Salton Sea Mudpots
11 September 2011
by
Henry Detwiler
Cooler temperatures and excellent birds made for a great morning at the Salton Sea NWR. And then Bob and I visited a new area of geothermal activity revealed by a receding Salton Sea--it was an awesome area of steaming, bubbling, roiling, and spurting gray mud.
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thumbnail pictures for full-sized photos.
Barn Owl
At the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge headquarters the resident Barn Owl was fairly low in his palm tree, making for an excellent view. On the other side of the north fence we watched a Black-headed Grosbeak feeding on a nice ripe opuntia fruit.
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Black-headed Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak
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Wilson's Phalarope
Yellow-footed Gull
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At Morton Bay we spotted large numbers of shorebirds, including Stilt Sandpipers, Red-necked and Wilson's Phalaropes, and American Avocets. At the mouth of the Alamo River we watched a flock of 522 Western & Clark's Grebes, Western Sandpipers, and seven Yellow-footed Gulls. Across the channel at Mullet Island we watched thousands of American White & Brown Pelicans gliding to and fro.
Western Sandpiper
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Salton Sea Mudpots
Tilapia
From the Alamo River we drove to the east and arrived at a large area of geothermal activity just to the southeast of Mullet Island. |
Bob at the mudpots
The gray and black mud was bubbling in molten pools, gurgling and spewing up in geysers. A cloud of odiferous steam was wafting to the north, and the sound of the sputtering mud was everywhere. |
There were several very well-formed mud volcanoes, chortling and belching steam.
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Salton Sea Mudpots |
Lots of steam and carbon dioxide rising off of the muddy pools.
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Mudpots, Salton Sea NWR
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Salton Sea Geothermal Display
In a couple of spots there were violently gurgling mud pots, with mud spurting into the air. |
More Muupots
In one pool we saw a muddy geyser rise at least 15 feet into the air. It was a great show! |
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