Hi folks,
I birded around Carpinteria today and didn't see much of interest at the Kim's Market pond, Santa Monica Creek, or Carp Salt Marsh Nature Park. The tide was pretty high at the latter, and there were reasonably good numbers of wigeon, Green-winged Teal, and Gadwalls. An adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was along the Franklin Creek Channel, south of the foot bridge. Seems like numbers are low in Carpinteria this winter, based on eBird reports.
My final stop was at Carp Creek, where I was pretty shocked at the storm damage. All of the willows on the west side of the creek below 6th St are gone, and the bank has been shored up with boulder revetment from 6th down to the sewage plant. The whole area on the west side is fenced off, blocking access going downstream. Just upstream of 6th, it's theeast bank that's been more heavily damaged. The trees that support the monarch roost in this area, or at least some of them, have been badly undercut from bank erosion. There's more bank erosion near the 8th St bridge, such as just south of the bridge on the east side of the creek. There's no vegetation anywhere in the creek bottom, of course, as this is a pretty normal occurrence after heavy winter rains. But the riparian habitat has taken a big hit throughout this section of creek, and I'm sure the same is true elsewhere.
So, birders going here should be aware that there may be access limits and that we have lost some habitat due to the storms.
Dave Compton Santa Barbara