Los Padres

I suppose I should include SBAR in the subject line because the last two days were actually birded in Santa Barbara County, and added a whole mess to my county list in the process! On the way to Buttonwillow I decided to explore some of the roads going up into Los Padres NF from the Cuyama Highway (SR 166). Even cutting over the hill from Lompoc was glorious; what a view!

The first forest access I came to was Sierra Madre Road and stopped every half mile for ten miles, and THAT was spectacular! It's a terrific graded dirt road (nice and wide in several spots) starting off in a little pasture with a bunch of Red-winged Blackbirds and a couple of curious horses. Then it quickly rises into an oak woodland of some kind (wasn't live oak, for sure; some deciduous variety) where the normal oak-loving fare showed up. Further up into the chaparral I added the towhees and finally started getting some sparrows for the trip; Golden-crowned was actually more numerous than the Whiteys, and I actually saw quite a few adults! A couple of Rufous-crowned Sparrows were a nice addition, along with a curious Fox Sparrow. It was quite breezy in spots, and at one stop a Sharp-shinned Hawk kind of floated along the ridge! A sharp "pik" alerted me to two female Purple Finches high in the tree. Just past the microwave (?) towers there was actually a patch of pine forest, and I guess the mountain I was on is actually called Miranda Pine Mountain according to the AAA map; it reminded me of Palomar Divide Road in San Diego County where you can see the view on both sides of the ridge! Aside from the haze, the view down into the Cuyama Valley was absolute splendor!

Scenes along Sierra Madre Road

Cuyama Highway from on high

Cuyama Valley

Oak Titmouse

More scenes...

The landscape changes to hard chaparral as we get higher

The Valley from even higher

That cut on the left is the road...

The other side of the ridge

The Valley from about as high as you can get...

Towers at Miranda Pine Mountain

You actually get into the pines up here!

Golden-crowned Sparrow, showing the "kiss of gold" characteristic of this species

This is apparently a popular ORV area as well...

Near the ten-mile mark

That's the ocean way in the distance! White-crowned Sparrow

Turned around shortly after that (the whole road looks to be about 30 miles long), and tried out Cottonwood Canyon Road next. This was a totally different feel, as it started out in open rangeland (private property), but the quality of birds couldn't be beat: there were several Horned Larks bouncing around that sounded a bit different than ours in San Diego (different race perhaps?), along with American Pipits. But an incoming Prairie Falcon stole the show: he landed on a dead (or dormant) tree across the highway, and his yellow legs shone like neon! More open country birds showed up as I climbed, including Lark Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, and my most favorite California bird, the Yellow-billed Magpie! It was a great raptor road, as in addition to the Prairie Falcon, a Merlin shot past and got a treeful of House Finches all excited, and a Red-tailed Hawk circled low over my head as if to show off his mammalian prize! Once close to the creek (which is actually getting into Bates Canyon, I guess, according to the national forest sign) added American Goldfinch, and on up the dirt road there was more luscious forest at and past the primitive campground, but it was getting late and I had to turn back. Kept leapfrogging with another Subaru-driving couple who were specifically looking for Golden Eagles; didn't see any, but that sure looked like a good place for them (I had been keeping my eyes peeled for condors, too, but nada). On the way out was the icing on the cake: a lovely Ferruginous Hawk showing off at all angles!