So, even though our trip wasn't strictly a bird-watching one, we were lucky to see many beautiful birds, both familiar, and those we have never seen before.
Here are some of them, the ones we saw in Santa Barbara and around Santa Ynez valley.
This white-breasted nuthatch with a few of his buddies were making a racket in the trees by Santa Ynez Mission early in the morning. I snapped this one photo from the car window. By the time I parked and went back, they were gone!
Same time, same place - these birds looked and sounded a lot like woodpeckers from far away. The close-up revealed that they were, in fact, Red-naped sapsuckers, which is a kind of woodpecker.
Also in the mission garden, the bluebirds were stuffing themselves with berries (or was it fruit? it was high up in a tree - just don't ask me what kind of tree it was.)
It seemed every bird in that garden was busy with some sort of food... like this oh-so-common scrub jay...
or these common crows... or are they ravens?
The red-shouldered hawk was eyeing us from a pole in one of Santa-Barbara's residential neighborhoods.
The red-tailed hawk was less inquisitive - as soon as it saw us stop and point the camera, it just flew off.
This osprey - and a few more just like it - were patrolling the heights around Cachuma lake. The photo is taken from VERY far away, with a maximum zoom, so don't tell me it's bad, I know it!
A pelican-covered rock by Shell Beach - I am at loss to say how many birds were there, but thousands is not an exaggeration. Most of them were California Browns...
...looking at us down their noses...
A very common black phoebe at Pismo Beach. Did you know they feed entirely on flying insects, mostly flies?
This last photo is not so much about the bird (which is an acorn woodpecker) but the pole on which it sits. Or rather, what's left of it. Those round little things in the holes are acorns, in case you were wondering.
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