A juvenile reddish egret has made another appearance this summer, after one that was seen last year. The birds are rare in this area with only four records (note by Dave Compton on Santa Barbara County Birding group) for the county. I have five photos from this afternoon to add to a couple from last year; plus video of the bird’s behavior. (A couple times when I saw the bird maintain the “umbrella” position for a few minutes, it seemed to be a shield against the low-angled sun.)

After an airy-ashy start to summer, followed by a settled-ash clean-up, it was good to get out and enjoy the summer for a few minutes at Goleta Slough outflow, a wonderfully birdy place.

(Reddish Egret – Goleta Slough outflow, July 18, 2008)

Slideshow – Clink on link below for slideshow of 8 photos.

• Reddish Egret

Video – Click on the links below for video clips on Flickr.

• Reddish Egret – Video 1
  
• Reddish Egret – Video 2
  

First-hand observation is probably the best way of learning, and in learning some of the local bird, butterflies and plant species, I have been fortunate to visit many outlying places in Santa Barbara county since 2002. For plants, some of my favories areas are Drum Canyon, Jalama Beach road, Burton Mesa, Refugio Road/West Camino Cielo, East Camino Cielo, Alisal Road etc, but the most interesting place for number of species, so far, has been Figueroa Mountain. However, it took a while for my nerves to get used to driving there, to where I could visit Figueroa Mountain many times since about October last year. On my last visit on Sunday, I considered that this is probably enough for a while … it is getting too dry, and the fear of fires is great, especially of being trapped up amongst the many trees in the area. And now, just a few days later, a fire has started on West Camino Cielo – a favorite place, via Refugio Road, because of low traffic volume and interesting species. A greenbark ceanothus plant photographed there this March and probably burned down by now, is to be used in a California Coastal Commission book on coastal plants.

(Sticky False Gilia – Figueroa Mountain, June 16, 2008)

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