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Would you like to test your knowledge of the birds of southern California? If so, try our newest slideshow BirdQuiz highlighting some species that can be seen along the coast, and in the deserts, mountains, and foothills of this diverse area. Click here to start.

The final portion of our trip moved north of LA into the Santa Barbara area. Our goal here shifted somewhat, from just finding good overall birding areas, towards looking for rarities with other species as bonuses. Our first stop was Lake Piru Recreation Area, where we were hoping to spot California Condors. We had been watching reports from this location for the past week or two before starting our trip, as it seemed to be the most reliable southern location for condors. Apparently there was a dead cow in the area that the birds were feeding on (Was it was placed there intentionally? We don’t know.). But during our trip a report came out saying that the carcass was nearly gone, so we were desperately hoping that the condors would remain for us.

As background, it is perhaps worthwhile to realize how rare California Condors are. In 1982 there were only 23 California Condors left in the wild, so they were all captured and put into captive breeding programs. As of 2017, the total population was up to 463 birds, with 173 in captivity and 290 in the wild, in California (170), Arizona/Utah (82), and Baja MX (38).

We arrived at Lake Piru in early morning, assuming that they would take off on the thermals when the air started warming up. It wasn’t clear to us where they were being seen, so we just started birding, keeping a watchful eye on the clear blue sky. There was quite a bit of activity, but mostly due to the species that we now had grown accustomed to: Say’s and Black Phoebes, Cassin’s Kingbird, Audubon’s Warblers, Spotted Towhee, Lesser Goldfinch, Bewick’s Wren, Western Bluebird, California Scrub-jay, and Common Ravens. The first new bird for the trip was a flock of ~26 Lark Sparrows. We get Lark Sparrows in New Jersey in fall as vagrants, so seeing even one is normally a treat. Seeing 26 of them on the ground at once seemed like a dream. I assume that to California birders it is absolutely normal, but we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Part of our flock of 26 Lark Sparrows at Lake Piru. This would be astounding to see in New Jersey.

Our second new bird was a condor. After about 30 minutes or so of birding, Jeanine suggested that we just scan the trees near the rolling pasture at one end of the lake to see if we can spot any perched condors. I thought it was a longshot, but went along with the suggestion. Thankfully I was wrong again. Within five minutes we spotted two condors in adjacent trees. Like most condors, they are wing-tagged for identification purposes, and these were condors ‘blue 16’ and ‘blue 26’. They eventually flew into another tree maybe 300 yards away where they were joined by an immature bird that lacks the orange head of the adults. After watching the distant birds through the scope and attempting distant photos, the birds flew off and rode the thermals up the ridge and out of view. We soon decided to move on too, but on our way out of the park, I noticed what I thought were condors flying above us. Pete pulled off to the side of the road, and indeed, we had at least six condors flying directly above our car, rapidly gaining altitude. What a treat. There on that California hillside we were viewing ~2% of all the wild California Condors in the world.

Our first view of two perched California Condors, with a Common Raven perched between them. The wing marker ‘blue 26’ can be seen on the rightmost bird.

An adult California Condor soaring over the California countryside. If it weren’t for the effort of the past few decades to revive this species, this sight would have been gone forever.

Three California Condors circling the ridge above our car at Lake Piru. The one with the black head is an immature bird. These birds have a 9 ft wingspan (compared to ‘just’ 5 1/2 ft. for a Turkey Vulture) Wow. Just wow.

Our next stop was north of Santa Barbara to the rolling hillsides in search of Yellow-billed Magpies. This is the southern-most end of the range for this species, which is one of the 18 or so birds that are endemic to the United States. In fact, it is found only in California. Moreover, this is a ‘good’ endemic, in the sense that it is morphologically distinct from any other species and not one of those ‘split’ species that are not possible to distinguish unless they are in your hand and measured. They had been seen the general area near the intersection of two nearly deserted roads: Alisos Rd. and Happy Canyon Rd. (Happy Canyon…a portent of good things to come?). Well, we drove those roads nearly a mile in each direction from that intersection with no luck. We couldn’t have missed them, could we? After all, the habitat is wide open and they are a large and showy and social species…pretty much a ‘can’t miss’ bird. Or so we thought. So should we move on to a different location, or try again? Being stubborn (or should I say ‘persistent’?) birders, we drove back again, and this time Jeanine spotted a pair flying across a pasture only to disappear into thick trees surrounding a roadside ranch house. I always feel odd pointing my binoculars anywhere near a house, so we drove on, and this time hit the motherload, with Jeanine again spotting more, but this time a group of seven or so feeding mostly on the ground just ahead of our car. We waited patiently, and the birds kept strolling past the car and into good light for a few photos. When they flew up into the roadside oak they seemingly disappeared even though there were no leaves on the tree. That made for a great day, with the rarest species in North America and an endemic within a few hours of each other.

Here’s an example of the lovely Yellow-billed Magpie country. We drove along these kinds of roads scanning the fields and the bare oaks for magpies.  Photo by Jeanine Apgar.

A Yellow-billed Magpie. One of the few US endemic bird species.

Yellow-billed Magpie in an oak tree, showing its elongated tail. It was surprising how tough it was for us to spot them in this tree despite the lack of leaves.

