Birding activity in Santa Barbara peaks in the last four months of the year. Birders are very active in September and October looking for migrants and then the arrival of winter visitors and scouting for the Christmas Bird Counts keeps things going until the end of the year. However, after a brief burst of activity in the first week or so of the year as people look for birds found on the Christmas Counts or get started on year lists, activity dies down. Santa Barbara County lacks large concentrations of wintering waterbirds or gulls, so one can’t really hope that something good was missed earlier. I spent most of my time in January and February searching along the Gaviota Coast looking for loons (divers in UK parlance) and grebes and, to a lesser extent, seaducks. I am always hoping for an Arctic or Yellow-billed Loon (Black-throated or White-billed Diver) and on one of my visits I did observe a seemingly-Pacific-like loon with a white thigh patch and an apparent bump on...
This blog covers my sightings of birds and other wildlife, mostly from the Goleta area, on the southern Central Coast of California, but also from my regular travels elsewhere, primarily to North America, including Mexico, and Europe. You can contact me via: nlethaby@gmail.com if you have any questions.