Birding
Where I've been/What I've seen
I woke up late yesterday and checked my email, just to make sure I had not missed anything important overnight. I looked in the eBird RBA thread, and it appeared to be just the usual continuing birds, Tricolored Heron, a White-winged Dove, a late staying Pacific-slope Flycatcher, until something caught my eye. So rare in fact, I had to blink twice to make sure that it was not my still half-sleeping eyes playing tricks on me. A Groove-billed Ani had been reported only fifteen minutes north of me (found by out-of-town birder Claudia Dias), and pending acceptance, a first San Diego record. I immediately told my parents who told me that we could go in a few hours. Waiting for these hours to pass felt extremely long, and there had been no reports since the initial finding. About an hour before we left however, the bird was found again, and there were twenty birders on it. The time finally came where I could go after the bird, and I hopped in the driver’s seat of the car for only the second time and drove with my mother to the park where the bird was being seen. The drive felt like forever, and when we got to the park I grabbed my gear and ran about a quarter mile to where the bird was being seen. The location was not too hard to find, considering about twenty birders were surrounding the bird when I arrived. I walked over a little bridge to the side where it was being seen, and there it was, perched right out in the open, not minding the numerous cameras clicking away at it. The bird disappeared in the bush several times and emerged with a grasshopper, which seemed to be its primary food source. The was never a period of more than five minutes where the bird was not seen, and it must be the easiest bird I have ever chased. I personally believe that this bird really looks like a dinosaur. A really, ugly yet cute, floofy velociraptor. Honestly this is one of my favorite birds that I have ever chased and as a result I spent about an hour just watching it, and showing it to people and birders who stopped by. The bird continues at the same spot as of today, and some people are giving it a 50% chance at staying the winter.
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Please excuse the hideous pictures, it was over 100 degrees out and the heat waves were terrible The Salton Sea; most who know of it think of it as a barren wasteland, a place that once upon time, was a tourist destination. The Salton Sea is the largest body of water in California, funny considering it was formed by accident. Birders everywhere flock to the sea to catch glimpses of Yellow-footed Gulls, and other species seen there found nowhere else in the state. I recently braved the summer heat with several other young birders from the California Young Birders Club, to experience the sea, before it disappears forever. The day started at four-something in the morning, carpooling with a friend to another friend, who would take all of us to the sea. There we would meet up with several other young birders at Cattle Call Park in Brawley. After crossing the mountainous areas of San Diego, the outdoor thermometer started to climb, starting in the seventies, and climbing to the mid-nineties by the time we arrived at the park. Cattle Call is known to have one of the most reliable Gila Woodpecker populations in the state, and as soon as we left the car, one was found in the palm tree above us. Although not much time was spent in the park, a beautiful male Western Tanager was found, the eccentric yellow seemingly matching perfectly with the bright orange-red of the face, as well as an Abert’s Towhee bouncing around.
Leaving the visitor center, we decided to pay a visit to Morton Bay, a not truly well-known, and certainly under-birded rarity magnet. Species like Sabine’s Gulls, Roseate Spoonbills, Blue-footed Boobies, frigatebirds, and more have been seen here in the past, but today we had no such luck. Ryan spotted a Neotropic Cormorant here, which was the first of two for the day. The extent of the birds we saw at this location included two new birds for me, the first of many Black Terns in addition to a Least Bittern calling somewhere from the cattails. At this point, the temperature had crept into the hundreds, and thankfully, it was not expected to get much hotter As we left for a quick bite in Brawley, the group made a stop in a residential area for a reported Bronzed Cowbird. The bird, was most likely avoiding the heat, and as a result, we could not find it. We were just about to leave when the group behind us could not get their car started. They finally could, and we went to a Subway at a Walmart so they could look at the car, while we grabbed lunch. Turns out the alternator on the car broke, meaning the entire group would cram into two minivans, or we could wait it out. We decided to wait, up until some of the members grew impatient and we decided to sacrifice our comfort for seeing birds. On the way to our next stop, a roadside field yielded birds such as Laughing Gulls, Whimbrel, and White-faced Ibis. The seawall was not extremely productive, besides the five Yellow-footed Gulls, a Neotropic Cormorant, and an interesting looking white-morph Eared Grebe. “Peeps” were numerous here, but all of them seemed to be Western or Least. We continued to drive along the wall until we came across another field, one with thirty more Yellow-footed Gulls, eight-hundred Black Terns, and numbers ranging in the hundreds for several other birds. These numbers, however, could not be compared to those of ten or more years ago, when the now toxic vat of chemicals known as the Salton Sea attracted the same birds, but in the thousands. It was hard to imagine at the time, five to ten more times the number of birds in this small field. By now we had reached the hottest part of the day, as well as the last stop. Most of the group was growing tired, and about ready to call it quits. We decided to make our last stop Unit 1 of Sonny Bono, a reliable place for shorebirds and other miscellanea of the Salton Sea. We scanned for a bit, pulling out a Burrowing Owl, and several shorebirds when a life bird flew in, two Wilson’s Phalaropes. After this somewhat surprising bird, the group headed back to the cars and called the day a success.
