Scanning for birds on Santa Cruz Island. A large contingent from Audubon California and several other conservation organizations hit Santa Cruz Island over the weekend for the eighth annual Christmas Bird Count on this site. Of course, birders were keen to see the Island Scrub Jay, which is not only endemnic to California -- but it also lives only on the island.
HOTSPOT: Flyover of California's Birds and Biodiversity
California is a global biodiversity hotspots, with one of the greatest concentrations of living species on Earth.