Carpinteria Christmas Bird Count, 2016-12-18Whew! It’s…
Carpinteria Christmas Bird Count, 2016-12-18
Whew! It’s done!
Doing the CBC at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh today was a lot of fun. The people in my group were real troopers. We started at first light and kept going until just before sundown with just one short break for lunch. We saw lots of great birds, including the Greater Roadrunner and Cooper’s Hawk above.
I was frustrated at not getting some of the really good birds I’d had during my scouting trips over the past week. On the other hand I got a number of birds that I hadn’t seen during scouting, so it all worked out.
The highlight for me was when we were out by the entrance lagoon checking out a mixed group of shorebirds: a bunch of Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderlings, mostly. As I was looking at the group through my binoculars a gray blur suddenly swooped in from the side moving really fast: a Peregrine Falcon! The shorebirds exploded in all directions and the Peregrine flew off with one of them (a Sanderling, I think) in its talons.
I’m looking forward to next year. Rob, the count organizer, has asked me to help out with the organizing, so I’ll probably be doing more next time around. That’ll be fun.
Details follow:
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park, Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 18, 2016 6:36 AM – 10:18 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: Carp CBC outings #1 and 2
58 species (+2 other taxa)
Mallard 5
Blue-winged Teal 8
Green-winged Teal 14
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) 1 Continuing male
Bufflehead 19
Ruddy Duck 1
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Western Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Brown Pelican 2
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 7
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 6 Continuing birds at the Sandyland Cove Road bridge.
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 2
Cooper’s Hawk 2 1 adult, 1 immature
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 14
Long-billed Dowitcher 26
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Willet 11
Ring-billed Gull 1
Western Gull 8
California Gull 4
gull sp. 38
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 8
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Greater Roadrunner 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 13
Allen’s Hummingbird 15
Belted Kingfisher 1 Female
Black Phoebe 4
Say’s Phoebe 2
California Scrub-Jay 5
American Crow 6
Bushtit 11
House Wren 2
Marsh Wren 6
Bewick’s Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
California Thrasher 2
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling 1
American Pipit 3
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 8
Townsend’s Warbler 1
Dark-eyed Junco 2
White-crowned Sparrow 43
Golden-crowned Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 4
California Towhee 7
Western Meadowlark 17
House Finch 26
House Sparrow 6
View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2hKmEuV
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 18, 2016 10:20 AM – 10:49 AM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: Birding from west end of Avenue Del Mar
16 species
Canada Goose 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Brown Pelican 1
Snowy Egret 1
Black-bellied Plover 3
Snowy Plover 1
Semipalmated Plover 7
Long-billed Curlew 10
Marbled Godwit 1
Sanderling 50
Willet 56
Forster’s Tern 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Loggerhead Shrike 1
American Crow 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2hyNQif
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 18, 2016 12:06 PM – 4:34 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.5 mile(s)
Comments: Entered marsh at Estero Way, birded to marsh mouth lagoon, then along marsh edge to Santa Monica Creek and back, then outside fence along railroad tracks to near Santa Claus Lane and back.
50 species (+1 other taxa)
Brant 2 Didn’t have great views; two individuals seen in same location as on two previous scouting trips. They were distant, seen through the spotting scope with a significant amount of heat shimmer. They were two large, black waterfowl seen walking. I didn’t see more identifying details than that, but given that they were in the same location as the birds previously positively identified as Brant, and given the lack of alternative likely IDs, I’m comfortable saying I identified them as Brant.
Mallard 2
Bufflehead 17
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 17
American White Pelican 2 Seen by Deborah but not by other members of the party; we were distracted by a different bird and didn’t hear her calling our attention to them. She took photos and said she would forward them.
Brown Pelican 6
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 4
Turkey Vulture 7
Osprey 2
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Black-bellied Plover 26
Semipalmated Plover 12
Killdeer 9
Whimbrel 2
Long-billed Curlew 7
Marbled Godwit 7
Sanderling 20
Least Sandpiper 3
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Willet 30
jaeger sp. 2
Heermann’s Gull 1
Western Gull 15
California Gull 15
Caspian Tern 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 46
Eurasian Collared-Dove 4
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Peregrine Falcon 1 Watched it attack a group of shorebirds and carry one off; believe the prey was a Sanderling.
Black Phoebe 1
Say’s Phoebe 1
Loggerhead Shrike 2
American Crow 7
Bushtit 14
Marsh Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
California Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
American Pipit 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
White-crowned Sparrow 42
Savannah Sparrow 12
Western Meadowlark 24
House Finch 18
House Sparrow 9
View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2hKfpTr
Reposted from http://ift.tt/2hyIwve.
Tags: carp without cars.
