Salton
Sea & Imperial Valley
Feb
02, 2002
A day of exploration with the President's Circle from the San Diego
Natural History Museum. Bob Miller guiding.
74 species total (list follows at end of page)
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
Sora |
We met in
Ocotillo on a beautiful calm morning and had Rock Wren and Black
Phoebe to greet us. A Ferruginous Hawk was kind enough to
give us all great looks through the scope, and a nice photo above,
while passing through
the farmland to our first destination. |
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That
destination was the New River Wetlands Project, Imperial site and
it was a gem. We had Sora and Virginia Rail calling right away and
the obliging little bird above, swam across at our feet. What a
great look at a life bird for several members of the group! Green
Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron and Cinnamon Teal were out
and about too! |
Mud Pot exploration
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After a great...GREAT lunch at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR
(thank you Anna) we were off to explore mud pots!
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Mud Pot exploration
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Mud Pot exploration
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Mud Pot exploration
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The flow |
Bubbling, gurgling, spitting, splashing, hissing, oozing,
flowing....I guess you had to be there! The earth's crust is
about as thin as it can get at this site and Co2 gas is working
it's way to the surface, forcefully ejecting the mud that blocks
it path. |
| From the mud pots we headed for Obsidian Butte but
were waylaid by this irresistible pair of Burrowing Owls.
Long-billed Curlew and Cattle Egret dotted the dry fields and
swirls of Red-winged Blackbirds flowed above the Alamo
River. |
Burrowing Owl |
| Brown Pelican, American White Pelican,
Common Goldeneye and lots of gulls awaited us on Obsidian
Butte. This imm. Western Gull, which is rare at the Salton
Sea and was not the hoped for Yellow-footed Gull, was still a nice
treat, even for a group from San Diego where it is their more
common gull. |
Western Gull |
Western Gull and Ring-billed Gull |
| Our clocks were running much to fast as
usual and the day was suddenly over so we made our way back to
Ocotillo. After our goodbyes, I watched the bus drive off into
another one of those stunning red Imperial Valley sunsets. |
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