A beautiful male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was at our sunflower feeder, then drank from the fountain.  He was only here for a few minutes this morning.  We are located between Bel Air Knolls and Elings Park.

Dianna Ricky
Santa Barbara 

Evening is good too. The birds sleep a lot at midday and afternoon.

On Aug 28, 2019 7:30 AM, Ron Hirst <ronhirst@...> wrote:

Area K seems much better in the morning. At 12:30pm there were no kingbirds and far fewer yellowlegs.  The day before also had fewer birds at 12:30. I missed the Pec Sandpiper and Ibis on both days too.
Ron Hirst, SB

--

Nick Lethaby

Goleta, CA

I went to Devereux this morning, later than Ben Byerly was there.  No Ibis or LB Curlew, but otherwise most of the same birds were very evident.  David Levasheff and friends were also there enjoying the show.  The water has withdrawn from the area near the road, but small shorebirds were still actively using the dark  mud and were easily observed through a scope..  The majority were Semi-palmated Plovers, but there were also lots of Western Sandpipers and a lesser number of Least.  The large Black-bellied Plover flock continues in the center of the remaining water.  In their vicinity were several Dowitchers, both greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a group of three Red Knots, one of which still has good color.  (David L found another flock of 4 a little later.)

The heron family is gathering there en masse.  I counted 61 Snowies, 19 Great Egrets, 9 Great Blue Herons, and found 5 Black-crowned Night Herons in or near the roost.  Flying around the half-bridge were two Western Kingbirds and two Kingfishers.  A really great place to spend a morning.

I moved on to see if there was any shorebird habitat at Lake Los Carneros and there isn't.  Water level is too high for there to be any exposed mud at the southeast arm of the Lake.  The only shorebird seen was a Spotted Sandpiper.  A Green Heron perched in the top of a cottonwood tree for a while.

I then checked the Goleta Sanitary District, but there is still no exposed mud and thus no shorebirds except the ever-present Black-necked Stilts.  The only gulls were Westerns and 99% of the ducks were mallards.  The only exception was a single Gadwall and 5 small ducks swimming by themselves along the far shore of the middle pond.  They looked good for Teal, probably Blue-winged, but they were a bit out of range.  Best bird here was an unexpected juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, perhaps a first sighting for this location. It was perched on the white fence between the center pond and the service road.  When a worker drove by in his cart, it flew to the berm between the center pond and the south pond.

So the best places to look for shorebirds still are Devereux and Area K.

Florence Sanchez

I went to Devereux this morning, later than Ben Byerly was there.  No Ibis or LB Curlew, but otherwise most of the same birds were very evident.  David Levasheff and friends were also there enjoying the show.  The water has withdrawn from the area near the road, but small shorebirds were still actively using the dark  mud and were easily observed through a scope..  The majority were Semi-palmated Plovers, but there were also lots of Western Sandpipers and a lesser number of Least.  The large Black-bellied Plover flock continues in the center of the remaining water.  In their vicinity were several Dowitchers, both greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a group of three Red Knots, one of which still has good color.  (David L found another flock of 4 a little later.)

The heron family is gathering there en masse.  I counted 61 Snowies, 19 Great Egrets, 9 Great Blue Herons, and found 5 Black-crowned Night Herons in or near the roost.  Flying around the half-bridge were two Western Kingbirds and two Kingfishers.  A really great place to spend a morning.

I moved on to see if there was any shorebird habitat at Lake Los Carneros and there isn't.  Water level is too high for there to be any exposed mud at the southeast arm of the Lake.  The only shorebird seen was a Spotted Sandpiper.  A Green Heron perched in the top of a cottonwood tree for a while.

I then checked the Goleta Sanitary District, but there is still no exposed mud and thus no shorebirds except the ever-present Black-necked Stilts.  The only gulls were Westerns and 99% of the ducks were mallards.  The only exception was a single Gadwall and 5 small ducks swimming by themselves along the far shore of the middle pond.  They looked good for Teal, probably Blue-winged, but they were a bit out of range.  Best bird here was an unexpected juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, perhaps a first sighting for this location. It was perched on the white fence between the center pond and the service road.  When a worker drove by in his cart, it flew to the berm between the center pond and the south pond.

So the best places to look for shorebirds still are Devereux and Area K.

Florence Sanchez