Date: 10/10/24 5:42 pm From: Nick Lethaby via groups.io <nlethaby...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Santa Barbara Island Oct 6-10
All,
Thanks to David and Annie at the NPS, I got a chance to head out on the NPS boat to Santa Barbara Island for a few days. to finally get back to my research project there. It was supposed to be 8 days but Navy exercises delayed the departure for 3 days. Birding was decent, but not exceptional throughout the trip. The first two days and a lot of fog and cold wind, bringing back memories of an infamous trip long ago when Wes spent 17 hours non-stop in his tent!
I had the following landbird migrants of interest to SB mainland birders:
Long-eared Owl - 1 Burrowing Owl - Perhaps a dozen on the island Merlin - 1 Vermillion Flycatcher - 1 Yellow-green Vireo - 1 Bobolink - 2 Lapland Longspur - 1 Palm Warbler - 1-2 Tennessee Warbler - 2 Ovenbird - 1 Prairie Warbler - 1 American Redstart - 2
Numbers and diversity of sparrows (no towhees) were much lower than normal and I was very surprised to see no Hermit Thrushes. Of interest was the consistent presence of Song Sparrows that may be recolonizing the island.
I checked the booby colony through my scope and the 2 BF Boobies were still in with Brown's.
Regards,
Nick Lethaby Goleta, CA <nlethaby...> +1 805 284 6200
