Salton Sea
Birding Festival
13-16
Feb
2004, 45-61 degrees
Narrated
by Henry Detwiler
The festival began with sunset tours on Friday evening, and ended on
President's Day.
113
species on the weekend--160+ seen during the festival
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
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We started on Saturday morning with four vans on a
target tour to search for Ferruginous Hawk and Mountain
Plover. The plovers were easy, in a burned-over field north of
Andre Road--we spotted several dozen within half an hour of leaving
the fairgrounds. The hawks, however, were harder to get! |
Burrowing Owl
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Northern Shoveler
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Our search took us over a few back roads, where one of our
sharp-eyed participants spotted this fine little burrowing owl.
Before too long, though, we had our quarry, and we called the other
vans. Alas, only one other van found us while we were on the
bird.
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| From there, it was off to find some of the other
specialties of the valley. Close to Calipatria we homed in on
Ruddy Ground-Dove, Common Ground-Dove, and Inca Dove. East of Niland
we found White-tailed Kite and Prairie Falcon. We got fine
looks at the geothermal plants--lots of undergound energy for sale!
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Geothermal Plant
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Sprague's Pipit
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Perhaps our best bird for the first day was this
Sprague's Pipit, which we "walked" out of a huge bermuda
grass field at the corner of Sinclair Road and Hwy 111. |
Sun setting over Red Hill
Marina and... |
Sunset over the Salton Sea |
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Black Phoebe
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At the refuge headquarters we looked for the
White-throated Sparrow in vain. Fortunately, we were able to
show a few folks their life Abert's Towhee--and this beautiful
Black Phoebe. Sunday was the Yellow-footed Gull
search--Bruce & Vic found 'em for us! |
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Ferruginous Hawk
On Sunday afternoon it
was almost too easy to find this beautiful specimen--especially
after the long search on the previous day.
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Ferruginous Hawk
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On the way home I spent several hours searching
for a Roseate Spoonbill that was hanging around the area. I
never found it, but found lots of fine birds along the East
Highline Canal, including a "Short-Billed" Curlew (a
Long-billed Curlew with a straight bill that was no longer than a
couple of inches) and these posing Cattle Egrets.
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Cattle Egrets
Cattle Egret
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American Kestrel
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There were also many raptors in the area--Red-tailed
Hawks sitting on the high tension towers, Northern Harriers
quartering, and this beautiful male American Kestrel perched on the dredging spoils from an irrigation canal. |
| Great, Snowy, and Cattle Egrets were
everywhere, as were Common Moorhens and a smattering of ducks in
the Highline Canal. It was a fine way to end the weekend! |
Snowy Egret along the
East Highline Canal
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