HASKELL'S BEACH, COAL OIL POINT AND THE ELWOOD MESA PRESERVE

[Girl Hiker]

During the closure of the forests a few hiking friends and I did some exploring along the beaches in Santa Barbara and Goleta. Haskell's Beach was really pretty and interesting. This beach has the largest natural oil seepage. The sand is dark brown and you can clearly see the oil as you are walking along the beach. After walking barefoot on the beach a few of us had tar on the bottom of our feet even though we were dipping our feet in the water. We walked along several little beaches and passed through the Western Snowy Habitat and Coal Oil Point preserve. We saw some interesting birds along the way. It was a nice escape to spend the entire day away from the smoke-filled air from all the fires.
Western Snowy Plower

Cormorant

Long-Billed Curlew

[AW~]

here is a plover link :
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lea ... s-compare/
Its kinda rare to see one(threatened species).

Haskell....hmm. Drama.
The demand for semi-real beaches is through the roof...so theres that. When I was there I was curious how it would play out.
At some point though the 'locals' ethos will lose and any socal modern hiker ecoterrorist can come anywhere on their road to mighty.
I didnt even know, and got away with it(the glaring looks) by picking up trash lol..which was interesting cause there is an army of volunteers maintaining the site and yet if you blink...boom...reality.

I was there to visit a modern explore beach called Paradiso...which is a too late place. It was a last chance to see before developed and 'lost' forever.


Heres a history link for Haskell
https://goletahistory.com/haskells-beach/

[HikeUp]

Cool pictures.

I think you have a Western Gull (not a western snowy plover).

@oldcoot should be able to verify

[Girl Hiker]

HikeUp, that's interesting. I will have to look at the website AW sent. This sign was on the beach and all those birds were near it.

[Girl Hiker]