After getting feedback from helpful experts the prevailing opinion is that the weird-looking oriole I saw might be a young male Baltimore Oriole (based especially on the head pattern), but there are d

This morning I was able to photograph the adult male Orchard Oriole that Florence Sanchez reported recently along Santa Monica Creek. Eric Culbertson had seen the bird earlier today and told me about

I was in the right place at the right time to see the continuing group of 6 Sandhill Cranes at Alisos Road north of Happy Canyon Road today. As I was walking the road I heard barking and then the trum

I had good views of a Solitary Sandpiper at Lake Jocelyn in Carpinteria this morning. Photo in this eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61495738 With the December 14 Carp CBC still 4 weeks away i

This year the Carpinteria Christmas Bird Count will take place on Saturday, December 14, the first day of the three-week count window. Last year we had 92 participants and 158 species; I hope we have

After looking at the photos I took this morning I'm no longer sure they show the Rusty Blackbird. The bird from this morning appears to have less brown than the bird photographed previously; I also th

The continuing Rusty Blackbird was bathing on a log in the Carpinteria Creek lagoon at 7:45 this morning (Thursday). It later flew into some myoporum in the campground just west of the lagoon. I check

Tom Beland and Laurel Luby got great photos of the bird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61214957 John Callender Carpinteria

Oops. That link was to the original eBird list by Ryan O'Donnell. My eBird list is here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61212449 John Callender Carpinteria

Photos of the Rusty Blackbird are in my eBird list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61205114 I'm not sure about the bird's sex, but would welcome input from people who are more familiar with the spe

The bird was still there as of 3:20 p.m., having moved a short distance west to near the south end of Holly Ave. From looking at references I think it is a fairly advanced first-year bird with a broad

A quick followup to share some information someone was kind enough to forward to me. This appears to be a condition called “Avian Keratin Disorder”, or AKD, first described in chickadees in Alaska in

I haven’t seen this bird myself, but apparently there is a Song Sparrow at Lake Los Carneros that has an abnormally long upper beak that curves downward, making Marge and Don Thornton, who saw the bir

This morning around 7:30 I saw what I believe is probably the same bird in the same location. The bird I saw was mostly red overall with some lighter splotches; I'd be curious if anyone who saw the bi

This isn't about a bird I saw (though I wish I had). But several different people reported an unusual dark buteo yesterday, or perhaps more than one of them, and I'd be interested in hearing opinions

This is potentially a good time to look for migrating Broad-winged Hawks in Santa Barbara county. If you check the sightings reports from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (for example, at https://tw

While birding at the Ortega Ridge Pines above Summerland today I was lucky enough to spot an Ovenbird walking on the ground under the brush canopy. There also were a number of Red-breasted Nuthatches;

The Virginia's Warbler found yesterday by Nick Lethaby was still at Carpinteria Creek this morning around 8:00, foraging in the understory foliage on the west bank of the creek about 150 feet north of

The bird was still there, calling from the bank and foraging in the creekbed about 150 feet north of 6th Street, this evening at 5 p.m. Photos in the eBird list below. https://ebird.org/view/checklist

I looked for the bird for a few hours after 4 p.m. today, staying mostly at the location where it was observed earlier today by several observers (roughly 34.423044, -119.886429). At one point I saw a