Spring Birding in the Cuyama Valley

Following some reports from other birders concerning some unusual arid country birds in north county, Kathleen and I took a day to journey to the Cuyama valley area and found 3 new county birds. Ballinger Canyon Rd is only within our county for a few miles, but it is the closest to sage habitat that is readily accessible. We found 3 or 4 Black-chinned Sparrows, and one teed up in a juniper to sing (I also recorded its song from this perch):

This portion of a longer recording has only two phrases. This singer would shift from one phrase type to the other each time but not invariably, occasionally repeating one type twice.
Lawrence's Goldfinch were everywhere, with a lot of singing and calling.

Later, near New Cuyama, we found 3 subadult Swainson's Hawks in the air. These are unusual in our county as they migrate through northward. Here is a light morph:

Note the long pointed wings and the dark flight feathers. The hawks were flying over a large tilled field that may have made displaced prey more visible. There were many Common Ravens and a few Red-tailed Hawks around as well, along with quite vocal Western Kingbirds in the nearby trees.
It was a quite beautiful day in the valley, temperatures in the 60s with a light wind.
We also had for the day Brewer's Sparrow, a single Lark Bunting female (rare in the county), Lark Sparrow, Horned Lark, Sage Sparrow, Ash-throated Flycatcher. Spring is a great time anywhere in the world for birds and their song!