The following day we went in search of our next US endemic, taking the boat trip to Channel Islands National Park in search of Island Scrub-jays. Good fortune was on our side on this trip, as it was supposed to be raining through most of the day, but it didn’t rain until our boat docked at the end of the day. Seriously. Amazing timing! On the trip out to Santa Cruz Island we tried pelagic birding, spotting some Pacific Loons (another species that we see in small numbers in NJ), Cassin’s Auklets (which were tough for us to identify), and near the island the more obvious Pigeon Guillemots with their large white wing patch. Since this island is the only place in the world to see Island Scrub-jays, the pressure was on, but within five minutes or so of beginning our hike, Pete spotted a distant one in a bare tree. Whew. With the pressure off, now we could enjoy the walk. We ended up seeing at least four more, with much better views, along with a super displaying Spotted Towhee while enjoying lunch.

Island Scrub-jay with a mouthful of acorn.

Here’s a classic cooperative Island Scrub-jay. They are distinguished from the similar California Scrub-jay by having a blacker facial mask and a cap that is darker blue.

A Spotted Towhee displaying in the wind, with another one in the bush in the background.

The gorgeous Island Fox. Another endemic species for Santa Cruz Island.

A Pacific White-sided Dolphin viewed on the boat trip out to Channel Islands National Park.

Thus ended our birding tour of southern California. Can I make any recommendations to others going there for the first time? First of all, although we explored only a small section of California, for the trip that I described in these blog entries, it is still quite a large area to cover in ten days. If we were doing it again, I’d spend 12-to-14 days to cover the same area and feel less rushed. Some birders consider the Salton Sea a ‘must ‘ stop for any southern California tour.  We could have opted for going to the Salton Sea instead of trying for the rarities (condor, magpie, and scrub-jay), but those are three five-star species, so I feel it was worth it in the end, but that is a matter of personal choice. With regard to the timing, we arrived before the peak of migration, so we could have found more western species (tanagers, vireos, orioles, terns, etc.) if we traveled in April or May, but part of our goal was simply to escape the cold and relatively birdless March in New Jersey, so for us it was good timing. (And yes, it did snow in NJ while we were away.) For the entire trip we ended with 156 species seen, with 36 new lifers for Jeanine and 12 for me. Although those numbers would pale in comparison to more exotic locations in South America, that is pretty darn good for a US destination. So give it a shot and enjoy. Contact me (greg@birdquiz.net) if you have any question or comments.

A remarkable thing about birding in southern California is how quickly you can be in completely different habitats. After 2 1/2 days in San Diego, we literally left the beach and just one hour later found ourselves in the Laguna Mountains, hoping to find some higher altitude species. We stayed overnight in a town called Pine Mountain (3,700 ft elevation) and woke up the following morning to a light fog that unfortunately became more dense as we drove up to higher altitudes, forcing a change in plans. The fog was likely due to the unseasonable snowstorm that they received the previous week, coating the ground outside of town in 6 inches of snow and resulting in some road closures in one of our destinations, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.

Wildflowers were blooming in colorful clusters in the foothills outside of San Diego. Photo by Jeanine Apgar.

Just an hour drive eastward after we were strolling barefoot on the beach we were in mountain habitat with 4-6 inches of snow.  Photo by Jeanine Apgar.

We made the best of the situation, and ultimately found most of our expected targets. In the town park we found our first Acorn Woodpeckers of the trip, and being a sociable species, a single oak hosted nearly a dozen of these distinctive birds. Dark-eyed Juncos were feeding on the ground, but for a nice change they were of the Oregon race, unlike the Slate-colored sub-species that we left behind in New Jersey. Groups of Band-tailed Pigeons flew above the pines, and a Bewick’s Wren and Steller’s Jay joined the group.

Acorn Woodpeckers were found in several types of habitats, and when you found one, you were sure to find more. They are very sociable.

The Oregon sub-species of junco was a slightly more colorful change from our eastern Slate-colored Juncos.

Bewick’s Wren was the most common wren species seen on this trip. This one is singing up a storm.

In Cuyamaca Rancho Park the trails were difficult to walk due to the snowcover, so we focused on the cleared roads in Paso Picacho Campground (5,000 ft). The Ponderosa Pines here were FILLED with Acorn Woodpeckers and their acorn stashes, but we had other birds in mind. We started with a brilliant Red-breasted Sapsucker, and then started finding species that replace our familiar eastern mixed-flock birds. In southern NJ we have Yellow-shafted Flicker, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, and White-breasted Nuthatch, but up here they were replaced with Red-shafted Flicker, Mountain Chickadees, Oak Titmouse, and Pygmy Nuthatch. (to be more accurate, both White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches were present, so it wasn’t a true nuthatch ‘replacement’).

The Acorn Woodpeckers stash acorns in the Ponderosa Pine bark, as can be seen here. Some of the Ponderosas were just filled with acorns.

It was not uncommon to see trees that look like this due to the Acorn Woodpeckers.

Mountain Chickadee, with its white supercilium that gives it a masked appearance.

Oak Titmouse was seen in the mountains, desert, and foothills, but our first one was found in the higher altitude of Rancho Cuyamaca.

We struggled to find Pygmy Nuthatch, but when we did find them, they were in a group of about six birds working a single pine.

Driving downhill from Cuyamaca Rancho towards the desert we spied our first Phainopepla of the trip. Upon arrival in Borrego Springs we took a break in the desert warmth with a short walk around the Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor’s Center followed by a dip in the motel pool. A lone Verdin was our first introduction to the desert species that we would see over the next three days. For part three of the Southern California tour, click here.