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A Showy Sprague’s Pipit

 


Since my last post, there has been a distinct pick-up in fall migration – both in quality and quantity.  The montane invasion has picked up in species diversity with more Pinyon Jays, Mountain Chickadees and some Evening Grosbeaks and Cassin’s Finches. I have only managed to hear a couple more flocks of Pinyon Jays and a single grosbeak but will be making more efforts for both those species over the coming weeks.

Following a couple of reports of the commoner vagrant warblers, I started to check out some of the local warbler hotspots. I followed up finding a Northern Parula at Evergreen Open Space, which is quite near my home, with an American Redstart in one of the tipu-covered parking lots in east Goleta. The next morning, I hit up Winchester One park followed by the Hollister Tech Park. Winchester One was quite birdy and I had my first Tennessee and Nashville warblers of the season. I followed this up with another Tennessee at the Tech Park and a Lucy’s Warbler, along with the regular returning Black-and-white Warbler. All three of these are pretty regular rarities there but a little more quality came in the form of a Yellow-green Vireo. This was the third year in a row I have found one in the county and, coupled with several I have found in Baja the last two falls, I am get rather blasé about this species. Birders chasing the vireo then found a Prairie Warbler, which is not annual in the county. Fingers crossed that the Tech Park is back to what it was like three years ago.

On Sunday, I decided to do some of my survey work at the wind farm above Lompoc and then take the opportunity to bird other areas on the north coast. The SYRE had a few Avocets and 11 White-faced Ibis, but I spent more time scanning the ocean as there was a constant stream of Black-vented Shearwaters. The hoped-for Manx Shearwater failed to show, but I did see seven Parasitic Jaegers.

After that, a check of some agricultural fields turned up five Bobolinks, maintaining my record of finding at least one every year I have lived in the county. There was also the regular large flock of American Goldfinches in the fields, a species that is now decidedly local and uncommon on the south coast where I live. While birding the fields, my phone rang and my fellow ex-Brit, Hugh Ranson, delivered the sensational news that a Sprague’s Pipit had been found at Elings Park in Santa Barbara.

Since I had already seen this species in county about 20 years ago on Santa Barbara Island, I decided to stick with my work and birding plans on the north coast and try to get it late in the day. My survey work proved pretty fruitless as the weather up at the wind farm was more cloudy, foggy and windy than forecast.

After finishing the surveys, I then headed up the Santa Maria River Estuary (SMRE), stopping off in Guadalupe for a chile verde burrito. The snowy plover restrictions were finally gone so I could explore the SMRE better than usual. There were a lot of birds present, but little of note with a couple of Common Terns, a White-faced Ibis and three Red Knots being the highlights for most of my visit. Fortunately, towards the end of my stay, I turned up a juvenile Black Tern, a species that is slightly less than annual in the county. Finishing up, I got in the car for the hour-plus drive down to Santa Barbara.

I saw Sprague’s Pipit very well the first time I looked for the species back in 1989 in Arizona. Subsequently, I have seen the species another five times but have not had really killer views. Since this bird was showing well, I was anxious to see it. Arriving around 5:30 PM, I ran into a couple of other birders who were looking for it. A Vesper Sparrow caused a temporary panic before another birder located the pipit. I then watched for about half an hour as it gave increasingly brilliant views, as can be seen by Hugh’s fantastic shots below. A great end to the day.

Sprague's Pipit



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