Salton Sea, Oct 9, 2000
0830-1430, Sunny, 80-90 

Riverview Cemetery, Finney & Ramer Lake, Osterkamp 

Henry Detwiler & Bob Miller, 83 species total


     Ever stumble upon new habitat in your own backyard?  Found just such an area the other day, hidden in plain view in the heart of the valley.   It promises to be a "Hot spot" for sparrows.
   
    Henry and I had one of those "life" experiences today.  The swallows were migrating in force (six sp. seen) and we were standing beside an irrigated field with ibis, egret, curlew and gulls numbering well over ten thousand birds.  With rain showers and sunlit clouds for a background and the sun at our backs, the whole mass of birds took to the air!!   I know!  We looked for the Peregrine too.  Just plain restless birds I guess.  A video camera would have paid for itself in the awe inspiring minutes that followed.   The masses began to coalesce into individual groups of species circling over and around us.  
As the gulls circled higher and faster the white Cattle Egrets were all landing in the tops of the Eucalyptus trees towering over us.  The Whit-faced Ibis, looking black while flashing iridescent greens, and the Long-billed Curlews filling the void with cinnamon.    WOW!   

 

 

 


   

 

 

 

   

    Several Clark's Grebes with downy young in tow and the Dusky Flycatcher were at Ramer.   Osterkamp held the only peeps, Dowitchers and the 2 Dunlin seen all day.

     The Peregrine?!  Care to wager a soda pop?  The Peregrine will be sitting on the first double power pole North of the Palm tree!  The palm tree being on McConnel Rd. 1/4 mile North of Harris Rd. and on the Northeast corner of the Osterkamp Ponds.  The Sandhill Cranes are also back in small numbers and roosting in that area.

 

 

Clark's Grebe
Eared Grebe
Pied-Billed Grebe
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-Crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Snowy Egret
White-Faced Ibis
Mallard
Ruddy Duck
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
American Avocet
Black-Necked Stilt
Killdeer
Long-Billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Dunlin
Ring-Billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Turkey Vulture
Red-Tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Greater Yellowlegs
Long-billed Dowitcher
Common Ground Dove
Rock Dove
Inca Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Burrowing Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Anna's Hummingbird
Gila Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Dusky Flycatcher
"Western type" Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Horned Lark
Cliff Swallow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Rough-Winged Swallow
Bank Swallow (2)
Barn Swallow
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Mockingbird
Phainopepla
European Starling
Warbling Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Abert's Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned  Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Great-Tailed Grackle
Red-Winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
House Sparrow



Photos © Henry D. Detwiler

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