Date: 10/15/24 4:15 pm From: Florence Sanchez via groups.io <sanchezucsb11...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Figueroa mountain Burn Area 10-15
I am very grateful to the birders who took the time to check out this area in August after the Forest reopened. I took advantage of cooler weather to check it out for myself this morning, as I usually plan to bird there frequently in winter and spring.
Even their clear descriptions did not quite prepare me for the extent of the burn or the amount of vegetation that was totally destroyed, especially on the Sedgewick Property. We apparently lost most of the pines on the north-facing slope of Figueroa Mountain along Catway Road. The peak area looked more spotty, but Pino Alto Road was closed so I couldn't go up there. The really devastated spot was between Pino Alto Road and the Figueroa Mountain Campground. Along one side of the road, everything burned in this swath.
I continued on to Ranger Peak, where the Big-cone Spruce Forest on the shady slope was more damaged than I'd hoped, though there are still patches of Spruce Trees. I stopped at East Pinery and walked down the road a few hundred yards. For the first couple of hundred feet, all the trees on the downhill slope of the canyon below were burned, but after that, it was patchy with individual Pine and Spruce trees still standing along with Canyon Oaks in various stages of scorching. In general, the burn along this road is patchy.
by the time I reached East Pinery, it was 11 a.m. and I didn't expect much bird activity. Up to that point, I'd seen only Scrub Jays along the road. Nevertheless at East Pinery, I had Steller's Jays, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bushtits, Wrentit, Spotted Towhee, a singing Robin, and a Townsend's Warbler. That was encouraging.
I continued on down Cachuma Saddle, past Cachuma Camp, and back out on Happy Canyon Road. Most of the burn area along this section of road was on the south side of the road and Cachuma Camp was not touched.
One encouraging note is that the scrub oaks, manzanitas, and other shrubs are stump-sprouting, and some of the full-burned oaks are putting out leaves already. How much the remaining montane habitat will attract the birds we have looked for along this road in the past will simply have to be determined over time.
Florence Sanchez
