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We document the animal activity on the land before we begin a project and secondly, we look for the responses of birds and mammals during and after restoration. |
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Mark Holmgren
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Does restoration really work across all trophic levels? We are certain that we can enrich the plant community in natural areas, but does restoration work for the animals and for the ecosystem as a whole? These questions are the focus of CCBER’s Natural Areas Monitoring Program at western Goleta Slough, the Campus Lagoon, and along the North Bluff bordering Goleta Slough. Monthly surveys focus on two issues. We document the animal activity on the land before we begin a project and secondly, we look for the responses of birds and mammals during and after restoration. While we have not yet gotten the complete answer, some recent observations are intriguing.
Say’s Phoebe is a very uncommon breeding species anywhere in Santa Barbara County. Although this species is common here in winter, breeding Say’s Phoebes are typically found in sunny arid canyon lands or grasslands. However, this year we found a nest on April 17 west of Los Carneros Road, a wetland remnant of Goleta Slough where CCBER staff have been involved in vegetation enhancement. Once tidal, this area has been closed to tides for more than eighty years. On May 1, the breeding pair was seen carrying food taken from these wetlands to their nestlings.
From the same marsh area, a male Tricolored Blackbird flew into the bulrush, sang twice, and then two minutes later, it flew south out of the marsh. In my twenty-three years here, I’ve never seen a Tricolored Blackbird in a breeding situation on the south coast of Santa Barbara County. Although Tricolored Blackbirds formerly bred on Goleta Slough in the 1970s, they are now listed by the State of California as a species of special concern. We’ll continue to look, but we do not expect breeding at this site. Possible breeders here are a Virginia Rail, heard on May 18, and a Sora, seen on May 17. Both are exceedingly rare breeders along the south coast where our wetlands are small and usually dry up by the time the breeding urge hits most wetland species.
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A nest was found west of Los Carneros Road, a wetland remnant of Goleta Slough. |
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