I had the morning off today, and decided to stay nearby and bird vs. drive and chase. First stop Goleta Slough and Goleta Beach County Park. The Slough was surprisingly not birdy. I’d hoped to find the Laughing Gull that has been seen there often, but didn’t find it. Aside from a few WESP and LESP not much in the way of shorebirds. I did get a pretty good walk on the beach later, but the previously reported Baird’s sandpiper was not found. I did enjoy seeing the terns. Here is an Elegant tern right on the beach with the gulls.

I decided to stop looking for shorebirds, and go for a walk at More Mesa. This is a place I found on my last trip here, and it seems like a place vagrants could show up. It’s a really big mesa overlooking the ocean just east (seems like it should be south) of Goleta Beach. It has lots of horse paths, big open areas, good brush and trees, a riparian corridor and overall seems perfect as a vagrant trap, but probably not as I was the last eBirder there nearly 2 months ago.

I decided to walk the whole area, maybe 4+ miles, so left my scope behind thinking it was mostly for passerines anyway. Turns out the views from the bluff onto the beach below were the best shorebirding of the day. Here are photos of a Baird’s sandpiper I somehow saw picking at the beach duff, and a LBCU mixed with lots of Whimbrel and several MAGOs.

The rest of the area was pretty quiet. Best thing was excellent looks but no photos of Wrentits on both the walk in and again coming out.

Tomorrow I head to meet a new Bird Pal at Carpenterina Marsh area.