Orange
County to the Salton Sea
16-17 Jan
2004, 45-70 degrees
Led
by Vic Leipzig and Bruce Aird
Another fine birding adventure, beginning on the Pacific Coast and
ending at the Salton Sea
170 total! 100
species per day
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
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DAY 1
In Orange County, we started the day with a 1st-year Thayer's Gull. We found an unexpected Summer Tanager in Laguna Niguel Park and got great looks at an
Aleutian Canada Goose there. We successfully located a small flock of Tricolored Blackbirds at a local shopping center (thanks to Peyton Cook for that tip!) along with a
columbarius Merlin. Crescent Bay Overlook got us Pelagic and Brandt's Cormorants at close range, and literally thousands of Black-vented Shearwaters. |
Western Gull & Brandt's Cormorants
At Crystal Cove State Park, we did quite well with some of Roger's target species for Orange County: California Thrasher singing 6 feet out the car window, California Towhee and California Gnatcatcher, as well as a distant male Allen's Hummingbird.
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At Mason Park, we found Nuttall's and Downy Woodpeckers, a Black-throated Gray Warbler, more Allen's Hummingbirds, and heard a distant Bullock's Oriole. A walk around the lake yielded some eye-popping Western Bluebirds, and the vagrant female Vermilion
Flycatcher. Also there was a large flock of Long-billed Curlews, Whimbrels and Marbled Godwits, foraging on the manicured lawns! After a quick lunch stop, Vic found the Palm Warbler along San Diego Creek, and some Common Moorhens and a Black-crowned Night-Heron.
Bruce and Roger
Pelagic Cormorant
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The major stop of the day was at Seal Beach NWR, where we found many new birds, including the specialties: 6 Pacific Golden-Plover, 21 Mountain Plover, a half dozen or so Loggerhead Shrikes, and great looks at three different sub-species of Savannah Sparrow, including Belding's and Large-billed. We also saw amazing numbers of
Osprey and innumerable Red-tailed Hawks, along with Horned Grebe, Surf
Scoters, Red-breasted Merganser, Dunlin and many other birds. Thanks to John Bradley of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the US Navy for allowing us access, this portion of the trip was quite successful.
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We could only find Lilac-crowned Parrots and an unidentifiable parakeet at the Santa Ana parrot roost, but the sound and spectacle in the fading evening light were worth the trip. Our last stop was at Upper Newport Bay, where we coaxed Light-footed Clapper Rails, Virginia Rails and Soras to talk to us. |
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DAY 2
The Salton Sea day trip from Orange County was exhausting but quite successful. We stopped at the Wister Unit after dawn, and had Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Verdin and Abert's Towhee right out of the car. A flock of 12 Common Ground-Doves on the Nature Trail were nice for Roger. After watching Snow and Ross' Geese flying by, we saw various species of ducks and grebes, and heard a Yuma Clapper Rail. Then we were startled by the American Redstart from 10 feet away on the way back to the car. We'll take it!
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Reddish Egret at Salton Sea
The longspurs at the prison eluded us, but we found the female Hooded and Common Mergansers on the pond in front. The Common Goldeneyes there were lovely too. |
On the way to the Harris' Sparrow spot, we logged Greater Roadrunner, Prairie Falcon, and an adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk perched in a tree in a Niland yard. We ran into Bob Miller's group at the sparrow spot, and while the sparrow gave us the slip, we got great looks at Horned Larks, Vesper and Brewer's Sparrows, the
saltonis subspecies of Song Sparrow and several White-tailed Kites at close range. We joined Bob's group for the rest of the day. |
It took a while to get everyone good views, but eventually, we all saw the Sprague's Pipit in the field at Sinclair Road. Lunch at the Salton Sea NWR main unit netted us close views of Ross' Geese in the nearby field, more Common Ground Doves, and for a lucky few, a glimpse of the White-throated Sparrow there.
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| Obsidian Butte did not yield a Yellow-footed Gull, but we did find an unreported adult Mew Gull, Lesser Yellowlegs and a vocal pair of Rock Wrens. We drove south along the sea wall looking in vain for the Yellow-footed Gull, but did find a Peregrine Falcon and the Reddish Egret. We returned to Redhill to look for
YFGU, but had no luck, though we did find American White Pelicans, Dunlin, and 3 distant Lesser Flamingos!
From there we went to the dove spot in Calipatria-- |
Obsidian Butte
And located White-winged, Mourning, Eurasian Collared, Inca, Ringed Turtle- and Ruddy Ground-Doves. When you add Rock Pigeon to that, we had 8 species of
columbiiformes in a single day!
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Our next stop was Cattle Call Park in Brawley, where we logged a number of new species, including Phainopepla, Gila Woodpecker, Cactus Wren, and two very obliging flycatchers: a brilliant male Vermilion, and a skittish but charming Gray. In the fading light, we pressed on to the New River Marsh Project area, and as the sun set, managed to tick off the local populations of Marsh Wren, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Least Bittern, Sora, Virginia Rail, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and a single male Great Horned Owl, who obligingly landed on top of a telephone pole and allowed us to spotlight him. The local coyotes serenaded us, and a spectacular view of rising Saturn through Bob's scope was a particularly lovely end to the day.
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