Greetings, birders! There’s less than two weeks until the Christmas count on December 14. If you’ve been holding off on signing up, now is the time. We have a great group of leaders and participants, but we can always use more help. If you want to sign up you can visit our sign up form. Or to review any of the other information I’m talking about in this email, go to the Carpinteria CBC web page.
Scouting the count circle has been going well. If you bird in the count circle before the count please consider sharing your checklist with the “carpcbc” eBird user. This is the same process you’ll use for sharing your checklists on count day. If you’re not sure how to do this, let me know and I’ll help.
The “tally” spreadsheet lets you see the best birds we’ve found and the easiest-to-find birds we’re still missing. As of the latest scouting, these are some of the highlights:
Best birds:
- Cackling Goose – One has been hanging out with two Snow Geese at Lake Jocelyn; Nancy Baron found this bird back on November 19. Two more were at the Kim’s Market pond this morning.
- Hermit Warbler – It’s been a few days since the bird has been reported, but one was hanging out in the tipus near the Tee Time parking at the Carpinteria Bluffs last week. Hopefully the bird is still there.
- Summer Tanager – I found this bird at the Casitas Fire Station (in the Ventura County part of our circle) a few days ago. Fingers crossed our team can get the bird on count day.
- Painted Bunting – The stunning adult male has been getting a lot of attention over the last week behind the Carpinteria Sanitary District offices. Dozens of birders (and photographers) from out of the area have been showing up to see it. Here’s hoping he sticks around for the count; if he does this will be the second year in a row we’ve had what presumably is the same bird in our CBC.
Still missing:
As of today the following species have not been reported during pre-count scouting:
- Ruddy Duck
- Canyon Wren
- Fox Sparrow
All of them have been recorded on our count every year since the Carpinteria CBC began in 2009, so I bet they’re out there. We just need to find them.
— John Callender
Hi John: I have a female Black headed Grosbeak in my backyard. I thought maybe she was just migrating through and stopped for some food at my bird feeder but she has been here for a couple of weeks. My house backs up to the north field of El Carro Park. Let me know if you would like to include her in the CBC.
Pat Mickelson
We absolutely want to include your grosbeak in our count, Pat. Thanks for the info! I’ll follow up privately to get more details.