California Trip ~ May 28, 2001

We drove the short distance to Island Packers and took the boat trip to Scorpion Anchorage at the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island. I had purposely scheduled the boat trip to Prisoners Harbor well in advance so that we would land in prime Island Scrub-Jay area, but Island Packers screwed up that plan when they called me the day before we left home and said that the trip to Prisoners was cancelled and that our only option was to take the boat to Scorpion. Birding from the boat on the way to and from the island produced Western Grebe, numbers of Sooty Shearwaters, Brown Pelican, Double-crested, Brandt’s, and Pelagic Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Western Gull, Caspian, Common, Forster’s, and Least Terns, Pigeon Guillemot, and one ‘lifer’ Ashy Storm-Petrel. Babe saw a pair of Murrelets that I never did.

After landing at Scorpion Anchorage, we quickly headed up Scorpion Canyon. The farther up we went, the more difficult it became to hike the rocky creekbed. We realized that the time was fast approaching when we’d have to turn back in order to make it back to the boat on time. Just as we started to turn around and head back, we heard a jay call. Soon after I spotted a jay way up near the top of a hill, several others flew in close by and gave us good looks. We went from defeat to success in a matter of minutes, getting our first Island Scrub-Jays.

Island Scrub-Jay near Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island, California.

Other birds found along our hike out and back included Brown Pelican, California Quail, Western Gull, Allen’s Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Common Raven, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rock and Bewick’s Wrens, Rufous-crowned and Song Sparrows, Western Meadowlark, Lesser Goldfinch, and to our surprise, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

A poor documentation photo of our unusual sighting of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak near Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island, California.

We were back on the mainland by around 2 PM.

Back in the car, we made a quick stop in Santa Barbara at the Andree’ Clark Bird Refuge. There, we found Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Cliff Swallow, and Common Yellowthroat.

We then headed north to Happy Canyon Road, east of the town of Santa Ynez. Along the road, we spotted Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, California Quail, Acorn Woodpecker, “Red-shafted” Flicker, Black Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Western Scrub-Jay, Yellow-billed Magpie, Western Bluebird, Phainopepla, Lark Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, and Lesser Goldfinch. About 12 miles up the road, we birded the area around a small campground where a Northern Pygmy-Owl had been seen about two months earlier. Although we had no luck with the owl, we did find Steller’s Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, Western Tanager, House Wren, and my first Mountain Quail. The bird flew across the road and called from the hillside right next to the car.

We then had to make the long drive to Maricopa. It got dark by the time we reached Route 33 and crossed the very windy summit of Pine Mountain. I saw a Coyote run across the road near the turnoff to Quatal Canyon, where we took a short drive looking for Common Poorwill. We turned around after a few miles, finding only Black-tailed Jackrabbits, and continued on down into Maricopa, where we spent the night at Motel 8.

---