The time has arrived that many birders anticipate for long months: fall migration. There are a number of reasons the season is regarded with such fondness. With so many birds on the move, the diversity of what can be seen is huge. It’s also a time to brush up on skills. Many of the vireos, sparrows, and warblers passing though are lookalikes, so you really have to be alert as to which features are crucial for identification, for views are often brief. Lastly, the odds of finding something truly rare are much greater than at any other time of year, and this possibility drives many a birder to check likely spots.
Finding a rarity is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but over the years, birders have learned a few tricks that at least help narrow down which corner of the haystack to look in. The most important factor is to find where the food is that the birds need to replenish themselves on their migration. Birds will flock to the most readily available and nutritious food source. You might think that our local creeks would be the place to look, and at one time this was true. In recent years, however, birders have discovered other places to search, and interestingly, these have changed over time.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, tamarisk trees, a non-native often planted as windbreaks in campgrounds and on farmland, would become infested with leafhoppers, which are an irresistible snack to migrating birds. For one reason or another, most of these rows of trees have been removed in Santa Barbara County. A few years ago, another non-native, the Tipuana tree, widely planted as a shade tree in parking lots, was found to be attracting large numbers of birds because of a pest, the Tipu psyllid, which was infesting the leaves. Indeed, one of the local hotspots attracting birders is the parking lot of a Goleta business park.
