Carp Without Cars

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.

Carpinteria Salt Marsh, December 17, 2016

Last scouting day before the Christmas count. Crack of dawn tomorrow I’ll start at that “Dangerous Sea Wall” sign, then will spend the rest of the daylight hours counting birds in the marsh.

Today’s highlight was a male Eurasian Teal hanging out with the Green-wingeds in the city marsh park basin. The AOU in their wisdom deems him only a subspecies, but it still was fun to find him, and to watch the whole group chasing each other and displaying.

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park, Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 17, 2016 10:10 AM – 12:01 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.75 mile(s)
Comments:     Entered at Sandyland Cove Road, walked to the bridge at Avenue Del Mar, then backtracked and walked through the Carp Marsh Park to the beach.
35 species (+2 other taxa)

Mallard  7
Blue-winged Teal  9
Green-winged Teal  13
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian)  1     Adult male with a group of green-winged teal. Similar to green-winged, but no “pencil mark” on shoulder, buffy edging on facial pattern and horizontal buffy strip along lower edge of folded wing.
Bufflehead  7
loon sp.  1
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Western Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Brown Pelican  4
Great Blue Heron  2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  4     Continuing birds. Along bank east of Sandyland Cove Road bridge.
Turkey Vulture  7
Osprey  1
American Coot  7
Long-billed Dowitcher  17
Western Gull  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  27
Anna’s Hummingbird  5
Allen’s Hummingbird  4
Say’s Phoebe  1
California Scrub-Jay  2
American Crow  10
House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
California Thrasher  2
Common Yellowthroat  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
White-crowned Sparrow  15
Golden-crowned Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
California Towhee  1
Western Meadowlark  14
House Finch  12
House Sparrow  4

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2hLaFN1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Reposted from http://ift.tt/2hGT3F7.

Carpinteria salt marsh, December 15, 2016

There was a decent high tide at the marsh this morning, and rain due over the next couple of days, so I took advantage of one of my last good chances to do scouting before Sunday’s count. Highlights were a single female Pintail and a neat patch of flowering Salt Marsh Dodder growing by the railroad tracks.

Also, the way it looked when the rain started falling.

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 15, 2016 7:35 AM – 9:49 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Scoped the marsh from Estero Way, then walked the railroad tracks to Sand Point Road and back. Tide was 6’ at the beginning, topped out at 6.8’ at the end.

47 species

Brant  2
Mallard  6
Blue-winged Teal  5
Northern Pintail  1     Female
Green-winged Teal  6
Bufflehead  3
Red-breasted Merganser  2
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Brown Pelican  1
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  4
Snowy Egret  8
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Killdeer  21
Whimbrel  1
Long-billed Curlew  16
Greater Yellowlegs  3
Willet  115
Western Gull  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  22
Eurasian Collared-Dove  12
Anna’s Hummingbird  4
Belted Kingfisher  1     Female
Black Phoebe  3
Say’s Phoebe  2
California Scrub-Jay  1
American Crow  10
Bushtit  14
Marsh Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
European Starling  1
American Pipit  1
Orange-crowned Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  7
Townsend’s Warbler  1
White-crowned Sparrow  4
Savannah Sparrow  1
California Towhee  1
House Finch  4
House Sparrow  1

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2hzwfH2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Reposted from http://ift.tt/2hCtQse.

High tide at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh

It was a 7′ high tide, which is about as high as it gets around here, so I did another CBC scouting trip this morning.

Photos:

• The western end of the marsh completely full of water, with a cute Pied-billed Grebe in the lower right. It was awesome to set up the spotting scope and be able to see everything; at lower tides the birds tend to hide down in the channels.
• Crappy digiscoped view with a male Shoveler in the lower left, a Royal Tern toward the right, and Willets and Long-billed Curlews in the middle. In the back are some smaller shorebirds: a Black-bellied Plover on the left, and some harder-to-identify (at least in this shot) birds on the right.
• What I’m calling a first-year Glaucous-winged Gull. I’ve forwarded the photo to the count organizer for a second opinion, but I think it looks pretty solid.
• The lagoon at the marsh entrance. You can’t tell from the photo, but the tide had turned and there was about a 2-knot current setting out the entrance.
• Another crappy digiscoped photo, this time of a mixed flock at the edge of the marsh lagoon. Lots of Black-bellied Plovers, a handful of Semipalmated Plovers, a couple of Sanderlings, and (because I identified them visually, not because you can tell in this shot) some Western Sandpipers. Also, toward the left side of the photo, there’s a bird that’s a little bigger than the Sanderlings and considerably smaller than the Black-bellied Plovers; I’m calling that a Dunlin (one of three I identified visually, though I didn’t take the time to get a good photo).

The full list via eBird:

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 13, 2016 8:22 AM – 10:47 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Tide 7’ max.
55 species (+2 other taxa)

Brant  2
American Wigeon  2
Mallard  32
Northern Shoveler  1
Green-winged Teal  4
Bufflehead  15
Red-breasted Merganser  2
Pied-billed Grebe  4
Double-crested Cormorant  33
Brown Pelican  1
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  6
Snowy Egret  8
Osprey  1
Northern Harrier  1     Female hunting near south side of marsh
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Black-bellied Plover  45
Semipalmated Plover  6
Killdeer  18
Whimbrel  3
Long-billed Curlew  19
Sanderling  4
Dunlin  3
Least Sandpiper  4
Western Sandpiper  6
peep sp.  15
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  6
Willet  115
Ring-billed Gull  1
Western Gull  1
California Gull  1
Glaucous-winged Gull  1     1st year
gull sp.  1
Caspian Tern  2
Forster’s Tern  1
Royal Tern  1
Eurasian Collared-Dove  9
Belted Kingfisher  1     Female
Black Phoebe  1
Say’s Phoebe  1
Loggerhead Shrike  1
American Crow  23
Bushtit  1
Marsh Wren  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  3
American Pipit  25
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
White-crowned Sparrow  32
Golden-crowned Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  24
Song Sparrow  1
Western Meadowlark  7
House Finch  3
House Sparrow  2

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2hC0hKW

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Reposted from http://ift.tt/2gxMwaU.

