Salton Sea bird overload! With Guy still with us we set off pre-dawn via a 24 hour coffee stop, for some birding below sea-level. This area around the Salton Sea lies below sea-level so was in real contrast to yesterdays heights of over 6,000 feet.
Guy knows the area better than anyone and his knowledge of the local birding spots soon had us at Fig Lake. The long narrow reed fringed lake looked a little empty at first glance but as the light came so did the birds. Star attraction here was Clarke’s Grebe, new for year and a lifer, seen very well close to Western Grebes. Yellow-headed Blackbirds left their reedbed roost, Black-necked or Eared Grebes swam in flotillas, Ring-necked Duck dived with numerous Ruddy Duck, Green and Black-crowned Night Herons showed well. A Racoon, yes we know not a bird, showed briefly on the lake shore.
We then checked the nearby golf course for migrants and were rewarded with Black-throated Grey Warbler and MacGillivray’s Warbler (new), Warbling Vireo, and Hammond’s Flycatcher.
Driving the farm roads in this area finally gave us Greater Roadrunner for the year, it was looking like we might miss this as everyone said they were easy but no one had a site. As so often the way we soon saw a second one!
Guy knew of a hummingbird feeder nearby so we checked it out and scored Rufous Hummingbird for the list.
Then it was time to head for the Salton Sea, an area we had always wanted to bird, an inland sea of huge size. We birded the south end and with Guy's inside info we quickly saw great birds! The shallow waters thronged with myriads of waders. Thousands of Red-necked Phalaropes fed on the surface, we only needed one. Almost as many Wilson’s Phalaropes here amongst hundreds of American Avocets, Long-billed Dowitchers, Western Sandpipers and smaller numbers of Stilt Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpipers, Dunlin, Grey Plover ( Black-bellied ), Semi-palmated Plovers, Marbled Godwits, Whimbrel – what a wonderful place. It was not just waders that were here in abundance, wildfowl included 1000’s of Ruddy Duck, Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler, Cinnamon Teal, single Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and even an immature drake Surf Scoter! But the list goes on, 1000’s of Caspian Terns were nesting with small numbers of Gull-billed and Forster’s Terns. California Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, three Bonaparte’s Gulls, two stunning adult Herrmann’s Gulls and bird of the day a first-summer Yellow-footed Gull, mega bird!
The Salton Sea must go down as one of the most exciting places to bird, a real sense of anticipation of what would appear next, we would loved to have stayed longer. With long drive ahead we dragged ourselves away and drove north-west to spend the night at Lancaster, in sight of snow-capped mountains, tomorrow's birding destination…
Birding with Guy McCaskie was not only incredibly rewarding but also great fun, thanks very much Guy!Total species 2136. Posted 10pm Lancaster, California, 27 April 2008