Tue Oct 17, 2023 | 03:59pm
September and October are the months that see the best number of birds on the transfer by way of our area, together with a smattering of vagrants — birds which can be a whole lot or 1000’s of miles from the place they need to be. To date, it’s been a quiet migration season with smaller than anticipated numbers of western migrants. Vagrant birds have additionally been briefly provide, aside from the fantastic Louisiana waterthrush that skulkingly graced Atascadero Creek in Goleta final month. This two-day marvel, solely the second ever seen within the county, attracted many birders from close to and much, and a few had been fortunate sufficient to really clap eyes on the chicken.
Another unfolding development is that some species are within the midst of an irruption. Irruptions are when northern montane species unfold south in the hunt for meals, usually due to meals failures inside their regular vary. The most obvious species concerned on this invasion this yr, and the one which often is on the transfer the earliest, is the red-breasted nuthatch, which, in recent weeks, appear to be nearly in every single place within the lowlands.
The first signal that you’ve got red-breasted nuthatches in your neighborhood is listening to their distinctive name — a repetitive nasal be aware that sounds a bit just like the tooting of a kid’s tin horn. Like all nuthatches, the red-breasted forages totally on trunks and the bigger limbs of timber. Nuthatches are one of many few birds which can be as comfy touring headfirst down a trunk as a lot as they’re climbing upward. They are a chicken of coniferous forests, however in irruption years, they’ll make the most of nearly any form of tree. Last week on Santa Cruz Island, various birds had been in a eucalyptus grove, trying to find bugs beneath the papery bark.
Red-breasted nuthatches are actual lookers. They are blue-gray above and rusty beneath. The crown and the attention stripe are black, and bisecting these stripes is a broad white eyebrow. The invoice is lengthy, sharp, and barely upturned. They are compact little birds, having a barrel chest, a really brief tail, and almost no neck. It will likely be fascinating to see if different montane birds be a part of the nuthatch within the lowlands. There have already been sightings of pine siskins, presumably the advance guard of what’s to come back. Clark’s nutcrackers are additionally on the transfer, with some already seen on our native peaks.
Another group of birds which have moved in, maybe to remain, are the boobies, a bunch of enormous oceanic birds that catch fish by arrowing into the water from excessive above. I nicely bear in mind my first booby sighting in Santa Barbara, a brown booby that roosted off the coast at Ellwood. Fifteen years in the past, any booby sighting was a trigger for celebration, however now they’ve turn into considerably routine in our offshore waters. A number of years in the past, brown boobies started nesting on Sutil Island, an islet off tiny Santa Barbara Island. If you’re fortunate sufficient to make it out to distant Sutil, you’ll be able to see greater than 100 boobies roosting on the cliffs or hovering excessive above the island. Recently, a pair of blue-footed boobies nested on Sutil, apparently the primary time this has occurred within the United States.
Besides the brown and blue-footed, three different species of booby at the moment are seen with some regularity. They are the masked, Nazca, and red-footed. Within the final weeks, a red-footed booby landed on the bow of a ship off Santa Cruz Island. When the boat started to go again to the mainland, the crew tried to shoo the chicken off the boat, however to no avail. Boobies are so named as a result of early Spanish mariners had been simply capable of seize and dine on the unwary birds; bobo in Spanish means “stupid” or “foolish.” This specific booby had extra thoughtful hosts and hitched a journey all the best way into Santa Barbara Harbor, the place it spent the night time. A number of birders had been up early sufficient to see the chicken the next morning, however it quickly took off and flew again out to sea.
Why are we seeing this sudden explosion in booby numbers? The idea that holds most weight is that the warming of the ocean is permitting these usually tropical species to maneuver north. With a robust El Niño within the works, it appears seemingly booby sightings may improve much more.
Are you searching for a present for the character lover in your life? I’ve created a Santa Barbara Bird Calendar with a few of my pictures, and it’s available at Chaucer’s Books. All proceeds profit the Santa Barbara Audubon Society.
Hugh Ranson is a member of Santa Barbara Audubon Society, a nonprofit organization that protects space birdlife and habitat and connects folks with birds by way of schooling, conservation, and science. For extra info, see santabarbaraaudubon.org.
