Gull onofficial business watching over the sanctuary.
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary protects 1,470 square miles of ocean waters around the Northern Channel Islands: Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara islands. A special place for endangered species, sensitive habitats, historic shipwrecks, and cultural resources, the sanctuary provides protection through research, education, conservation, and stewardship.
The likeliest bird for your mystery stripy warbler is probably Black-throated Gray Warbler. There aren’t a lot of them around, but there are definitely a few. (I saw my first of the year a few days ago.) Another possibility is Black-and-white Warbler. That would be a significantly rarer bird, but still possible.
Black-and-white Warbler has a characteristic foraging style of creeping along trunks and branches like a nuthatch. It also has a slightly droopy, downward-curved beak. Black-throated Gray is more of a “typical” warbler in the sense of having a straight beak and a foraging style of flitting around in foliage.
There are some other differences in their appearance that are pretty obvious once you know what to look for. Black-and-white Warbler has longitudinal striping over the top half of the head; basically a really stripy black-and-white crown. It continues that pattern by having bold black-and-white longitudinal stripes on its back. Black-throated Gray has a solid crown but big, curvy, white stripes across the face. They also sometimes have a little yellow spot in front of the eye, which is hard to see but distinctive if you do see it. They have more of a solid gray on the back.
Checking the eBird histogram for the Salesforce Park hotspot, it looks like there have been reports of Black-throated Gray Warbler there before, so that definitely seems like a possibility. Yours would be the first reported sighting outside of fall migration, though, which would be kind of exciting.
I used to think the same thing (that I couldn’t afford a dedicated DSLR with a big lens, so why bother?), but over the last few years I’ve changed my thinking (obviously). These days I carry a bridge camera (a Sony RX10 Mark IV) whenever I’m actively birding , and if I’m being honest I probably go to it sooner than I should, sometimes even before the binoculars.
It’s a tricky question, and every situation is different. If I see a “good” bird (i.e., one that’s unusual, where I know or suspect I’m going to want to document it) I have to decide: use my bins, which will give me the best view now, or go for the photo, which will give me a relatively poor view now but with a chance for a photo I can study and share later. If it’s a (potentially) rare bird flitting around in foliage I might just get one brief identifiable glimpse. Looking through the binoculars improves the chances I’ll get that glimpse; going for the photo is harder, but with a higher payoff in terms of having documentation if I’m successful.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But back to your actual question. Yes, there are a lot of options short of a good camera + big lens that are worth considering. Bridge cameras like the one I use are kind of in the middle; my Sony weighs 2.4 pounds, is bulky enough that it’s not going in my pocket, and it cost what for me was a fair amount, though still a lot less than a high-end setup.
For someone who isn’t sure they want to incur that amount of expense and hassle, the “compact superzoom” option I was talking about with @anonsally makes a lot of sense, I think. I don’t have one myself, though I see other birders pulling them out, and they’re certainly a big step up from a cellphone camera. I might think about getting one just so I can literally always have it in my pocket.
Here’s a writeup of a number of those. They’re pocket-sized, weigh about 5-10 ounces, and range in price from about $200 – $300.
Like I was saying before, everyone watches birds for their own reasons. For some people the complications of trying to get photos is going to detract from the fun. But I get a lot out of it. It has taught me a lot about the finer points of identification. It makes me happy to have those records of the birds I’ve seen, and to know I’m contributing valuable community science data.
