Brawley
and the New River Wetlands
Feb. 23,
2002
Bob
Miller
A few hours of birding in residential Brawley and sunset at the NRW
Brawley site.
31
species (list follows at end
of page)
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
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With a free
afternoon on a beautiful winters, day I headed for the Turkey
Vulture roost in search of two Zone-tailed Hawks that had been in
the area for several weeks. I did not find them but I did have
several Swainson's Hawks ranging from light to very dark
individuals. They roosted here for several days before moving
on.
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Swainson's Hawk
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SW Brawley |
You can see
from the size of this old Eucalyptus why the Turkey Vultures
gather here. You can imagine the mess they make too but for the
most part the residents think they are pretty interesting. These
trees were some of the originals in this neighborhood and they are
near the end of their life cycle and becoming very
dangerous. |
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Fortunately
there is a large grove of younger trees about two miles west of
town that has become more popular with the TUVU's and the Great
Blue Herons have started a rookery there too! That site is near
Fites and Carter Roads. As you can see, there are a good number of
birds here every evening!! |
Turkey Vultures
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Red-tailed Hawk
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Going into the NRW site I was able to get pretty
close to this nice looking Red-tailed Hawk and the Burrowing Owl
below could have cared less about my passing!
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The Brawley site is not very big but the birding
there can be the biggest! Least Bittern are seen on just about
every visit. Cinnamon Teal and Redhead are always worth wasting
time on!
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Burrowing Owl
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American Coot
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American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe and Common Moorhen
around every clump of bulrushes. I had parked on the dike between
the first two ponds as that has always been the most likely spot
for Virginia Rail.
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I spied this Common Snipe napping and it did not
seem too concerned about me. After about ten minutes it stood up
and gave a good stretch. Sometimes you get lucky with the
camera! Sometimes you don't!!!!! Just after I snapped
this shot a movement caught my eye.
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Common Snipe
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Greater roadrunner
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A Virginia Rail had walked across the dike and was going into the
veg near me! I was so intently looking into the dark veg
when another blur caught my eye. This Greater Roadrunner decided
it was not going back the long way and made a dash right by me. I
caught this shot without aiming as it threw on the brakes and
dodged left to go by me. Just another boring afternoon of
bird watching...
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