Visit to Carpinteria Salt Marsh

Jan. 14, 2015

Getting an invite to go check out Carpinteria and its Salt Marsh with Eve, I decided that it was time for me to take my maiden camping voyage while the weather was perfect for camping and traveling. I left the house at 9:06 am traveling on Freeway 5N on to 405N to US HWY101, arriving at Carpinteria State Beach at 12:18pm. It was time for me to get acquainted with the campgrounds and the beautiful campsite.

Taking a look around the beach area, I noticed hundreds of Cormorants and at least 50 Pelicans in a feeding frenzy close to shore. My campsite was located about 100ft from the beach and all this fantastic activity. Deciding to get settled in and eat first before I took my camera out, I sat in my camper van and enjoyed the show. Walked around the perimeter of this beautiful state beach to familiarize myself with the layout and find good places for future birding. Now the sun was getting lower and I decided that if I wanted to get any photos today I better grab my camera and get moving. Walking down to the beach, my first subject was a Brown Pelican flying by looking for fish.

It was exciting to find several Western Grebes fishing in the surf line.

A wave picks up the grebe...

Not a problem, he dives and proceeds to hunt for fish. 

Another Western Grebe is also swimming underwater nearby.

 

I was really surprised to see this little Red-throated Loon surface in the shore break.

There were quite a few of the loons hunting the shore break for bait fish and maybe sand crabs.

Looking north, a nice wave comes through against a background of Santa Barbara.

The sun is close to the horizon and the color from the setting sun is casting an orange hue to everything. An adult Western Gull in breeding plumage  lands near... looking for a food opportunity.

A Pelican makes a low flight hoping for a few more mouthfuls of fish before the sun goes down. 

This pelican is in his breeding plumage. 

A beautiful fly by...

I'm losing light fast. 

A Say's Phoebe perches next to me to watch the sunset. The color of the setting sun is reflecting off his plumage.

The sunset was beautiful, promising a repeat of the incredible weather for tomorrow. I was hoping to see the green flash at the edge of the setting sun. It may have been green for an instant at the very end of the sunlight on the horizon.

Jan. 15, 2015

Waking up early before the sun came up, hoping to get a shot of the sun coming over the hills to the east of the campground. The birds are already up and flying, making their way to their feeding grounds.

 

A pair of Brown Pelicans fly north as a Loon flies in for his morning breakfast. 

Looking east, I get a nice look at a wave feathering in the light offshore wind as it travels towards the shore. 

A Marbled Godwit walks by catching the morning sunlight.

He turns and walks even closer as he searches for breakfast. 

A Whimbrel lands and looks for a few moments before chasing after another that flew too close to his feeding area.

A Snowy Egret makes a beautiful addition to the beach scenery.

A Sanderling grabs a sand crab.

 

His buddy wants his sand crab... it becomes a chase and how fast the one with the crab can swallow it before it gets stolen. 

 

One adorable bird. 

The Sanderlings scurry towards the ocean as the waves recede and then pick in the sand looking for the sand crabs. As soon as the waves come flowing back, there is a foot race to keep ahead of the incoming wall of water. 

The morning crew... hundreds of Cormorants fly by going north to their feeding grounds.

A second year Western Gull lands in front with a nice looking shell breakfast. 

 

Suddenly there is competition in the air for a fresh caught bait fish. A juvenile Heermann's Gull has grabbed a nice size bait fish. However, the sub-adult  Ring-billed Gull is in full chase to steal the prize. Thank you Steve Brad of Buena Vista Audubon Society for identifying the gulls.

If a fish is caught and not swallowed immediately, it becomes a target for others to try and steal. 

I have never seen surf jumping by Brown Pelicans before. A wave comes in and they jump to clear it but one has waited too long and gets hit in the face by the wave.

One happy Sanderling with a nice little sand crab.  Again, thanks to Steve Brad for the ID.

8:30am and it's time to meet up with Eve to check out the Salt Marsh. I meet up with her at the Campground entrance and walked to the nearest Starbucks at Vons for a latté coffee for Eve. Getting a quick tour of the quaint little town was a treat. Everything is in walking distance and there is a train station nearby. Now it's time to walk to the Salt Marsh. 

As soon as we entered the south end of the trail, a lady birding ahead of us let us know she had just seen a Roadrunner for an instant and would like a better look. We join the lady on the hunt for the elusive Greater Roadrunner. The hunt was brief for there were so many bird distractions on the trail.  We never did find the Roadrunner but spotted lots of sparrows, Meadow Larks, Wrens, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets and lots of Long-billed Curlews and Whimbrels in the area but all too far for photos.  

We walked over a bridge that took us to the north side of the tide channel. There were lots of ducks, Grebes, and shorebirds foraging in the nice size tide channel. My first subject is a cute little female Bufflehead.

 

A male Bufflehead glows with rainbow colors as he swims by. The local paper, Coastal View News reported that the Christmas Bird Count was 157 species! That is a amazing bird count! The paper mentioned that they where disappointed that the Carpinteria's iconic Gray Hawk which returned three years in a row for the Christmas Bird Count was not spotted this year.

A Ruddy Duck swam close for a nice close-up. This one appears to be a juvenile. 

A beautiful male Green-winged Teal swims by. 

I spot a Eurasian Teal... a life bird for me! Notice that he does not have the vertical white bar on his shoulder that our more common Green-winged Teal has and he has a paler brown on his crown with bold pale lines around the green markings of his head. 

A Blue-winged Teal is busy dabbling but stops long enough for a nice pose. 

Here is a shot of a female Blue-winged Teal that stayed close to the male. 

A good look at the Blue-winged Teal pair.

A female Green-winged Teal swims by a feeding Dowitcher showing a good comparison on the size. A Green-winged Teal measures only 14 inches long and is the smallest of the Teal Ducks. You can see that there is only a little difference in size between a Dowitcher which is 11 inches long and the Green-winged Teal which is only slightly bigger. 

It was time for us to head back. Thanking Eve for the tour of the Salt Marsh as she headed north on the trail for a shortcut back to her place, I doubled back towards the campground. As I made my way back out of the Salt Marsh, I was greeted by a local bird photographer and he immediately pointed out a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that was perched in a nearby sage bush. He shared info on the spot where he got a shot of a Wilson's Snipe, another bird that I am searching to photograph. It's always good to meet the local birders that know the area and where to look for certain birds. Here is a shot of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 

A Snowy Egret makes an appearance overhead as I head out of the Salt Marsh and head back to my campsite. This has been a fantastic first trip to Carpinteria Salt Marsh and camping at the beautiful State Beach turned out to be one of the best camping experience of my life. 
 

Friendly people, wonderful scenery, fantastic sunsets and sunrises. The ocean and beach teaming with wildlife. I hope to visit this beautiful area again.

 Have a wonderful day everyone.