Birding Santa Barbara: A Sunny California Wildlife Escape

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On our trip last year to San Louis Obispo we flew in and out of Santa Barbara. It just happened to be the perfect location for a visit to the Channel Islands as well as San Louis Obispo. The day we were flying out though we realized we should really spend some time in Santa Barbara and wished we had more time. So this year we did just that, returning to Santa Barbara for some good vacation time in the California sunshine.

Santa Barbara is on the coast and not far from LA, and I suspect is a popular weekend destination for those from the big city. It has quite a few interesting things to see, including an old mission, the wharf, a zoo, and a very nice (but expensive) botanic garden. It has plenty of nice state parks on the coast as well as the hills that separate Santa Barbara from the Santa Ynez valley famous for it’s vineyards as well as where the movie Sideways was filmed. The town of Solvang is there, a small Danish themed town which reminds me of our Bavarian themed Leavenworth here in Washington.

We did our share of outdoor activities here which included birding at the coast and in the Santa Barbard Botanic Garden. We also went on a local whale watching tour from the marina and saw some gray whales on our visit.

We spotted some new lifers on the coast, including this Hudsonian Whimbrel. This shorebird has a massive hooked bill that it uses to dig marine animals out of the sand and mud. Good for cracking into crabs as well, though this one was just taking a stroll. They winter in the artic and spend summer in South America so we caught this one on it’s annual migration. They can be spotted up and down the west coast but this was a first for us.

We saw many Western Grebe with their vivid red eyes (see this posts banner image) as well as a Willet on the shore as well (pictured below in the gallery). Willet’s are similar sized shore birds as the Hudsonian Whimbrel. They however breed inland near fresh water and then spend the rest of the year near the coasts. An interesting thing they do is fake being injured to lure predators away from their nests, smart birds! They also apparently used to be common to eat which caused quite a loss in numbers until they were protected from hunters.

On this trip was our first spotting of the Allen’s Hummingbird which migrate between California and Mexico, though some live in the Santa Barbara area year round. Hard to differentiate between the Allen’s and Anna’s as they are similar size and look other than the coloring on the neck looks more like a Rufous on the Allen’s. But I have found I do better recognizing the sound of Hummingbirds rather than their look to know they’re different. The Allen’s has more of the buzzing sound like a Rufous that you hear first while the Anna’s will to it’s little squeaking chirp. The Allen’s pictured below had a nice little pattern of trees and flowers he rotated through each day at our hotel.

On our last day of the trip we visited the zoo and the botanic garden. I recommend the zoo if only to see the endangered California Condor’s which they have a few of, what a cool bird! They have some other very interesting birds as well but to see the giant Condor’s in person is a treat. For a more natural birding adventure though the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is the spot, the area has forest, plains, a drier desert-like area with shrubs and hills. It is a wonderful walk with many trails and with the variety of environments lots of opportunities for different birds and other wildlife sightings.

If you’re up here in the PNW, and need a sunny spot to visit when the days are short and rain never ends check how many Alaska Air points you have and find a long weekend to head to Santa Barbara!

Useful Links and Info:

Read our last post about Crows and Herons in Port Townsend.
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Most of these shots were taken with the Sony a7 along with the Sony FE 200-600mm lens.
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