Saturday, March 16 Pop-Up: Birding the UC Sedgwick Reserve
Members-Only Field trip with Tim Matthews and Peter Schneekloth
Yellow-billed magpie, a close relative of ravens and crows. Photo by Rick Skillin.
Saturday, March 16, 8:30 to 11:00 A.M.
Participation is limited to 20, and open to SYVNHS members only.
Registration opens at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 24 at syvnhs@syvnature.org or (805) 693-5683.
Members $10 / Children $5
Please note: We offer pop-up events when opportunity knocks and planning and promotion leap forward. Notice of events is emailed to Society members and friends (people who sign up on our newsletter/mailing list), and typically, events fill in the blink of an eye.
UC Sedgwick Reserve is one of Santa Barbara County’s birding hotspots, with nearly 200 species on record and a consistently high bird diversity. This outing will focus on birding around the Field Station area of the Reserve. Plant habitats such as oak savanna, oak woodland, and coastal sage scrub converge here to support a rich variety of resident and migratory birds, ranging from warblers and woodpeckers to meadowlarks and magpies. Conditions permitting, we also plan to visit the Sedgwick pond, where participants may see and/or hear soras, Virginia rails, and red-winged blackbirds. The pond also has the County’s only breeding population of tricolored blackbirds, a species that was listed as Threatened in 2019 under the California Endangered Species Act.
Acorn woodpecker at Sedgwick Reserve. Photo by Rick Skillin.
Participants should bring their own binoculars, dress in layers, and pack a snack and water. This field trip is open to all skill levels, although there will be no instruction in basics such as how to use binoculars. We expect to walk less than two miles total, on mostly level ground. The participants will split into two smaller groups to allow for a better birding experience.
This outing is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Fred Emerson and Joan Lentz, two of Santa Barbara County’s finest naturalists and birdwatching teachers who passed away in 2023. Both Fred and Joan led numerous field trips for the Society and were familiar with the avian richness of Sedgwick. Fred helped initiate a weekly bird survey at Sedgwick that is now in its second decade.
Northern flicker, one of 10 species of woodpecker at Sedgwick Reserve. Photo by Rick Skillin.
Tim Matthews is an avid naturalist, sportsman, and conservationist who has led trips for Audubon, U.S. Forest Service, and the Society. He has been involved with birding at Sedgwick for more than 20 years. Peter Schneekloth, a lifelong birder, has traveled extensively in the lower 48 and Alaska in pursuit of birds. A Buellton resident for more than 30 years, he conducts a weekly bird survey at Sedgwick Reserve, and you will often find him birding other locations in the Santa Ynez Valley and around the county.
