Hi Everyone,
Recently, on the weekend of January 30th & 31st, twenty-six birders and our trip leader, Bob Miller, checked-out many areas around the Salton Sea and Brawley. We had a fantastic time! The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed each other’s company while birding, and the after-birding socializing with great friends. Some new friends too! We found 104 bird species. Some of our favorite sightings included the Great Horned Owl, the Gila Woodpecker, the Mountain Plovers, several Neotropic Cormorants with Bob’s wonderful ID explanation, the Vermillion Flycatchers, and the huge flocks of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. Rarities included the Stilt Sandpiper, several Dark–morph Snow Geese, and the gray Salton Sea Song Sparrow sub-species.
Here’s our weekend list of bird species:
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Gambel’s Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Mountain Plover
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Least Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Great Horned Owl
Burrowing Owl
Anna’s Hummingbird
Costa’s Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Gila Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe
Vermillion Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Verdin
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Phainopepla
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Abert’s Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer’s Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch
House Sparrow
I would like to thank Bob, our trip leader, and most especially thanks to Hal & Dianne. Also, thanks go out to all of the birders who helped to make this fun-filled field trip a huge success!!
JIM BECKMAN
