Recently, Valerie told me that she had seen five white-tailed kites on the eastern end of More Mesa perched in the same tree close to the main trail. I went out a few days later one Sunday evening, and was able to photograph a youngster, whose rusty feathers had almost faded to white and whose eyes were almost red. I noted that when it flew to a certain tree, the youngster was chased by an adult kite. Hence, the assumption is that the youngster photographed was the last of the first clutch from the eastern side, and the adults are tending a second nest.

(Juvenile WTK on east end, June 07, 2009)

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I have been fortunate to attend, when possible, CCBER Monday evening one-hour seminars on subjects in which I have much interest but little knowledge - a good background to the nature photography I enjoy. I was also fortunate to see the formation of CCBER and their moving into new quarters, and seeing them grow and thrive since then. As Jennifer Thorsch stated in her foreword in the 2009 newsletter — “CCBER continues to flourish”.

(Kids-in-Nature lunch, May 29, 2009)

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A chain of events, starting this year with my providing a map to Lara Hartley, resulted in the travel by Wayne Armstrong, brodiaea researcher (amongst other things), to Figueroa Mountain to investigate the brodiaea at the location in question.

Because Wayne constructed an extremely interesting page of his visit, I decided to create this post with the sole purpose of providing a link to said educational page. (Also, explore the rest of his site - it is full of interesting facts, photos and observations of the natural world - definitely a bookmarker.)

Link to Wayne’s page:

• Brodiaeas On Figueroa Mountain & Gaviota Pass

(Harvest Brodiaea: Brodiaea terrestris ssp. kernensis (BTK complex))

Last year, the same amount of rain probably fell in the back country as this year, but there were late storms last year that allowed late bloomers a chance to flower for a reasonable amount of time. This year, the rainfall on Figueroa Mountain was 51% of normal with very little rain later in the season. On May 4th, the soil wetness was 10.0, where anything over 9.0 is characterized as dry. Hence late blooming plants probably had a brief or no flowering period. The grasslands on hills and slopes are now covered by pale, dry, non-native grasses, that would provide instant kindling for any wildfires, unfortunately. I hope that we get a good amount of rain next year, otherwise we could be starting a decline into desertification.

(Dried Grasses near Tunnel Road, May 21, 2009)

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Thanks to Liz Muraoka’s post (on SBCO Yahoo Birding) about the oystercatchers and surfbirds at Coal Oil Point, two species that I have not photographed in Santa Barbara, I decided that my Sunday walk would be around Coal Oil Point. Positioning myself at a close, but not-too-near position, I was able to get reasonable shots of the oystercatchers - so much so, that after standing quietly for a while, one of them walked toward me. Unfortunately, the shutter sound of the camera is distracting for the birds. I also photographed a number of other birds in breeding attire on the walk.

(Coal Oil Point - Sands Beach - Black Oystercatcher)

(Coal Oil Point - Sands Beach - Surfbird)

Slideshow

• Please click here for a slideshow of Coal Oil Point birds