I had planned to head into the mountains east and north of Santa Barbara today, but the Sherpa Fire made me skeptical of air quality, so I stuck close to town. I looked into going to Santa Cruz Island, but the boats are all full for the whole weekend, so no to that too.
First stop was at Lake Los Carneros, a local park and historical site with some trails and a small lake. It was really pretty birdy, with good numbers of songbirds, as well as RTHA, COHA and RSHA. I had 44 species in a little over an hour, and got in a good early AM walk. checklist

Next I want to Goleta Beach County Park where a previous report of a Laughing Gull intrigued me. After walking around a while I noted one black-headed type gull on the beach, and I thought I had the bird. It was all alone, so size was tough to assess, and I intially reported a LAGU. I seemed wrong though, and I took loads of photos. I also found two very white gulls that I thought might be GWGUs. On getting home and calling Ken they are just a BOGU and likely a couple of very worn WEGUs. checklist

Last stop was at an area with the intriguing name Andree Clark Bird Refuge. Actually it is a small fresh water marshy area near the ocean thqt has some birds, but not really that special. I spent some time trying to get better with photos. checklist

Ended the AM reading at the beach near Steqrn’s Wharf and came back to the room. On getting back the trunk of the rental wouldn’t close, so I ended up having to return to the airport to exchange cars.