Date: 5/8/25 3:33 pm From: Florence Sanchez via groups.io <sanchezucsb11...> Subject: [sbcobirding] West Camino Cielo May 8
Today I walked a portion of West Camino Cielo that I have been checking annually since the Sherpa/Whittier fires. It has been interesting to watch how the vegetation has regrown and the bird population afterwards has evolved. The main bird of interest has been Black-chinned Sparrow. It was surmised that their numbers would be high in the first couple of years after the burn; then gradually decrease as chaparral get thicker, but that has not been the case here. In the approximately 1.5 miles that I walked today, I had at least 7 Blackchins either in sight or singing. I think this is more than I had last year at this time.
Also present in good numbers today were Lazuli Buntings (9, most of them males), not quite the number I had the year immediately after the fire--I think I counted 28 in this same section then. Other birds of interest were a single Chipping Sparrow, at least 1 singing Rufous-crowned Sparrow, 2 Hermit Warblers, 3 Townsend's Warblers, and one Mountain Quail calling down in a canyon below the road. I had no Swallows or Swifts overhead, which is unusual for this location. I also did not turn up a Costa's hummingbird, but I think the lack of some of the flowers that are usually in bloom here may account for the absence.
As for the flowers, Ceanothus and Bush Poppy are making a nice show, but blooming annuals were few and many perennials that hummingbirds like (Woolly Blue Curls, Pitcher Sage) were still in bud.
Florence Sanchez
