AR04/06 Section 6/Pipe's Canyon 30MAR04

After meeting at Park Centre and watching CHP have breakfast, twelve Big Morongans went directly to Section 6 and spent over three hours re-working what we saw last Friday and helped by having Ann Garry with us. How could we have not seen Silver Puff? We continued to Pipe's Canyon the 'back way' via Old Woman Springs and saw fine carpets along the way. Pipe's Canyon, where we met Sean Berne, was a good stop for lunch followed by very clear calls from more than one Mountain Quail - but we did not see any. We did see several wonderful hillsides of Canterbury Bells - remarkable!

Specie count was about seventy, mostly in Section 6
Tobacco Wishbone Canterbury Bells Mallow Chia
Cat's Tongue Heliotrope Dandelion Silver Puff Spine Flower
Bladder Pod Spectacle Pod Barrel Cactus Jojoba Brown Eyed Primrose
Pringles & Wallaces Wooly Daisies Chicory Fiddle Neck Ambrosia
Desert Poppy Scale Bud Purple Mat Larkspur Broad Flowered Gilia
Forget me not Pin Cushion Desert Calico Mormon Tea Indian Paintbrush
Mojave Aster Desert Parsley Desert Turban Cotton Top Cactus Paper Bag Bush
Cheese Bush Tick Seed California Buckwheat Hop Sage Creosote
Mojave Yucca Desert Marigold Blue Dick White Tidy Tips Whispering Bells
Joshua Tree Dudlia Senna Phacelia Ground Cherry
African Daisy Venus Blazing Stars Bird's Beak Desert Trumpet Verbena
Hole in the Sand Dune Primrose Scale Buds Wild Rhubarb Linear Leaf Goldenbush
Mojave Sage Rattlesnake Weed Goldfield Mojave Poppy Hairy Leaved Comb Bur
Deer Weed Desert Willow Mule Fat Cotton Thorn Bachrus

Gambel's Quail Costa's HB Rock Wren Mourning Dove Black Throated Sparrow
Raven Red Tail Hawk Mocking Bird Brewer's Sparrow White Crown Sparrow
Ruby Crowned KL Wh Throated Swift Western Wood Pee Wee Say's Phoebe Western Kingbird
Scrub Jay House Finch Loggerhead Shrike

Western Fence Liz Side Blotched Liz Western Whiptail Desert Spiny Liz Desert Horned Lizard

California Patch Orange Tip Cabbage and Jack Rabbit Cotton Tail

California Tree Frog & a zillion tadpoles

Next on the schedule is April 22nd Motte Rimrock Reserve. Tentative schedule is Denny's at Indian & I10 at 7am, Big Morongo 6.30am. Suggest at least a snack and plenty of water
Barry Parkes
bbparkes@ix.netcom.com

AR04/05 Tijuana Slough 15MAR04

A very select group of seven Big Morongans had a first visit to Tijuana Slough in what turned out to be perfect weather, after an overcast and foggy start. We saw 47 species:

Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Western Grebe Clark's Grebe
Common Loon Double-crested Cormorant Brown Pelican Great Blue Heron
Great Egret Snowy Egret Mallard American Wigeon
Lesser Scaup Surf Scoter Common Goldeneye Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser Hooded Merganser Northern Harrier Clapper Rail
American Coot Killdeer American Avocet Willet
Spotted Sandpiper Long-billed Curlew Marbled Godwit Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper Ring-billed Gull Western Gull Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon Anna's Hummingbird Say's Phoebe Common Raven
Marsh Wren European Starling Orange-crowned Warbler Common Yellowthroat
California Towhee Song Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Belding's Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow House Sparrow House Finch

In addition, we saw lots of Dolphins from Imperial Beach Pier, enjoyed a picnic in front of the Sheriffs' Office, watched them build a movie set, and missed the greatest Fish Taco this side of anywhere - much to the chagrin of one of our number! But we only scratched the surface and could reasonably do it again - with MrsM to push us into the big numbers!

All in all a wonderful and exhausting, very full day which I believe we all enjoyed.

Don't forget our flower outing on Tuesday March 30th about which more later.

If anyone would prefer to be remove from this circulation, please let me know. Good Birding...............bb

Barry Parkes
bbparkes@ix.netcom.com

AV04/04 Indio Hills & Cottonwood Springs 08MAR04

I have to say, up-front, that I feel really bad about those who could not make today's walk, whether they be in Arizona, San Diego, YV, or way North.
Mike Smiley led 19 mostly birders in eight vehicles through the Indio Hills - up to about 1700 feet and briefly on to the lower end of the park at Cottonwood Springs. We were fortunate indeed to have Mark Wheeler with us, and it is fair to say that he was constantly under test as most of us tried to bone up on our flowers; we very much appreciate his help and his relaxed approach to our puzzles. Donna T was most helpful and impressed us by swapping Latin with Mark - but we didn't embarrass her by talking about it.
I recorded 57 Species of plants and 12 birds. It was really quite remarkable with a wonderful variety, ending with carpets of desert dandelion and desert poppy, both with lupine borders, just inside the park..
Forget- me- not (Cryptantha) Sun Cup Primrose Phacelia

Ghost Flower Brown Eyed Primrose Wishbone Plant

Spanish Needle Lupine Rock Daisy

Desert Lavender Cheese Bush Yuma Spurge

Ground Cherry Mustard Hoffmanseggia

Heron’s Bill Brittle Bush Broom

Creosote Smooth Stemmed Fagonia Desert Hibiscus

Indigo Bush Desert Poppy Desert Star

Pringle’s Woolly Daisy Woody Bottle Washer Blazing Star

Desert Dandelion Nipple Cactus Desert Five Spot

Whispering Bells Small Leaf (Rock) Gilia Parachute Plant

Desert Chicory Pygmy Cedar (Desert Fur) Purple Mat

Ocotillo Chia Wand Holdback

Desert Monkey flower Buckwheat Fremont Pincushion

Estephe Pincushion Leafless Milkweed Bladder Pod

Desert Mallow Beaver Tail Cactus Barrel Cactus

Golden Gilia Fiddle Neck Canterbury Bells

Velvet Mat………….aka Turtle Back……….aka Desert Velvet

Chuparosa Desert Sunflower Booth's Primrose

Spiny Herb Brandegea........57



Mocking Bird Costa’s Hummingbird Black Throated Sparrow

Brewer’s Sparrow Phainopepla Turkey Vulture

Say’s Phoebe Red Tail Hawk Raven

Yellow Rump Warbler Verdin Loggerhead Shrike............12

This was our first non-birding outing and seemed to work well. Many thanks for coming - please let me have any suggestions which may help future walks - in particular that on March 30th



Lots of people took lots of digital pictures; I hope we see some prints!....................bb





Barry Parkes
bbparkes@ix.netcom.com