March 29 -- Birding the south end of the Salton Sea

Saturday March 29 dawned clear and breezeless, with temps in the 50s -- perfect weather for visiting the birds. I have a route that I’ve been taking the past few years I’ve visited the Sea — going along Davis Road in the Wister Waterfowl unit, then taking a right at Schrimpf Road to check out the masses of birds in Morton Bay, followed by a quick trip out to Red Hill Marina, a visit to the Sonny Bono Salton Sea visitor center to see if there have been any “good” birds reported, then over to the north end of Lack Road to check out the “cormorant tree” and any birds that may be at the point there, then over to Unit 1 — and backtrack the same way I came. It was a good day bird-wise, and while I really didn’t  do an an all-inclusive bird count, I did come away with about 50 species (those that I remembered I submitted afterwards to E-Bird) in the 10 hours or so that I was driving around. Here are some of the highlights and scenics along the way -- 

Along Davis Road looking north to the Chocolate Mountains (the "cakey" dirt quickly stuck to the bottom of my shoes)

Yellow-headed Blackbirds along Davis Road

"Backtalk" among Tree Swallows along Davis Road

Really now -- mind your manners! 

Northern Shovelers flying in Morton Bay

I had an interesting interaction with a game warden while I was out at Morton Bay. He came by in his green truck, with a shotgun by his side, and asked (nicely), “So what are you doing out here?” I showed him my 500 f/4 and he said “Wow — how much did that cost?” (which is the usual response; 2 border guards at the border check point asked the same thing, too). MY usual reply is “You don’t want to know!” but I give them a “ballpark figure”. After chatting about lenses for a bit (he had a 300mm prime but “needed more reach”) the game warden said he was on the lookout for 2 people in Ski-doos (jet skis) who who were spotted illegally roaring around in Refuge waters. Nope, I hadn’t seen them, but I’ll report them if I do…I dropped by the visitor center to say hello to a friend who worked there (he was at Indio) and was told by the gal at the front desk to check out the area along Walker Road for Burrowing Owl as that as where “Burrowing Owl habitat” had been constructed for them. And they were right; here’s one of the Walker Road “tenants” —

The rarest bird I saw that day was a Neotropic Cormorant, on a snag near the end of Lack Road. 

While it’s an “uncommon” bird for the the southwestern US, they do show up at the Salton Sea in winter and spring; Guy McKaskie, who does a weekly bird count at the Sea and posts his findings, has seen as many as 8 in the area recently. However, it was a Life Bird for me, and that find alone makes the day worthwhile.

A few more scenics seen on the roads of the southern Salton Sea --

Field of flowers 

The weirdly-colored "pond" near Obsidian Butte, with a thermal power plant in the background

Irrigation canal and "ag" field -- the standard roadside look at the southern Salton Sea

 So I head back to Discovery at Mecca Beach Campground on the north shore, a “happy camper” once again…

A Cliff Swallow among the Tree Swallows along Davis Road