My discovery of the Philadelphia Vireo seemed to mark the tail end of a good pulse of eastern vagrants through the county, although most of these were frequent ones like Tennessee or Blackpoll Warblers. Other than enjoying the continuing flow of Cassin’s Finches, Clark Nutcrackers and Pinyon Jays from the montane bird invasion, the next few days brought little of interest, although I did twitch a Chestnut-sided Warbler – an annual vagrant to the county - at the Hollister Tech Park on Sep 27. Things started to look up that evening when a return check of the Tech Park turned up a nice male American Redstart – most birds we see are in female or immature plumage. As a change from vagrants from the east, the next morning Sophie Cameron and I found our first Tropical Kingbird of the fall during a survey at Laguna Blanca. This Mexican species is a frequent vagrant during the fall as birds reverse migrate north up the Pacific Coast and typically several birds spend the winter. Noting...
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.