March 1, 2009: Birding Borrego Springs and Salton Sea, California

Spent a good portion of day birding with BJ Stacey and his wife. They are from the San Diego area. We had a great time! We started out in the early morning in Borrego Springs, looking for LeConte's Thrasher (no luck - but we saw some nice scenery trying). Then we headed to Salton Sea for some time before I had to head up to Redlands. We stayed at a nice hotel in town, Hacienda del Sol

At the LeConte's site in Borrego Springs we ran into Imperial Valley birder Bob Miller and had a great time talking to him. It turns out he does bird guiding - would love to get a chance to bird with he and his group someday! (link)

GOOGLE MAPS LINK TO LOCATIONS OF TODAY'S PHOTOS

Above and below: Great early morning desert scenery
Below: Some desert wildflowers on the scene

Common Raven footprint in the sand

More desert scenery

Desert aloe garlic plant

Above and below: At the Borrego Sink, a Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher was nest building

House Finch at the sink

Red-Tailed Hawk in Borrego Springs

Some wildflowers and scenery near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

SALTON SEA AREA PHOTOS

Aloe vera farm

Marbled Godwit

Black-Bellied Plover

Brown Pelican

Cinammon Teal

Above and Below: Greater Roadrunner

Eared Grebe

Great Egret

Above and Below: Least Sandpiper

SONNY BONO NWR HEADQUARTERS

White-Crowned Sparrow

California Quail

Above and Below: Common Ground Doves

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

CALIPATRIA Above and Below: Whimberel flight shots

This field was full of different kinds of birds

Above and Below: Long-Billed Curlew

Eurasian Collared Dove

Above and Below: American Pipit

Below: photos of Burrowing Owls in the area

Mountain Plover

Coyote near the Sonny Bono HQ

Ross' Goose at the refuge HQ

Snow Goose flock

Smaller Snow Goose in the middle - maybe Ross hybrid?