Date: 6/4/25 1:53 pm From: Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Big Pine Birding - May 17-19
Hi all,
Catching up on some reports now that I'm back from a lot of travel /
hecticness in the last few weeks. I wrote a little blog post on my Big Pine
trip last month on my iNaturalist 'journal' page that you can see here for
more detailed info and a handy map of routes/water. I tried to include a
lot of information that might be helpful to others interested in making a
similar trip:
I camped on Friday night (5/16) at Cox Flat, then hiked/birded up through
SB Cyn and across Madulce Trail on Saturday to set up base camp at Alamar
Saddle. On Sunday I hiked out to Big Pine, birded the north-facing
woodland, summit, Big Pine Camp, and a bit of West Big Pine Trail. Then on
Monday I returned home by Forest Road 9N11. I had a great time and lots of
the expected bird species (partial list below, here
<https://ebird.org/tripreport/377502> is the eBird trip report; lots of
notes and habitat photos within individual checklists).
Weather was generally good, 40-75°, but at times quite windy, especially in
the later afternoon and at night, which made owling nearly impossible. I
did try for Flammulated Owl on the road between Alamar and Big Pine, but
without success. I might have heard one bird once, but not well enough to
list it.
There was generally lots of water in most typical places. I got most of my
water from Upper Bear Camp at the headwaters of the Sisquoc, which is a
short hike out of the way from Alamar (about 1.5 mi round trip). There was
also water (with varying degrees of stagnancy): throughout Santa Barbara
Canyon; at Madulce Camp; at Big Pine Camp; at Chokecherry Spring; and in
the creek which parallels the lowest-elevation segment of 9N11.
The trail is mostly in very good condition, with two main exceptions: about
a collective mile or two of Madulce Trail where the chaparral has densely
grown over the path and the trail is still easy to see but physically
painful to follow; and the very last scramble up to the peak of Big Pine
itself, which is also unmaintained and requires fighting Ceanothus and
scrambling over some logs. Based on the dramatic improvements which Los
Padres Forest Alliance wrought on Heartbreak Hill (at the top of SB Cyn)
since my visit in January, I'm cautiously hopeful that the difficult
Madulce Trail sections might be improved at some point soon, too! Time will
tell.
Partial Bird List (after removing duplicates from trip report)
*In the Big Pine area:*
5 White-headed Woodpecker - from Alamar Camp to Big Pine Camp
5 Olive-sided Flycatcher - singing in various spots
39 Western Wood-Pewees
2 Dusky Flycatchers - maybe a nesting pair
3 Cassin's Vireo - singing along Madulce Trail
37 Mountain Chickadees
4 Pygmy Nuthatch - from Alamar Camp to Big Pine Camp
5 Red-breasted Nuthatch
22 Brown Creeper
7 Black-chinned Sparrow
3 Fox Sparrow - singing in "Ceanothus Patch" and thereabouts
28 Black-throated Gray Warbler
*Other nice birds:*
1 Black Swift - soaring over ridgeline a bit before Madulce Camp
4 Common Poorwill - singing at Cox Flat and Alamar Camp
13 Lawrence's Goldfinch - numbers seem very modest given what we
experienced on the South Coast this spring
2 Hermit Warbler - in SB Cyn
15 Wilson's Warblers - I was surprised to find most of these singing on
plausible breeding territory in SB Cyn the first morning
*Misses*
0 Golden-crowned Kinglet
0 Red-breasted Sapsucker
0 Cassin's Finch
I know Brad Hacker has been in the area within the last month and seen at
least the sapsucker. These three species are found irregularly on summer
surveys at Big Pine, and seem like they might be declining alongside the
pine forest.
Other trip highlights for me:
5 Blainville's Horned Lizards between SB Cyn and Forest Rd. 9N11
1 Western Pond Turtle on Forest Rd. 9N11
My first time seeing *Abies concolor* or *Arctostaphylos parryana* in SB
County
Three new-to-me species of *Astragalus *(one of my favorite plant genera,
along with *Arctostaphylos*!)
I think the conifer woodland here is probably not long for this world -
maybe another few decades? It's already much reduced from what it
apparently was like decades ago from drought and the Zaca Fire in 2007.
It's obvious hiking around that many patches which were previously conifer
woodland (still with many standing snags or downed logs) are now
regenerating as chaparral. Actually, my now-graduated labmate Chris Kibler
wrote his Masters thesis <https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11242963> on this
post-fire recovery or habitat conversion process at Big Pine, if anyone is
interested in reading more deeply.
Anyway, I'm really glad I finally made the trip up there to see the
woodland while some of it is still around. I think it's a worthwhile trip
and (despite ongoing long-term summer monitoring efforts) I think it's
still really undersurveyed and could use more coverage - particularly in
this current period of ongoing change and degredation. I encourage others
who are able to make the trek and go visit, too!
