Layla is a dog who needs to move. If she doesn’t get exercise we know it. We know it because when we get home there are little “gifts” for us in the living room. She knows that chewing shoes or other valuable items would be disastrous, so she limits her destruction to paper, cardboard, or other things she thinks are safe. She will also bring shoes into the living room as if to say “I didn’t chew it, but I could have. Next time…who knows?”.
So we try and get her out every day for some form of exercise, even if it’s just a walk around the neighborhood. Her preferred activity is to be off leash somewhere and exploring. The dog park is great for this, but it’s a mile away and walking there takes time and driving there seems…decadent. So I decided one Saturday afternoon, around 1:30, to take her across the street to the Santa Ynez River(bed). During some seasons in some years it is indeed a river, but mostly it’s a sandy place to run, with a single trail along the edge. This day I decided to bring my binocs to see what birds were about.
Well…it turns out that birds take a siesta in the afternoon around these parts. Especially in the Winter. I saw exactly two birds: a California Scrub-jay and an Anna’s Hummingbird. Each was sitting in their own leafless winter tree doing their best to show no outward behavior. I consoled myself by watching Layla dig for gophers and ground squirrels, run through the willows, and practiced my “come” whistle with her. Despite my low species count I diligently tracked my walk in eBird.
Undaunted, and realizing my mistake, I vowed to try again the next morning. Layla and I got up and, after eating breakfast, left the house at around 8:30. Right away I noticed a change. The White-crowned Sparrows in the Pyracantha tree out front were loud and active. As I walked down the street I saw a Black Phoebe, several Turkey Vultures, a handful of Anna’s Hummers, and Eurasian Collared-Doves. One lone black bird in a tree caught my attention and I stopped to check it out in my binoculars. I had seen Phainopepla in the neighborhood last year, so I thought this might be one. The angle was bad, but it looked like a blackbird of some kind. I saw a white patch on its wing and – I’m not proud of this – I took it for a Tricolored blackbird. It is a testament to my lack of coffee, as well as Layla’s urgent pulling on the leash to get me going, that I just shrugged and walked on without thinking “That’s weird. A tricolored, all alone in a tree, in my neighborhood where I’ve never seen one in the six years I’ve lived here”. Another life lesson learned (maybe). I was so focused on the riverbed that I all but ignored the birds on the way there.
When we reached the grassy field behind the obligatory pairing of a CVS and an Albertson’s I took Layla off her leash and she bounded through the short grass looking for squirrels. I walked towards the river, scanning the skies, eucalyptus, and low bushes for signs of birds. I counted ten Turkey Vultures catching the morning updrafts and spiraling in their weird slow tornado. As I neared the riverbed I saw some sparrowy movement on the ground under a buckwheat bush. It turned out to be a small flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows, my first of the year.
I turned down the trail under the 101 bridge and whistled for Layla to stay close. She flushed a Red-shouldered Hawk from a tree and I watched it soar down the river and re-roost a sycamore. In the bushes I saw a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers, California Towhees, and I heard an Oak Titmouse. On the other side of the bridge, after admiring the graffiti near an old homeless encampment, I came to an open space where I saw a single House Finch and a Northern Flicker (red-shafted) sitting in a tree. Some movement at the base of a California Sagebrush caught my eye and I was able to ID a pair of Lincoln’s Sparrows. These aren’t exactly rare around here, but not exactly common either so I was pretty excited and watched them scratch for seeds underneath the bush for a while until Layla came back to me seeming to say “are you coming?” and scared them into hiding.
Following the trail under the next bridge, under Santa Rosa Road, I entered some new habitat. Here were thick willows near actual water – slow moving, narrow, and bordered by cattails. My first bird was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, hopping from branch to branch looking for insects. I took a side trail to check out the edges of the pool nearest me for rails. It looks like perfect habitat, but I’ve never seen one. I have, on occasion, scared up a Green Heron, but my only water bird was a lone American Coot.
Continuing the main trail west I heard a Northern Mockingbird doing its thing, and then another…no that’s different. The “mocking” song was more repetitive and more familiar…I soon spotted it on the top of a bush – a California Thrasher. As I walked I also picked up Acorn Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers and one Nuttall’s Woodpecker.
Just past the golf course I decided to turn around and head home. Just below Flying Flags RV park I spotted what I believed to be another scrub jay in a tree. Something looked off, so I took another look through the binoculars. The sun was behind the bird, but I caught a crest and got enough details to see it was a female Phainopepla. This is quite a ways from my neighborhood, but it cemented the “tri-colored” I saw as actually being a male Phainopepla. I didn’t count either in my eBird report, as it was not really on my walk in the riverbed, and I wasn’t sure. Still, it was the highlight of the trip for me and Layla and I enjoyed the walk home a little more than we might have. Me musing on the importance of taking time with an ID and Layla finally slack-leashed and panting from her 10x my distance – most of it running. As usual, the walk ended with Layla in the bath and me finishing my eBird report.
And so ends my first blog post. I would never have taken the time (nearly an hour) to go birding in the riverbed if not for having to give Layla exercise. In fact, though I am planning several possible birding trips, I know most of my 2020 birds will be found while doing other activities – giving me opportunities where I expected none!
Edit: January 18, 2020. I took the same walk with Layla, this time with my son Garrett as well. I looked for the Male Phainopepla in the same tree (I don’t know why I always expect to find birds in the same place over time) and instead found a flock of about 20 Red-winged Blackbirds. I didn’t see the “tri-colored” but then again several red-wings were on the ground in the backyard behind a wooden fence (by the sound of it) and so I could have just missed it. So the mystery bird is still a…mystery.
“Good night, blog. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