My little big day

I birdwatched (almost) continually from sunrise to sunset today as part of getting ready for next Sunday’s Christmas bird count. It was lots of fun. I’m tired, but not too bad.

If I’m reading the merged record in eBird correctly I had 64 species total, which isn’t bad considering I stuck pretty much to one chunk of habitat and didn’t drive at all (except that my partner in crime was nice enough to pick me up for a quick lunch and drop me off again after).

Technically two of the shots above (upper right and lower left) were taken yesterday rather than today. But that’s basically where I was today as well.

I kept 5 separate eBird lists over the course of the day.

List #1:

Home, Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 11, 2016 6:40 AM – 6:58 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
10 species (+1 other taxa)

Western Gull  13
gull sp.  7
Anna’s Hummingbird  5
Allen’s Hummingbird  1
Black Phoebe  1
American Crow  18
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5
White-crowned Sparrow  8
California Towhee  1
Brewer’s Blackbird  8

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2gQ6izo

List #2:

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park, Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 11, 2016 6:59 AM – 9:51 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments:     With Rob
49 species (+2 other taxa)

Mallard  16
Blue-winged Teal  15
Northern Pintail  3
Bufflehead  8
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Western Grebe  20
Double-crested Cormorant  11
Brown Pelican  6
Great Blue Heron  4
Great Egret  2
Snowy Egret  3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  3     Continuing birds at south end of Sandyland Cove Road.
Turkey Vulture  6
Osprey  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
American Coot  5
Long-billed Curlew  2
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Willet  1
Heermann’s Gull  10
Western Gull  8
gull sp.  20
Forster’s Tern  1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  10
Anna’s Hummingbird  7
Allen’s Hummingbird  3
Black Phoebe  3
Say’s Phoebe  1
Loggerhead Shrike  1
California Scrub-Jay  3
American Crow  41
Bushtit  21
House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  4
wren sp.  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3
Wrentit  2
California Thrasher  2
Northern Mockingbird  3
Common Yellowthroat  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
White-crowned Sparrow  38
Golden-crowned Sparrow  2
Savannah Sparrow (Belding’s)  1
Song Sparrow  7
Lincoln’s Sparrow  3
California Towhee  1
Western Meadowlark  4
House Finch  19
House Sparrow  6

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2heFDPN

List #3:

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 11, 2016 10:01 AM – 11:12 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
Comments:     Walking the RR tracks from Sandyland Cove Road to Estero Way, scoping into the marsh.
33 species

Mallard  3
Bufflehead  2
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Brown Pelican  1
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  1
Turkey Vulture  5
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Killdeer  3
Whimbrel  4
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Willet  7
Eurasian Collared-Dove  5
Anna’s Hummingbird  2
Allen’s Hummingbird  2
Black Phoebe  1
California Scrub-Jay  2
American Crow  10
House Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
California Thrasher  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
Common Yellowthroat  4
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
White-crowned Sparrow  34
Savannah Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1
Lincoln’s Sparrow  2
Western Meadowlark  8
House Finch  4
House Sparrow  16

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2gQ9fzU

List #4:

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 11, 2016 12:08 PM – 2:09 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments:     With Mario and Nancy. Estero Way to marsh mouth lagoon and return.
31 species (+1 other taxa)

Brant  1
Bufflehead  8
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  5
American White Pelican  2     Two circled overhead before landing near the cormorants in the middle of the western part of the marsh.
Great Blue Heron  4
Great Egret  4
Snowy Egret  3
Turkey Vulture  2
Osprey  2
Black-bellied Plover  15
Semipalmated Plover  3
Whimbrel  4
Long-billed Curlew  13
Marbled Godwit  9
Sanderling  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Willet  107
Ring-billed Gull  1
Western Gull  5
gull sp.  1
Black Phoebe  1
Say’s Phoebe  3
Loggerhead Shrike  1
American Crow  1
Bushtit  19
Northern Mockingbird  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
White-crowned Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  2
Western Meadowlark  13
House Finch  10

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2heDW4O

List #5:

Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (restricted access), Santa Barbara, California, US
Dec 11, 2016 2:18 PM – 4:44 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Estero Way entrance to marsh mouth lagoon and return, with Deborah.
35 species (+1 other taxa)

Mallard  2
Bufflehead  12
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Western Grebe  3
Double-crested Cormorant  7
American White Pelican  2
Brown Pelican  1
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  2
Black-bellied Plover  15
Semipalmated Plover  16
Whimbrel  2
Long-billed Curlew  6
Marbled Godwit  3
Sanderling  1
Long-billed Dowitcher  2
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Willet  50
Ring-billed Gull  2     Watched one repeatedly get a bivalve (mussel?) from low-tide exposed channel bed, fly over to a cobble bed and drop it to break it open. Deborah got photos.
Western Gull  25
Caspian Tern  1
tern sp.  7
Say’s Phoebe  1
Loggerhead Shrike  1
American Crow  1
Bushtit  2
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Pipit  2
Common Yellowthroat  1
White-crowned Sparrow  4
Western Meadowlark  9
House Finch  6

View this checklist online at http://ift.tt/2gQ6XRH

(I walked home after this, but I didn’t birdwatch. Instead I played Pokemon.)

Reposted from http://ift.tt/2hesbeR.