South-end Salton Sea Trip Report: 11-12 Feb. 2012
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It was very gusty at times but at least we didn’t have rain-soaked caliche clogging up the tire treads as we did in 2010. Foam and spray blowing off the waves made birding difficult along the seashore.
We began finding local specialties at the Wister Unit meeting spot: several Verdin, two Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, several Abert’s Towhees, and a large flock of Gambel’s Quail crossing Davis Rd. There was only a single Killdeer at the mud pots, but the hunting ponds were full of ducks, mostly Northern Snoveler, Northern Pintail and Green-winged Teal. A large flock of Barn Swallows perched on a phone wire on Schrimpf Rd. (one birder thought some were Rough-winged) and scattered when a Red-Tailed Hawk soared by.
The Garst Rd. ponds held even more ducks and a large contingent of White-faced Ibis. Although the sea at the road’s end has retreated even farther, we still found loads of ducks, Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets (including one just beginning to develop a red head), Ring-billed Gulls, and a single Forester’s Tern, but no Yellow-footed Gulls. The previously submerged sand bar towards Mullet Is., once home to flamingos and other long-legged waders, is now exposed and covered with vegetation.
Sonny Bono Refuge HQ provides a great lunch stop, with Abert’s Towhees and Gambel Quail around the picnic tables and at the feeder. About a dozen Common Ground-Doves patrolled the parking lot. We decided to walk out to the pond at Observation Hill, and found it full of the usual ducks, joined by Long-billed Dowitchers, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Ducks, a few Lesser Scaup, and a great many California Gulls in extremely bright breeding plumage, with bright yellow feet and yellow-orange bills. We had a brief flurry of excitement when one of us – not saying who, to protect the guilty – mistakenly took the really bright and not-so-close Calif. Gulls as Yellow-footed Gulls. Well, they did have yellow feet, but otherwise, they were too small and too gray. (I admit it – it was me.)
Just outside the park HQ we found a Burrowing Owl hiding inside a plastic culvert-like thing with just his head poking out. We then checked out a Snow Goose flock and found some Ross’s Geese among them At nearby Obsidian Butte we again didn’t find Yellow-footed Gull, nor around the sea perimeter road to Lack & Lindsey Rds. Tons of gulls and a few Greater Yellowlegs, but the wind was so fierce that we fled.
By 4:30pm we were at the seed factory on Carey Rd. south of Brawley (between Hwy 86 & Dogwood Rd.) enjoying distant views of about 100 Sandhill Crane. Many cranes feed on the seed & chaff here, so it’s a good place to locate them before they go to their evening roost. The roosting location varies, but when they leave, you can follow them to the roost if you are speedy & lucky. This time, they were in a shallow pond on the east side of Dogwood, but it was on private land and a long view through the scopes. But it’s always nice to hear them ululating as they fly, even on a noisy roadside.
After dining at the famous Christine’s Mexican restaurant on east Main St. in Brawley, and an early bedtime, we re-grouped the next morning at nearby Cattle Call Park. After much searching we found a pair of extremely-active-but-momentarily-resting Gila Woodpeckers, the world’s brightest yellow Orange-crowned Warbler, and had a very good – albeit brief – view of the Zone-tailed Hawk, who flew back and forth behind a tree across the valley and was spotted by the ever-alert Alex. This is the first time I’ve seen this bird this early and without the usual companionship of al flock of Turkey Vultures.
We searched in vain through the roosting & nesting Double-crested Cormorants at Ramer Lake for a reported Neotropic Cormorant. Instead we found an odd duck, actively bathing and keeping out of sight inside the branches of fallen snags. We later agreed that it was a juvenile Eurasian Wigeon.
We then toodled over to Unit One. On the way we stopped and watched flocks of 1000’s of White Pelicans, soaring high overhead. Arnold Small once told me that they’re not getting ready to migrate, as we guessed, but “they just like to get up and exercise their wings.” At Unit One we found the expected large flocks of Snow Geese as well as plenty of Ross’s, and, not so expected, about 300 Sandhill Cranes grazing in the field. From the observation tower, we saw in the far distance a great many ducks including about 60 Redhead. Below us a Sora and several Marsh Wrens called, but wouldn’t appear.
