To conserve gas, I usually plan one round-trip per day for any outings over the weekend. During the week, I telecommute, and therefore feel a little less bad about weekend trips, not having a hybrid.

(Clark’s Grebe - click image for large picture)

For Saturday shopping, planned a round-trip that included birding to Goleta Beach/Slough, Mesa Los Carneros wetlands and Devereux. Timing was such that the only birds of note were Grebes (Western and Clark’s) at Goleta Slough and White-faced Ibis at Mesa Los Carneros, although the latter were too far to take a good photo. At one time at Goleta Slough, there were five Grebes, either Western or Clark’s.

(White-faced Ibis - click image for large picture)

On Sunday, planned to return to Figueroa Mountain primarily for birding, although there were some revisits to plants for id purposes. After that, hoped to travel home via Alisal Road for more birding. The wind was so strong that I got no further than the 9 mile marker on Figueroa Mountain road, before turning back.

(Figueroa Mountain, cloudy and windy - click image for large picture)

While at the 9 mile marker area, took my birding lens out for a better shot of the Lark Sparrows - they were not where they were last time. Walked along the paths looking at plants, and instead of turning back on a fairly steep path - hands too tied up with camera - continued down on a downward path. After a short while, looked up to see a Lark Sparrow not very far away, perched on the edge of a water tank. Very slowly lifted the camera and took a few pictures, before the sound of the shutter annoyed the bird and it flew off.

(Lark Sparrow - click image for large picture)

While traveling back down the mountain, stopped off at an area where Cream Cups, Linanthus and a variety of other flowers grow. Of note was a brilliant, but lone Purple Clarkia, Clarkia purpurea ssp. quadrivulnera.

(Purple Clarkia - click image for large picture)

On the way up, at this area, took pictures of an unidentified dandelion-type flower to provide better visible diagnostic features. From these pictures, it was determined that the plant is Large-flowered Agoseris, Agoseris grandiflora. The head of the flower is about the size of a quarter, and it grows low to the ground in single heads; this latter feature is in general not a characteristic of Malacothrix species. When I stopped off on the way down, the group of four flowers seen a couple hours earlier, were no longer visible and seemed to have folded up. From research, most Large-flowered Agoseris seem to flower in May. Characteristic photos can be seen in the Figueroa Album… link is provided at the end of the post.

(Large-flowered Agoseris - click image for large picture)

The next time I stopped along the side of the road, was to photograph a Western Bluebird at the edge of a hole in a tree, with an insect in its beak. When I restarted the car, an unfamiliar noise was heard. Not knowing what it was, and the fact that it did not seem to go away (e.g. stick caught in the wheels), coasted to the nearest area off the road - at the Midland school entrance at the 5-mile marker. While waiting for a tow-truck, noticed a bird with a bright yellow chest reminiscent of a Tropical Kingbird. Being unfamiliar with the dorsal view of Kingbirds in general, incorrectly assumed a Tropical Kingbird - but once again it was a Western Kingbird.

(Figueroa Mountain, interesting lighting - click image for large picture)

After the car was towed to downtown Goleta outside the auto-repair shop, walked the three miles home via Patterson south and More Mesa. Once again the wind was not conducive to bird photography; only item of note was a White-tailed Kite struggling against the wind, almost to a standstill, over west More Mesa.

From today’s report, the car could have been driven home; a stone had flown up and lodged in an area of the brake pads; thankfully nothing expensive nor destructive.