Salton Sea/San Bern. Mtns. birding notes

Notes from a private birding tour (incl. 10/19 - 10/21/2010):

Coming down the western side of the Sea, we stopped in at Desert Shores, Salton Sea Beach, and Salton City, all of which had good access to the rapidly-retreating shoreline, and loads of usual SS waterbirds. Had a late WHITE-WINGED DOVE at Salton Sea Beach (10/19), and an unexpected PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER that called (chu-WEET?) at Johnson's Ldg.(Salton City) that I had Dave Bell report (10/19). This was a dark bird, maybe an adult (very brown back), with a good yellow wash on the face. I got some very distant photos that I'll try to post later.

Down at the south end, the end of Poe Road was muddy and I didn't want to risk driving it (deep mud puddles). One could walk a couple hundred yards pretty easily and bird it though. Unit 1 had water in the impoundments and a had at least two likely Pectoral Sandpipers among the numerous stilts (10/20), seen only in flight when hunters started shooting in the distance. No geese yet, but 4 SANDHILL CRANES were in a field near the end of the road.

There was telephone pole construction at Lindsay/Lack, blocking access to the seawall road heading southwest. To the north(east) and toward Obsidian Butte, the seawall was very muddy and again, I might have been able to do it in my SUV but didn't want to risk it. Ditto for roads leading in to Obsidian Butte from the east - it had rained all morning and all dirt roads were muddy. Still, we had 3 LAUGHING GULLS just north of Lindsay/Lack, and a good variety of shorebirds here on 10/20.

Cattle Call park was a serious disappointment, and aside from Gila Woodpeckers (still common), we missed all of the scrubland birds here. Could have been the cool weather, but nothing was even calling (got there around 8 AM). Missed Cactus Wren!! We caught up with most of these species at the refuge headquarters (Sinclair Rd.) later that day, incl. Gambel's Quail, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, etc.

A stop in at the Coachella Valley Wild Bird Center (and constructed wetlands) in Indio was a great break. Lots of ducks, common moorhen, and cooperative Abert's Towhees, a crowd-pleaser. *Note that the CORRECT DIRECTIONS are to exit I-10 at Golf Center Dr., head south to 45th St., turn left, and continue on 45th (as it becomes Van Buren). The site is on the left after the treatment plant, and generally CLOSES AT NOON (but was open for a delivery late so we lucked out).
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Up in the San Bernardino Mountains, I'd reserved rooms at the Whispering Pines cabins in hopes of doing some owling and dawn birding in the foothills, but it was basically rainy/misty from when we arrived, through the night, and the next morning. Light was terrible, and we saw almost not a single individual bird. Not insignificantly for a tour, the cabins are apparently for sale and are not being kept up. (Maybe some day, someone will figure out how to run an inn somewhere in our local mountains??)

Seven Oaks (Glass Rd.) was socked-in with dense fog, and despite calling birds (incl. many White-headed Woodpeckers), we had to turn back. We headed up to Heart Bar for high-country species, and had CLARK'S NUTCRACKER and RED CROSSBILL overhead, but nothing landing, and despite clearer skies, again, very few birds to even look at (You know your tour may be in trouble when you're trying to tape-in a Mountain Chickadee...). Things brightened at Barton Flats, where the campground along Hwy. 38 (the only one open along the route) was decently birdy, and our perseverance was rewarded with scope-filling views of a male WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER. Success!!

Big surprise during otherwise boring job

While "baby-sitting" an incubating Great Horned Owl last week (trust me, it's dull), I watched in amazement as an adult male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher glided by, and perched on a Mexican elderberry downslope from where I was standing in an active restoration area (11 Jan. 2010). Fewer than 15 records for L.A. County of this midwestern bird, apparently, and they're probably rarest (but still known) in winter, when the bulk of the population is in Central and South America.

I managed to get off a lousy picture with a colleague's point-and-shoot (my camera was safely stored at home).

Curve-billed invasion!

Curve-billed Thrasher, 30 Dec. 2009, Chiriaco Summit, Riverside Co.

Long-staying bird was about the only thing around during our mid-morning stop - part of an unprecedented invasion by this species into California this winter.