Palm
Springs Arial Tramway & Salton Sea
July
08, 2003
Guide: Bob Miller
A visit to the top
of the Tram and a stop along the Salton Sea on my return.
61
species (list follows at end
of page)
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
Long Valley |
Paul and I caught a ride to the top of the tram to
escape the heat and do some bird scouting. We did beat the heat
and the birding was fabulous! With only a few hours to explore we
took the short nature trail near the visitors center. White-headed
Woodpeckers seemed to be everywhere with at least one fledging
about. Pygmy Nuthatches easily outnumbered the White-breasted
Nuthatches. House Wrens were in the downed logs and Western
Bluebirds in the meadows. |
Altitude and outdoors really crank up your appetite
and the cafe on top puts out a great spread that really hit the
spot! Paul had a date with a film crew so we headed back down and
parted ways. I stuck around at the bottom to see what wildlife was
about and the place was really active. The damselfly below was a
new one for me. California and Aztec Dancers are very similar and
best I can tell you have to have them "in-hand" to tell
them apart. This little lizard had a lot of character! Poor guy
sure had a bunch of little red mites on him though. |
White-headed Woodpecker
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Young Side-blotched
Lizard
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California/Aztec Dancer
damselfly
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Female Blue Dasher |
Female Flame Skimmer
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A pair of Hooded orioles were working overtime
feeding a fledging in the dense trees behind the artificial
waterfall! Flame Skimmers live up to their name and the one above
sure caught my eye.
Sunset comes early at the base of a little peak like San Jacinto
so I headed back to Calipatria. Johnson Road is about the only
place you can access the north shore of the Salton Sea anymore and
I discovered that the vegetation had taken it over. It was definitely
too hot to walk out the last few hundred yards to see what was
congregated at the end! The Blue Dasher above was seen here. Three
Least and two Western Sandpipers were the only Peeps. |
Male Hooded Oriole
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Western Sandpiper
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This pair of Snowy Plovers came very
close. I could see that they had been sitting a nest but they were
not trying to distract me and made no sounds at all so I figured
the nest was not close. By now the sun was dipping below the
horizon and my camera monitor was flashing "out of
memory". Wow, 99 pictures already? Where does the time
go........ |
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Female Snowy Plover
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Male Snowy Plover
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