Santa Barbara Birding Adventures!
On our trip to Southern California, we made a point of doing some Santa Barbara Birding. This is where I went to school, where you can find wineries and where to find Yellow-billed Magpies. Some of the locations we stopped, and birded, were Santa Barbara Pier, Lake Cachuma and Santa Ynez Valley.
Stearn’s Wharf
After leaving Ventura and our bird guide Frank, we drove to Stearn’s Wharf in Santa Barbara Harbor. This was our first official stop on our tour through this amazing area. We were hungry so went straight to Moby Dick’s restaurant for a nice lunch. A window seat was a must to watch the birds in the harbor. Lunch was amazing and would highly recommend it for food, service, and the view! The Brown Pelicans did not disappoint coming in like squadrons of 10 to 20 birds at a time. They got to a high count of 500+ birds in Santa Barbara Harbor. There were several other birds floating on the water like Eared Grebes and Brandt’s Cormorant. A visit to the foot of the pier and the Mission Creek Estuary did not disappoint. There were Black Skimmers, Royal and Elegant Terns, Western and California Gulls lining the beach.
Lake Cachuma
The San Marcos pass was how we made our way to Lake Cachuma. The lake was named for the We heard there was a Tri-colored Blackbird posted on eBird. We didn’t find the California endemic, but we did get eyes on our only Wild Turkeys of the trip. We also had Wrentit, Acorn Woodpecker and Western Grebe on the lake. The Santa Ynez river was dammed in the 1950’s to collect water and for recreation and drinking water. The water levels fluctuate depending on the rainfall from 33% to 100% capacity leaving the shoreline low some years.
Wine and Magpie Country
Just northwest of the city of Santa Barbara is Santa Ynez Valley, known for their wine and for birds. This is one of the only places in Santa Barbara County to see Yellow-billed Magpies and Mountain Quail. We traveled along the ranch roads to Beckman Vineyards in the central valley keeping our eyes open. There was a sighting a couple days before of the yellow-billed bird at the winery. This meant we had to make a stop.
The magpies here have a yellow eye patch as well as the yellow beak unlike the rest of the continent. These visual differences sets them apart from their black-billed cousins. You can only find Yellow-billed Magpies in the Central California Valley. If you are looking for a guide to find these special Magpies, try our Central California Guide.
Visiting Again
There was too much to see while we were Santa Barbara birding. We will need to spend at least two weeks here next visit. With all of the outstanding birding and wonderful places, Santa Barbara goes back on the must visit list.
Happy Birding!
