Date: 5/19/26 10:24 am From: Florence Sanchez via groups.io <sanchezucsb11...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Bell's Vireo continues on Calle Real
I decided to bird that area this morning as I had been there only for a short time on my previous visit, due to an appointment. On my previous visit, I had to be satisfied with "heard only."
I did not see or hear the Vireo at its usual spot in the Castor Bean/Arundo donax tangle of vegetation. I decided to keep walking up the road toward Santa Barbara Ranch and eventually heard it singing loudly and very close from the Baccharis shrubs on the north side of the road. It was so close to me that I might have reached out and touched it, had it chosen to show itself. It took several minutes of patient waiting, but I finally got good views of it at the base of the tangle of woody stalks. (GPS location: 34.43596,-119.93721).
It continued working the vegetation on that side of the road; then flew across the road where it was briefly visible before plunging into the baccharis stand there. Then it flew back to the north side of the road and continued working the vegetation almost to the Santa Barbara Ranch gate, where I lost track of it.
It was getting warm fast, so the variety and activity of other species was less than I'd hoped for. I did not see or hear the Blue Grosbeak that was present on my previous visit.
Florence Sanchez
