Salton
Sea & Imperial Valley
Dec
15, 2001
A morning of birding with Jerry and Mary Fox.
47 species total (list follows at end of page)
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
Jerry, Mary and Bob |
We met up at
the Wister Wildlife Area on what started out as a beautiful calm
day. The wind quickly became extreme for the rest of what was
still a beautiful day. Standing in the parking lot we had
Cactus Wren, White-crowned Sparrow, phoebes and lots of white
geese flying overhead. |
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Our first
destination from there was Beach Rd. and Hwy. 111 where we had
Yellow-rumped and Orange- crowned Warblers, Loggerhead Shrike and our first American
Redstart of the day. The wind was keeping most things close
to the ground and behind good cover but we still had good birds. |
Loggerhead Shrike
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Loggerhead Shrike
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For a lot of
birds it just meant holing up and spending a little more time on
personal affairs like this Loggerhead Shrike preening in a
Mesquite tree. We headed out into
the Northern most part of the Imperial Valley in search of some of
the less "urban" birds. We soon had a large number
of Horned Larks and some shorebirds in an unexpected location which
spiced up the mix.
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We soon had a Rock
Wren in a most barren spot and Sage Sparrows in mixed company with
White-crowned Sparrows. We kept ourselves bundled up and used the
vehicle as a windbreak for the spotting scope in these
areas. We stopped at a small hidden pond that proved to be
teaming with bird life. Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue and
Green Heron and Red-winged Blackbirds among others.
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Jerry and Mary. Chocolate
Mountains
in the background.
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On our way South to see Burrowing Owls we went back
through the Wister HQ area and had this beautiful male Vermilion
Flycatcher working along a sunny fence line. Wister is one of the
better places to find Vermilions in the winter time here in the
Imperial Valley.
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Vermilion Flycatcher
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As we watched this little guy going after bugs we were distracted
by another colorful creature. We had an adult male American
Redstart working through the Mesquite Trees directly behind
us! Burrowing Owls proved elusive due to the wind and
although there were several spots with known residents they were
all laying low! |
Vermilion Flycatcher |
Burrowing Owl |
Even though this one appeared to be scowling at us
he was just trying to enjoy the sun and stay out of the
wind! There never seems to be enough time in a day when the
birding is good. We made our way back to the starting point
to end a great day. |
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