Finney & Ramer Lake, Salton Sea Bird Trip

Salton Sea
Jan 10, 2001
0645-1145, Sunny, 45-70

This was a morning trip to show Madeline and Ed some of the wonderful birds of the Salton Sea.
74 species total

The day began at sunrise in the fields close to McConnell and Harris, where we watched the Sandhill Cranes mill about and take to the air. At the same time we saw the 11 White-fronted Geese that have been roosting at Osterkamp Ponds.

American Avocet	At Finney Lake we found the two sleeping Lesser Nighthawks, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and two pairs of noisy Cactus Wrens. From there we scooted over to Ramer Lake, where we found the young Vermillion Flycatcher and Phainopeplas. A beeline to Obsidian Butte put us on top of a Peregrine Falcon.
American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Black-necked Stilts and Stilt Sandpipers were but a few of many shorebirds. We also saw Bonaparte's Gulls and hundreds of American White Pelicans.	Black-necked Stilts

Herring Gull

Ed and Madeline are just starting out at this wonderful hobby of birding, and it was a delight to give them close-up views of Burrowing Owl, Eared Grebe, and Say's Phoebe.
The morning ended all too soon, and as Ed and Madeline continued their birding adventure, I raced back for a meeting in Yuma. Madeline wrote me that she had recorded 27 "lifers" that morning!	Marbled Godwit

Red-tailed Hawk


#	Species Name
1	Pied-Billed Grebe
2	Eared Grebe
3	Brown Pelican
4	White Pelican
5	Double-Crested Cormorant
6	Black-Crowned Night Heron
7	Cattle Egret
8	Great Egret
9	Great Blue Heron
10	Snowy Egret
11	White-Faced Ibis
12	Northern Pintail
13	Ruddy Duck
14	Lesser Scaup
15	Green-Winged Teal
16	American Wigeon
17	White-Fronted Goose
18	Ross' Goose
19	Common Goldeneye
20	Northern Shoveler
21	American Coot
22	American Avocet
23	Black-Necked Stilt
24	Killdeer
25	Least Sandpiper
26	Willet
27	Stilt Sandpiper
28	Marbled Godwit
29	Long-Billed Dowitcher
30	Lesser Yellowlegs
31	Greater Yellowlegs
32	Long-Billed Curlew
33	Bonaparte's Gull
34	Herring Gull
35	Ring-Billed Gull
36	Osprey
37	Red-Tailed Hawk


#	Species Name
38	Northern Harrier
39	American Kestrel
40	Peregrine Falcon
41	Gambel's Quail
42	Common Ground Dove
43	Mourning Dove
44	Rock Dove
45	Greater Roadrunner
46	Burrowing Owl
47	Lesser Nighthawk
48	Anna's Hummingbird
49	Belted Kingfisher
50	Ladder-Backed Woodpecker
51	Northern Flicker
52	Say's Phoebe
53	Black Phoebe
54	Vermillion Flycatcher
55	Verdin
56	Red-Breasted Nuthatch
57	Cactus Wren
58	Marsh Wren
59	Western Bluebird
60	Mountain Bluebird
61	Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
62	Northern Mockingbird
63	Phainopepla
64	European Starling
65	Yellow-Rumped Warbler
66	Common Yellowthroat
67	Great-Tailed Grackle
68	Red-Winged Blackbird
69	Western Meadowlark
70	House Sparrow
71	Abert's Towhee
72	Dark-Eyed Junco
73	Song Sparrow
74	White-Crowned Sparrow