The trip was declared over. We stopped at the date shake place in Thermal, then headed homeward, only to find the mother of all traffic jams on the #10 at the San Gorgonio Pass. There was a 3.5 hour delay because CalTrans – fixing a few potholes near Banning – encountered still-unexplained problems which turned an expected 6-hour job into a multi-day carmageddon. [Chuck Almdale]
H – Heard Only
In Bold – Bird of Special Interest
South-end Salton Sea |
2/11-12/12 |
2/6-7/10 |
Snow Goose |
1000’s |
6,000 |
Ross’s Goose |
300 |
500 |
Gadwall |
40 |
10 |
Eurasian Wigeon |
1 |
|
American Wigeon |
200 |
30 |
Mallard |
100 |
60 |
Blue-winged Teal |
2 |
|
Cinnamon Teal |
25 |
4 |
Northern Shoveler |
1,000 |
1,000 |
Northern Pintail |
1,000 |
1,000 |
Green-winged Teal |
400 |
30 |
Redhead |
60 |
4 |
Lesser Scaup |
3 |
100 |
Bufflehead |
5 |
|
Ruddy Duck |
80 |
300 |
Gambel’s Quail |
30 |
16 |
Pied-billed Grebe |
5 |
|
Horned Grebe |
1 |
|
Eared Grebe |
50 |
|
Western Grebe |
2 |
|
Double-crested Cormorant |
200 |
200 |
American White Pelican |
1000’s |
300 |
Brown Pelican |
100 |
20 |
Great Blue Heron |
30 |
10 |
Great Egret |
20 |
20 |
Snowy Egret |
50 |
4 |
Cattle Egret |
1000’s |
1,000 |
Green Heron |
1 |
|
Black-crowned Night-Heron |
20 |
1 |
White-faced Ibis |
1000’s |
400 |
Turkey Vulture |
20 |
15 |
Osprey |
1 |
1 |
White-tailed Kite |
5 |
1 |
Northern Harrier |
30 |
20 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk |
1 |
|
Cooper’s Hawk |
1 |
|
Zone-tailed Hawk |
1 |
1 |
Red-tailed Hawk |
40 |
25 |
American Kestrel |
20 |
20 |
Peregrine Falcon |
1 |
1 |
Prairie Falcon |
1 |
|
Clapper Rail |
(H) 1 |
|
Sora |
(H) 1 |
1 |
Common Gallinule |
1 |
|
American Coot |
50 |
500 |
Sandhill Crane |
300 |
185 |
Black-bellied Plover |
10 |
|
Killdeer |
100 |
100 |
Mountain Plover |
60 |
|
Black-necked Stilt |
400 |
100 |
American Avocet |
500 |
30 |
Spotted Sandpiper |
1 |
|
Greater Yellowlegs |
4 |
2 |
Lesser Yellowlegs |
1 |
|
Long-billed Curlew |
75 |
500 |
Marbled Godwit |
30 |
40 |
Least Sandpiper |
20 |
50 |
Long-billed Dowitcher |
100 |
200 |
Ring-billed Gull |
1000’s |
5,000 |
Yellow-footed Gull |
4 |
|
California Gull |
500 |
|
Herring Gull |
10 |
|
Glaucous-winged Gull |
2 |
|
Caspian Tern |
60 |
3 |
Forster’s Tern |
1 |
|
Black Skimmer |
1 |
|
Rock Pigeon |
50 |
10 |
Eurasian Collared-Dove |
70 |
60 |
White-winged Dove |
2 |
4 |
Mourning Dove |
50 |
300 |
Inca Dove |
2 |
|
Common Ground-Dove |
12 |
20 |
Greater Roadrunner |
4 |
1 |
Burrowing Owl |
1 |
9 |
Anna’s Hummingbird |
2 |
2 |
Costa’s Hummingbird |
1 |
|
Belted Kingfisher |
2 |
1 |
Gila Woodpecker |
4 |
2 |
Ladder-backed Woodpecker |
2 |
|
Northern Flicker |
4 |
1 |
Black Phoebe |
12 |
10 |
Say’s Phoebe |
6 |
3 |
Vermilion Flycatcher |
1 |
|
Western Kingbird |
2 |
|
Loggerhead Shrike |
6 |
2 |
Common Raven |
200 |
20 |
Horned Lark |
100 |
|
Tree Swallow |
60 |
20 |
Barn Swallow |
200 |
|
Verdin |
9 |
3 |
Cactus Wren |
2 |
|
Bewick’s Wren |
1 |
|
Marsh Wren |
(H) 4 |
3 |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher |
3 |
2 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
2 |
|
Mountain Bluebird |
2 |
|
American Robin |
20 |
|
Northern Mockingbird |
25 |
2 |
European Starling |
100 |
50 |
American Pipit |
40 |
100 |
Orange-crowned Warbler |
3 |
|
Yellow-rumped Warbler – Audubon |
30 |
20 |
Yellow-rumped Warbler – Myrtle |
1 |
|
Abert’s Towhee |
10 |
12 |
Savannah Sparrow |
4 |
|
Song Sparrow |
4 |
4 |
White-crowned Sparrow |
60 |
50 |
Lapland Longspur |
1 |
|
Red-winged Blackbird |
1,000 |
10,000 |
Tricolored Blackbird |
1 |
|
Western Meadowlark |
60 |
200 |
Yellow-headed Blackbird |
5 |
30 |
Brewer’s Blackbird |
40 |
200 |
Great-tailed Grackle |
50 |
40 |
Brown-headed Cowbird |
30 |
20 |
House Finch |
100 |
30 |
Lesser Goldfinch |
4 |
|
American Goldfinch |
7 |
|
House Sparrow |
100 |
30 |
Total Species |
103 |
92 |
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