California, Here I Come! [View all]

So, I'm nailing down my California Birding Blitz. The goal is to add 30 birds to my life list so I hit the magical ABA number of 500 species. I leave tomorrow morning and arrive at LAX 11 am Pacific. My first stop is Goleta Beach Santa Barbara, for gulls and tricolored blackbirds, then to the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens to hit up some songbirds. I'll then head north and west along highways 154 and 246, passing by Lake Cachuma and making a stop at Nojoqui Falls Park for yellow-billed magpies and canyon-habitat birds. Then, I'll head up to San Luis Obispo and if there is time, hit Lopez Lake and possibly Oceano. I'll grab a hotel for the night, and get up super early Sunday to hit Montana de Oro park for some seawatching (Pigeon guillemots, Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants, plus whatever seabirds I get lucky with- maybe even some gray whales!). Then it's off to the Mount Pinos area for oak savannah, chapparal, and higher elevation birds. Hopefully I'll have hit my target by the end of the day, as I head to Anaheim for the actual business part of the trip.

Monday I have non-birding business to attend to, which may take all day; if not, I'll take a look at where I'm at in regards to the goal of 500 and use the Lane guide to go after more target birds. Tuesday morning I fly back to Columbus.

I'll try to post Wednesday with the results!