the day perfect but I for one added a lifer bird to my list. Yes, thanks to Guy Tingos for volunteering to lead the field trip and to Constance Thayer, whose keen spotting abilities enabled all 35+ participants to view a Wilson Snipe. Even when I was given an exact location of the species I had a difficult time actually identifying it because of the bird's great camouflage coloring; however, thanks to a couple of very good spotting scopes we were able to get a very clear view of the bird and I was able to add it to my life list. That was certainly the highlight of the Audubon field trip; however, it was a very good birding day as over 30 species were recorded.

These Phainopeplas were high in a tree at Lake Los Carneros: male on the left, and female on the right. Photo courtesy Roger Millikan

We started the walk by viewing a Hooded Oriole, Northern Mockingbird, Black Phoebe, American Robin and California Towhee near the train station. From there we proceeded around the Stow House where we spotted several Cedar Waxwings, an Anna's Hummingbird's nest, a Northern Flicker and a California Thrasher. So we were already off to a good start and we hadn't even begun to walk around the lake. As we proceeded around the lake, a Bewick's Wren was spotted along with a White-tailed Kite, two Western Bluebirds, a Great Egret and a Spotted Towhee. On the lake, we recorded American Coots, Ruddy Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, a Mallard, some Gadwalls and a Northern Shoveler (?). Overhead was a Turkey Vulture, Barn Swallows and a Red-tailed hawk. The Wilson's Snipe was spotted in a very, very, small pond to the north of where the ducks are fed by visitors. Before crossing the wooded bridge that takes us back to our starting point, a Phainopepla was located in a nearby tree. While on the bridge a male Belted Kingfisher was spotted, as were several Red-winged Blackbirds, a Black Phoebe and two Black-crowned Night Herons. Besides the birds already listed, other more common species such as Western Scrub Jays, Mourning Doves, American Crows, House Finches and Brewer's Blackbirds were also spotted . Guy also spotted two Common Ravens flying overhead and a Marsh Wren was heard but not seen.

It is my observation that what makes these field trips so interesting and enjoyable is having so many eyes spotting the birds and pooling information along with someone knowledgeable like Guy to identify, explain and answer any questions the group might have. If you haven't experienced an Audubon birding field trip you should by all means try it; you might like it. Plus the price is right - FREE.

Condor Field Trip Report
Saturday August 28, 2004

By Sheila Golburgh Johnson

On a foggy Saturday morning, August 28, a group of SBAS members left the SB Bird Refuge in a caravan headed for Fillmore where we met Richard Posey, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. From Fillmore Richard guided us to the Hopper Mountain Wildlife Refuge where California Condors had nested this spring. This area is closed to the general public, and we are grateful to our leader, Jack Sanford, for organizing the trip. Zigzagging up and down the steep, winding road to Hopper Canyon, a few of us managed to mistake another USFWS vehicle for the head van, and had to stop and do a white-knuckled 360 degree turn to catch up with our guide. As our car hesitated on the road, we saw the unmistakable great black birds with the white undersurface on their forerewings and jumped out of the car to catch good looks at two Condors slowly circling over the valley below the road. At twice the size of a Turkey Vulture, the Condor is awesome at first sighting. It was a great look, even though we were trying to pay attention to the other lost car and to Richard, who was trying to gather us together again.

Re-united, we parked on Pinnacle Ridge and stood looking out at Hopper Canyon where the birds are fed. It wasn't long before we saw two Condors circling at the opposite side of the canyon, too far to get a detailed look. As often happens with birdwatching, however, patience rewarded us. About ten minutes after that far-off pair disappeared from view, a Condor rose on thermal spirals on our side of the canyon, and as we watched its magnificent flight, another rose to join it. The two of them circled slowly for a while less than a couple of hundred yards from us, and I had a chance to study them carefully. It is an unforgettable sight to watch a California Condor circle: great extended wings tipped with spread, finger-like primaries, and bare-skinned head extended. Don Johnson watched one rise from below our sight line to about 25 feet from him. Altogether, we must have seen about six Condors

Condor #56 in flight. Photo courtesy Jack Sanford.

About 11:30 we climbed back in our cars and Richard led us down into the canyon to the Hopper Ranch to eat lunch. On the way down, one of us spotted a Condor on a branch of a tree about three hundred yards from the road. The caravan stopped so that we could get a good look at it, and through a scope we could see the Condor's crop and bill. Not easily startled, the great bird was still sitting there when we headed once more towards the ranch.

At the ranch, I had a chance to find out about the roads that stitch their way across the golden hills like a quilt, anchored by oil tanks and pumps here and there, some of the pumps actually working. It turned out that long before Los Padres National Forest was established, the oil field was there with a deed for mineral rights that goes back as far as the 1890's.

It was a wonderful trip, yet many questions about the Condor program remain unanswered. Of the three chicks that were hatched this spring, only one survived. Blood tests are being conducted to find out if there were toxins involved, which would have a dire effect on the future generations. Also, the adults are fed artificially, since conditions have changed so much since Condors flourished in prehistoric times. Fossil records indicate their numbers reached a peak in the Pleistocene, millions of years ago. They are a living fossil that has survived only through immense human effort and resources, which may not be enough.

Our field trip to the Cruz ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley was a very rewarding experience. Stopping on the way to the ranch, we were treated to an extended viewing of a Ferruginous Hawk and a White-tailed Kite. The ranch house, surrounded by many trees, berry bushes and bird feeders was a veritable oasis, teeming with birds, surrounded by pasture land and harrowed fields. Within 100 feet of the ranch house over 50 species of birds were observed, including Cedar Waxwings, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Hummingbirds and Yellow-billed Magpies. Our gracious hostess Cruz Phillips then took us to other areas on her 1500 acre ranch. We observed other types of birds in the canyons, including a Roadrunner. Our many thanks to Cruz Phillips!

Winchester Canyon
Friday November 19, 2004

List of Birds