Friday Bird Walks

Ennisbrook Openspace/preserve/trail, known to the locals as the “100 acre wood” is located along the San Ysidro Creek between East Valley Road to the north and San Leandro Lane  to the south. It is a riparian area rich in Oak woodland with many tall sycamore trees which provide habitat for many of our avian friends. eBird reports 118 species for this area.

Rocky Nook Park is a lovely oak woodland studded with tall sycamores trees. Mission creek runs along the eastern edge making this park a great riparian habitat where vagrants often are found.

Toro Canyon Park is an oak woodland with chaparral foothills. Opportunities abound for a varied assortment of birds in this area.

With a size of 230 acres, the Ellwood Mesa Sperling Preserve is the largest publicly owned coastal preserve on the Santa Barbara South Coast. It is part of the 650+ acre Ellwood Devereux Open Space – a multi-agency open space that includes COPR, NCOS and the Ellwood Butterfly Grove. This sprawling coastal landscape is home to, and migratory stop-over of many avian species.

Elings park is a 250 acre private non-profit park open to the public. Known mostly for it’s athletic, cultural and natural environs, it hosts varied habitat and trails that can lead one to many places that birds call home.

Santa Barbara Harbor is a busy place during the day, but one can find many species of shorebirds, gulls, terns and water birds which take advantage of the quiet hours of the early morning.

San Marcos Foothills Preserve is an open space encompassing 200 acres. It offers exceptional views of the channel Islands and the Santa Ynez mountains. It provides habitat for Roadrunners, White-tailed Kites, American Kestrels and several species of Hawks. It is also home to many grassland and chaparral  bird species.