On the way back we talked with each other, about what we thought the Salton Sea used to be like, what would happen to it, and the effect it would have. We practically came to a consensus. The Salton Sea, in its prime, was the place to go birding on the west coast. Perfectly situated for state rarities, it lays above the Sea of Cortez, and vagrants were ever common. Since water flow was cut off to the sea, it has begun evaporating, the average water depth now being just over nine feet. Because of the evaporation, it has become one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet, so salty that currently, only one kind of fish can live in it, known as Tilapia. If this continues, even this fish will die, and the sea will become a pit of mixed pesticides and salt, leading to both a conservation nightmare and a biological one as well. If the Salton Sea dries up, there will be no birds for miles around in the deserts of California, and worse, toxic dust clouds will spread up through Palm Springs, reaching the extent of the eastern area of Los Angeles. There’s only one thing that can stop a tragedy like this from happening: to save the sea at any cost. After much preparation (a grand total of fifteen minutes) the night before, my team, the Dabbing Dowitchers, was ready to go. A short drive to the woods of Cape Henlopen State Park later, and we got started. We decided to take the route less taken and walk to the less crowded beach. On the way, we found an Eastern Towhee, as well as a flyby Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Additionally, Purple Martins flew over, as a Gray Catbird and a Field Sparrow called off to the side. Once on the beach, we scanned for shorebirds and were rewarded with a Ruddy Turnstone as well as some Sanderlings. Some gulls on the beach included a Herring and Greater Black-backed. Not much success was had after this and we walked back to enter the nearby forest. We had incredible luck once inside the forest, hearing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo while Common Yellowthroats called everywhere. Unfortunately, we dipped on Pine Warbler while we were here. In a little opening with a pond, we found several forms of herons, Great Blue, both Egrets, and Green. Also present were Eastern Wood-Pewees, Eastern Kingbirds, and a flyover Red-winged Blackbird. By now we had fifteen minutes left so we continued down to a larger pond, where at our first vantage point I spotted a flycatcher, dipping its tail and perched up high. This came back to bite us later when most of the group could not find it, as it happened to be an Eastern Phoebe. Both varieties of yellowlegs flew around, and with much scanning of the peeps, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers were found. A Blue Grosbeak and a few Cedar Waxwings landed in a nearby tree while we were here. We moved a bit further down, dodging bikers to our last vantage point. Here as time ran out, a mixed flock of Glossy and White Ibis flew in, adding two more to our total. When the results were tallied, the group I was in had received second place by one species. If two more people had seen the Eastern Phoebe, and we did not dip on the Pine Warbler, we would have won (D:). Despite the close finish, our group was happy with the result, as 44 species in an hour on foot is pretty good.
After a gret time at the beach, we again returned to the Virden Center and got cleaned up for the barbeque dinner that we would later have. The ABA store was then opened, and I had the chance to meet Jeff Gordon, who was super nice. We then had an awesome photo quiz put together by Bill (I got second), and I won an awesome t-shirt. After a little reflection on the camp, the early flights said their goodbyes, and then went to bed. A little while later, I also went to bed, as I had one of the later flights at noon.
This concludes the Avocet Trip Report :D, let me know how you liked it below Waking up later is always nice, especially when you have a great day of birding despite not getting up at the crack of dawn. The ferry (CMLF) boarded just after eight, so we could wake up much later than the previous day. Once on board the CMLF, the Brant was spotted again, as well as a Surf Scoter, a Fish Crow, and some flyover Atlantic Brown Pelicans (interesting to see compared to the California ssp. I usually see).
The next stop was at Cape May State Park, famous for its hawk watch in the fall (we were there about 2 months too early). We decided to check out the hawk watch platform anyway, where we watched a Mute Swan chase a Canada Goose in full “warship” mode, and heard a Northern Bobwhite. We walked along the trail on the side for a bit, looking at the WWII bunker, and watching another Gull-billed Tern. We continued along, seeing more Common and Forester’s Terns, and had decided to turn around after a while of seeing nothing. We heard another Bobwhite after walking about half of the distance, and stopped to try to find it. After about thirty seconds of waiting, it emerged, crossing the trail slowly, and only a few inches for some of the camper’s feet. It was truly incredible to watch, even if the bird was potentially from captive origins. Nothing else was really seen here after this memorable experience. Our last stop before getting back on the ferry was at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, where the only things of interest were a few juvenile White Ibis, and we took a group picture on the top of the observation deck. We then headed back to the vans, and left for the ferry.
The ferry was much more alive with gulls on the way back, but only three Wilson’s Storm-Petrels were found. Three Black Scoters were also found upon entering Lewes’s harbor, quite possibly the same ones from the few days previous. We then went back to the Virden Center, and found out our groups for the Big Green Hour, before coming up with a team name and a basic strategy for the next day. |
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