Santa Barbara Birding Post 1

I spent Sunday morning March 15 birding in Santa Barbara at Lake Los Carneros Park. Over 4½ hours, I photographed 50 different species of birds. This Band-tailed Pigeon flying overhead was a new life species for me. Last year I had tried to find one during my trip with Kate to Northern California, but with no luck. All I could find at that time were Rock Pigeons which seem ubiquitous in almost every city in the country.

Also flying overhead were a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks. I like this photo since it shows the red-shoulder coloration so well.

This Cooper’s Hawk posed nicely for me, turning its head to track me as I moved around the tree to get the sun behind me.

Most of the birds I saw were small such as this Bewick’s Wren having a bite to eat.

I saw a variety of different sparrows. This is a White-crowned Sparrow with its white stripe on the top of its head.

There were also Golden-crowned Sparrows with their corresponding golden stripe. I also photographed Song Sparrows and a Lincoln Sparrow.

I saw several Anna’s Hummingbirds such as this one flashing its magenta coloring.

I also saw one Allen’s Hummingbird with its orange coloring.

This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher took me a while to photograph as it was constantly darting from branch to branch.

I saw many House Finches about. The red coloring identifies this one as a male.

This male Purple Finch looks rather similar to the House Finch above but is less common.

I got only a slight peak of this male Hooded Oriole.

The female Hooded Oriole was much more obliging.

I will end this post with two “California” birds. First is a California Towhee.

Finally, I will end with a California Thrasher.