This (Sunday) afternoon I finally broke down and went for a birding walk. I am a bit sick of seeing the same things in the same places here in Santa Barbara Co. and was going to take a day off, but by 4 PM I gave in and went birding. Coal Oil Point is a cool birding spot, but I learned today that a nice sunny Sunday afternoon is not the time to go. The beach was littered with sunbathing, frisbee, dog walking UCSB students. Joggers kept the shorebirds moving and as a birder I was outnumbered maybe 150:1.

I also learned that the “Coal Oil” part of the name may be from the fact that every firm surface there is covered with a thick sticky layer of black oil/sand mixture that clings to shoes like tar.

Still the birding at Devereux Slough on the way in was fine. I got nice looks but no photo of Oak Titmouse. Their call reminds me of an incomplete chickadee call. I also saw lots of Savannah sparrows, I believe the local Belding race.

On the beach most of the Snowy Plovers I had seen earlier in the year seem to have scattered, but a few remained.

A large flock of Black-bellied plovers tried to avoid the people on the beach, before finally retreating at high tide to the restricted SNPL nesting area to roost.

On the way back out I saw two AMKE, one perched on the top of a high pole.

So I managed to get a little more exercise for the day and get fresh air, even at the cost of needing to seriously clean my sneakers.