I headed up there this morning to complete a two-part survey I try to do each year. This time the plan was to hike from the end of the paved road to Broadcast peak and back, with side trips up both Santa Ynez and Broadcast Peak roads. As it turned out, I did not go farther than Santa Ynez peak. It was very warm up there even at 8:30 and I discovered my second water battle hadn't made it into my pack, so I opted for prudence and safety. It wasn't very birdy, but I had 3 male Lazuli Buntings at various places, and I heard a singing Black-chinned Sparrow from down below the road about a half-mile before the pavement ended.
Flowers that I missed last time (like pitcher sage) are now blooming and some of the patches of Golden Yarrow along the roadcuts were breath-taking. Yuccas are also starting to bloom along the road. Big surprise was the number of Fairy Lanterns (Calochortus albus) I saw at many places all along the road, even in full sun. There also were a few beautiful Larkspur plants near the back entrance of Rancho La Sherpa.
They are working Refugio Road at the really bad spot above the first switchbacks. I had no problem going up and had absolutely no traffic on upper Refugio and West Camino Cielo Roads. However, coming down I ran into lane closure where they were working, which I did expect, but I didn't expect that lane closures would average an hour! So I sat in a very dull spot under the foggy ceiling for almost that length of time before I could continue down, following one of the worker's flatbed trucks. We ran into more delays as heavy equipment was coming up and vehicles had to jockey for position on the narrow portions of the road. For the next couple of weeks, I'd suggest avoiding this area.
Addendum to my report from Refugio Road/Quiota Creek: I forgot to mention I heard a Cassin's Vireo song there yesterday. I could not get a visual on the bird.
And in regard to a post about Cedar Waxwings: I had a flock of about 30 on my first visit to Baron Ranch on May 9, and about a dozen Waxwings at both Barka Slough and the Santa Ynez River earlier this week.
Florence Sanchez