As reported by Adrian, TWO Reddish Egrets showed up at the mouth of Carpinteria Creek this morning. I only saw the first one as I left before the second arrived.
I left to go to Lake Jocelyn to check out a report of a Baird's Sandpiper there, but did not find one. In fact, the only shorebird I could locate was a single Spotted Sandpiper and those birders who came after me had the same result.Swallows are still foraging in large groups over the dwindling lake. I saw Barn, Rough-winged, and Cliff there today.
The pleasant surprise was hearing a Lazuli Bunting singing; then spotting it on a dried Castor Bean stalk next to the fence. It flew up into a nearby oak tree and a female Bunting that had been deeper in the vegetation followed it into the oak. I also heard a Black-headed Grosbeak in the same oak.
I stopped at Bates Road where I heard brief songs from both Yellow and Wilson's Warblers, while a Western Wood Pewee called frequently during the entire time I was there.
Florence Sanchez
