Tag archives: birds
Owls have long lived in my most favorite category. Their stoic demeanor. Their wisdom. The intensity of the screech owl’s screech, the trills and lonely melodic resonance of the great horned owl’s “hoot hoots,” and the barn owl’s hissing rasp. Twice this week the California Highway Patrol rescued owls hit by a car along Highway […]
The Santa Clara River Estuary was a graveyard of tattered driftwood, tangled kelp balls, a rotting sea lion carcass that was so putrid it could only attract a pair of turkey vultures. A high ceiling of overcast kept the early morning comfortably cool. The sand was coarse and gritty, perfect for breeding and nesting western […]
I was a “Secret Garden” … “Green Mansions” kind of child. Deep forests, bright brooks, wide fields, and ocean waves beckoned my young exuberance. On the seldom occasions that an adult might be missing me, I would be found deep in the forest, grabbing minnows and crayfish from a tiny creek under the redwoods, or […]
There it Is. Take It. In regard to Nick Schou’s article about securing a dependable water source for Montecito. I am reminded of Mulholland’s famous words as the water filled the L.A. aqueduct for the first time, “There it is. Take it.” Only I am gazing out to the ocean. We have the most sensible […]
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the longest running citizen science survey in the world, with origins dating to December 1900 when ornithologist Frank Chapman asked people to count birds not hunt them for sport at Christmas time. This shift began an international bird species count to help birds repopulate that had begun to decline […]
A most pivotal lecture of our time was presented at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on January 29, titled, “Three Billion Birds Lost: The Disappearance of North American Birds and What We Can Do About It.”The standing room-only lecture was given by renowned scientist and author, Kenneth Rosenberg, who works at the Cornell […]
I love surprises when Mother Earth serves them up. A few years ago when I kayaked from Santa Cruz Island to tiny Santa Barbara Island, at the end I just wanted the 42-mile slog to be finished. In 2015, at 8 pm on a crisp, cool October evening, all I wanted was to see the […]
by Claire Garvais and Emily Komessar It’s Baby Season! Hundreds of owlets, squirrels, woodpeckers, and hummingbirds are nice and cozy in nests of all shapes and sizes throughout Santa Barbara County. Some of these babies will fall prey to forces of nature; they may fall out of their nests early or be harassed by natural […]
The Christmas Bird Count [CBC] is the longest-running citizen science survey in the world, with origins dating back to December 1900 when ornithologist Frank Chapman asked people to count birds instead of hunting them for sport at Christmas time. This shift began an international bird species count to help birds repopulate that had begun to […]
One of the most famous pieces of literature in the English language is about a talking bird. No, it’s not a parrot or a mynah – and I don’t mean Edward Lear’s accomplished Owl who eloped with a Pussy-Cat, and could sing and play the guitar while operating a sailboat. The particular bird I am […]
If anybody asked you (for some diabolical reason) to use the word “unpremeditated” in a poem, you might think it a considerable, almost an unfair, challenge. The word isn’t very poetic-sounding, is it? But prepare to be flabbergasted: That word happens to appear in the first stanza of one of the most famous poems in […]
All it took was a western snowy plover to get my mind right for a hike in the Guadalupe – Nipomo Sand Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, located in Santa Barbara’s North County. The tiny shorebirds don’t migrate, so these hardy little plovers endure a lot of northwest winds throughout the year, especially in the spring […]
With respect to our creeks, their drainage, and the topography, there is a direct correlation with aquifer recharge. But, thus far, there seems to be an absence of discussing the overlap between recharge basin placement and debris basin placement. Is there the possibility that these structures, by their careful placement, could be doing double duty? […]
As Santa Barbara transitions into winter, various wildlife species adapt and move into the coastal waters for the season. Large populations of water birds such as western grebes migrate into the Santa Barbara Channel for wintertime. They are completing a migration pattern that can range from the Pacific Northwest in the spring and summer to […]
