Finney & Ramer Lake, Salton Sea Bird Trip

Salton Sea Birding Festival
Feb 16-17, 2001
Most trips 0600-1200, Sunny, 45-70

Trips ranged throughout the Imperial Valley, on the Salton Sea itself, to Finney & Ramer Lakes, and along the Sea's shoreline.
Guides: Henry Detwiler, Bruce Aird, Mike Wunder, Herb Young, and Kurt Leuschner
151 species total

The first field trip was an evening excursion to watch the White-faced Ibis and Cattle Egrets come into their roost at Ramer Lake.

Lesser Nighthawk

On the way, we stopped off at Finney Lake so everyone could look at the roosting Lesser Nighthawks. They were there as advertised!

At Ramer Lake we picked up a Black-crowned Night Heron, a variety of ducks, Common Moorhen, and several grebes.

Mountain Plover

The next morning (Saturday) was a search for the elusive Mountain Plover and the wide-ranging Ferruginous Hawk. As fortune would have it, we scored on both. Then at Ramer & Finney Lakes we added Vermilion Flycatcher and Crissal Thrasher.

Sunday morning saw us chasing gulls and waterbirds along the Salton seashore. This Surf Scoter in breeding plumage was a treat for the eyes.

Surf Scoter

Bruce Aird (right) and Neal	At Obsidian Butte we saw a number of fine birds, including our primary target, the Yellow-footed Gull!
Here's the Yellow-footed Gull with a Brown Pelican in the background. We waited impatiently for the gull to stand and show off his bright orange-yellow legs & feet.	Yellow-footed Gull

In a pond at the southeast corner of Obsidian Butte we found dozens of Lesser Yellowlegs and two Bonaparte's Gulls.

Looking for the gull	Lesser Yellowlegs
The final stop of the morning was at the refuge headquarters, where Bruce spotted a Glaucous-winged Gull and I found the Eurasian Wigeon. And others in the group got the Black-and-White Warbler!

Yellow-footed Gull & Brown Pelican


#	Species Name
1	Western Grebe
2	Eared Grebe
3	Pied-Billed Grebe
4	Clark's Grebe
5	Brown Pelican
6	White Pelican
7	Double-Crested Cormorant
8	Snowy Egret
9	Black-Crowned Night Heron
10	Cattle Egret
11	Great Egret
12	Great Blue Heron
13	Green Heron
14	White-Faced Ibis
15	Sandhill Crane
16	Greater Scaup
17	Ruddy Duck
18	Northern Shoveler
19	Ring-Necked Duck
20	Redhead
21	Red-Breasted Merganser
22	Northern Pintail
23	Mallard
24	Lesser Scaup
25	Hooded Merganser
26	Green-Winged Teal
27	Common Goldeneye
28	Cinnamon Teal
29	Canvasback
30	Bufflehead
31	Eurasian Wigeon
32	American Wigeon
33	Snow Goose
34	Brant
35	Ross' Goose
36	Surf Scoter
37	Canada Goose
38	White-Fronted Goose
39	Gadwall
40	Common Moorhen
41	American Coot
42	Black-Necked Stilt
43	American Avocet
44	Black-Bellied Plover
45	Killdeer
46	Mountain Plover
47	Semipalmated Plover
48	Snowy Plover
49	Long-Billed Dowitcher
50	Stilt Sandpiper
51	Common Snipe
52	Spotted Sandpiper
53	Willet
54	Marbled Godwit
55	Lesser Yellowlegs
56	Greater Yellowlegs
57	Western Sandpiper
58	Least Sandpiper
59	Long-Billed Curlew
60	Lesser Black-Backed Gull
61	Forster's Tern
62	Caspian Tern
63	Yellow-Footed Gull
64	Herring Gull
65	Glaucous-Winged Gull
66	Western Gull
67	California Gull
68	Bonaparte's Gull
69	Ring-Billed Gull
70	Turkey Vulture
71	White-Tailed Kite
72	Cooper's Hawk
73	Ferruginous Hawk
74	Northern Harrier
75	Osprey


#	Species Name
76	Red-Tailed Hawk
77	Sharp-Shinned Hawk
78	American Kestrel
79	Merlin
80	Peregrine Falcon
81	Praire Falcon
82	Gambel's Quail
83	Ring-Necked Pheasant
84	Inca Dove
85	Rock Dove
86	Common Ground Dove
87	Mourning Dove
88	Greater Roadrunner
89	Barn Owl
90	Burrowing Owl
91	Great Horned Owl
92	Lesser Nighthawk
93	Costa's Hummingbird
94	Anna's Hummingbird
95	Allen's Hummingbird
96	Belted Kingfisher
97	Lewis' Woodpecker
98	Gila Woodpecker
99	Ladder-Backed Woodpecker
100	Northern Flicker
101	Red-Breasted Sapsucker
102	Red-Naped Sapsucker
103	Say's Phoebe
104	Vermillion Flycatcher
105	Black Phoebe
106	Gray Flycatcher
107	Horned Lark
108	Barn Swallow
109	Cliff Swallow
110	Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
111	Tree Swallow
112	Common Raven
113	Verdin
114	Marsh Wren
115	Cactus Wren
116	Mountain Bluebird
117	American Robin
118	Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
119	Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
120	Loggerhead Shrike
121	Crissal Thrasher
122	Northern Mockingbird
123	American Pipit
124	Cedar Waxwing
125	Phainopepla
126	European Starling
127	Yellow Warbler
128	Common Yellowthroat
129	Yellow-Rumped Warbler
130	N. Parula
131	Black-And-White Warbler
132	American Redstart
133	Orange-Crowned Warbler
134	Brewer's Blackbird
135	Yellow-Headed Blackbird
136	Western Meadowlark
137	Red-Winged Blackbird
138	Great-Tailed Grackle
139	Brown-Headed Cowbird
140	House Sparrow
141	American Tree Sparrow
142	Song Sparrow
143	Abert's Towhee
144	Savannah Sparrow
145	Dark-Eyed Junco
146	Chipping Sparrow
147	White-Crowned Sparrow
148	Pine Siskin
149	American Goldfinch
150	House Finch
151	Lesser Goldfinch