Field trip with Joan Lentz and Larry Ballard

Friday, June 12, 6:00pm –evening, optional
Saturday , June 13 9:00 am – 4pm. Main Field Trip
Advance registration required at synature@west.net or 693-5683.
Participation is limited to 20
Members free/ nonmembers $20

June 12 Friday. Mount Pinos Campground.

Group meet-up and BYO dinner. Birding around the campground and nearby sites.

June 13, Main Field Trip Day.

Explore Iris Meadow, followed by a 1.5 mile hike along an old jeep road to the summit of Mount Pinos. Approximate 600 ft elevation gain. Bird watch and botanize along the way, at a leisurely pace.

Mount Pinos, at 8831 feet, is the highest point in our region. A sky island of montane habitat, it is at a crossroads at the junction of the Southern Coast Ranges, the Transverse Ranges, and the San Joaquin Valley. These conditions make for interesting plant and bird life. Iris Meadow is the only accessible montane meadow in our region. Walking from the meadow up to the summit brings you into subalpine forest dominated by limber pines and the fell-field community of cushion plants. The mountain is of great ornithological interest for montane birds, those found above 5000 feet and associated with coniferous forest. We will likely see Mountain Chickadees, Clark’s Nutcrackers, White-headed Woodpeckers, and the Green-tailed Towhee.

This trip is the capstone trip in the SYVNHS series based on Joan Lentz’s book A Naturalist’s Guide to Santa Barbara County; Mount Pinos and the “ Sky Islands” are described in Chapter 8.

Camp overnight or stay in nearby motels evening of June 12. Alternatively, drive from Santa Ynez Valley or Santa Barbara to arrive Saturday June 13 for the main field trip.

More detailed trip information will be provided to registered participants or upon request.

Joan Lentz is an author, teacher, and research associate at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. For over 35 years, she has been a serious student of the natural history of the Santa Barbara region, concentrating on its bird life. Lentz has written three books, including A Naturalist’s Guide to Santa Barbara County and Introduction to Birds of the Southern California Coast.

Larry Ballard has an interest in all aspects of the region’s natural history, and has led many natural history trips for our organization as well as for other groups and institutions in Santa Barbara County.

Image: Trip participants will see several interesting conifers, such as Jeffrey pine; this photo, however, was not taken at Mount Pinos.
Photo courtesy John Evarts.