Date: 11/18/24 9:36 am From: Alex Castelein via groups.io <alex.castelein...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Cuyama Weekend - Sparrow Bonanza, Lark Lollapalooza, etc
Hey everyone,
This weekend Linus Blomqvist and I spent two nights camping at Bates, and spent all our daylight hours birding the Cuyama Valley for a full day and a half. On Saturday, we spent the majority of our time at several spots along the 33, some usual and some new to us. That day the stars of the show were sparrows, with several low density species found.
We started in Deer Park Canyon, where Black-throated and Brewer's Sparrows are known to winter in small numbers. Linus spotted one *Black-throated Sparrow*, but we were unable to find any Brewer's here. The most exciting event here was the great showing of Bell's Sparrows, which is a species I wanted to look through carefully this weekend. We saw close to 40, which were primarily subspecies *canescens*, with a couple *belli *present as well. We also had a handful of Mountain Bluebirds and our only Rock Wren of the weekend here. As always with this spot, PLEASE exercise caution and closely follow the instructions for access. It is only accessible via a public easement through private property with owners who are not fond of birders. Detailed instructions can be found here: https://birdinghotspots.org/hotspot/L7547123
Next up was Santa Barbara Pistachio, where we didn't have anything unusual, but did have our only Lincoln's Sparrow of the weekend. I highly recommend trying their pistachios, particularly the Hot Onion Garlic flavor. Great birding snack!
At the base of Quatal Canyon, we had our only Lawrence's Goldfinch, Ring-necked Ducks, and Red-breasted Sapsucker. In the grasslands to the south, we had our first couple Vesper Sparrows and Horned Larks. There were small numbers of Mountain Bluebirds along some stretches of the 33 here.
Next up was a new spot close to the mouth of Ballinger Canyon, where we wanted to scout out habitat and where I particularly wanted to look closely at 'Sage' Sparrows (Bell's/Sagebrush). As you already know, that ended up being a very fruitful endeavor, as there was a *Sagebrush Sparrow* among the dozens of *canescens* Bell's. We were swimming in sparrows here, and also turned up a minimum of 7 *Brewer's Sparrows.* Linus then spotted a pair of *California Condors* soaring far to our (north?)east. Unfortunately I was unable to get on them. Which county's airspace those birds were actually in is very difficult to say, with 3 different options. As mentioned in my previous email, please contact me privately for details regarding how to bird this spot.
A quick note on Sagebrush Sparrow- this is obviously a tough species to separate from Bell's, and has likely been overlooked in Cuyama in the past. THis is especially since the two species were only split in 2013 and didn't generate as much interest until they became countable. They used to be considered a single species called 'Sage' Sparrow, until studied more closely by Cicero et al. and a few others in the preceding years. Other birders have shown that Sagebrush Sparrows regularly winter in other desert habitat throughout inland SoCal (especially the Antelope Valley and Borrego Springs) and other suitable habitat in California, like the Panoche Valley. I was hoping this would be the case in Cuyama as well, and especially considering this individual, it seems quite likely. Evidently, any 'Sage' Sparrows observed from November-March in the valley should be scrutinized to make sure more Sagebrush are not being overlooked. Anywhere on the valley floor with sparse arid vegetation would likely be suitable. The article I linked and webinars Jaime linked in the previous thread are great resources to get an idea of what to look for, both in terms of habitat and identification.
Back to the birding- Linus and I proceeded to enjoy a quick celebratory lunch on Stubblefield Road in Kern County, to the northeast of Cuyama. The birds were inactive here overall, but Linus spotted our first Ferruginous Hawk of the weekend circling to our east.
Heading back west, we checked Richardson Park in New Cuyama, which had many sparrows. There was a Chipping Sparrow among the Lark, Savannah, and White-crowned Sparrows. Caliente Ranch Wetlands held 5 each of Wilson's Snipe and Green-winged Teal.
Nearing the end of the day, we drove up Wasioja Road and had our first Prairie Falcon and an impressive flock of close to 1000 blackbirds and starlings in a cattle field close to the end of the road. We ended the day shooting up to the ridge above Bates Canyon for some beautiful views of the sunset and moonrise.
On Sunday we had to leave around noon, so we decided to focus almost all of our efforts on the agricultural land at the foot of the valley. The main goals here were Mountain Plover and longspurs, but (spoiler) we seemed to have used up our luck with the Sagebrush Sparrow. At one point, Linus likely heard and briefly saw a Chestnut-collared Longspur when we were separated, but didn't get enough on it to call it with 100% certainty.
Before doing that, we checked was one of the roads going south from the 33 in the grasslands, which had many sparrows all along the road. There were dozens of Savannah, Lark, and White-crowned, plus a handful of Vesper. Additionally, rare for Cuyama was a Long-billed Curlew standing alone in a grassy field here.
The main theme of the day was the sheer number of Horned Larks; the place was teeming with them! In some fields, the ground almost looked like it was moving, and you'd see flocks of several hundred birds flush up anytime a minor disturbance occurred. With about four hours of effort in the area, we came up with a conservative tally of 2600 larks in the fields that we checked, which is probably a small portion of the total population in the valley right now. In all, without double counting, we had 3095 birds over the weekend.
We also had a good raptor showing in the ag lands, with 5 American Kestrels, 1 Merlin, 2 Prairie Falcons, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 9 Red-tailed Hawks (including 1-2 dark morphs), 8 Ferruginous Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, and 3 Northern Harriers. Shrikes were pretty ubiquitous as well, and we had 5 more Mountain Bluebirds.
A total of 3 visits to the WTP showed, as usual, how high the turnover is there (other than the dozen Buffleheads that stuck the whole weekend). One visit had 3 Long-billed Dowitchers, another 2 Least Sandpipers, and the last 7 Least Sandpipers. A handful of pipits and several hundred Horned Larks were constantly streaming in and out to get a drink, but unfortunately no longspurs were feeling thirsty.
On our way out, we were surprised to see an adult Bald Eagle perched in a small tree across the highway from Cottonwood Canyon Road. We finished up by birding Bates Campground for a few minutes (our first daylight there!) and had a calling Northern Pygmy-Owl and several new species for the weekend, including Fox Sparrow and Spotted Towhee to round out the sparrow tally.
All told, we finished up with 16 sparrow species for the weekend (17 if you count House Sparrow, I suppose), which is quite the haul!
The most notable species for District V (based on Lehman's BOSBC) are as follows: -Bald Eagle -Long-billed Curlew -Sagebrush Sparrow -7 Brewer's Sparrows (winter notable) -Black-throated Sparrow (winter notable)
