AV04/40 Salton Sea 24th October 2004

After an early start, eleven birders arrived at Wister a little before 8.30am in fine and cool weather. We promptly found a male American Redstart on the Nature Trail and went on to see a total of 69 species.

House Sparrow Common Raven Red-winged Blackbird
N. Mockingbird American Redstart Abert's Towhee
Great-tailed Grackle Ring-billed Gull Great Egret
Snowy Egret Pied-billed Grebe American Coot
Cinnamon Teal White Pelican Ruddy Duck
White-face Ibis Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove
N Harrier Ruby-crowned Kinglet Black Phoebe
Killdeer Black-crowned Night Heron Common Yellowthroat
Osprey Clapper Rail White-crowned Sparrow
Verdin Marsh Wren Ladderback Woodpecker
Yellow-rump Warbler Brown-headed Cowbird Starling
House Finch American Kestrel Least Sandpiper
Burrowing Owl Greater Yellowlegs Western Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew Say's Phoebe W Meadowlark
Green Heron Great-blue Heron Turkey Vulture
Loggerhead Shrike American Bittern Avocet
Stilt Sandpiper Peregrine Falcon Red-tailed Hawk
Double-crested Cormorant Common Roadrunner N Shoveler
Widgeon N Pintail Red-shafted Flicker
Yellow-headed Blackbird Brown Pelican Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow Cattle Egret Western Grebe
Common Tern Common Moorhen Clarke's Grebe
Spotted Sandpiper Common Ground Dove

After lunching at the Sonny Bono Centre we visited the Finney-Ramer Unit, a first for some of us; interesting but nothing worthy of note.

We headed home up 111 after a very full day of birding and a satisfying specie count, with the Redstart and the Stilt Sandpiper of particular note.

Good Birding...............bb

Barry Parkes
bbparkes@ix.netcom.com
bigmorongobirders@earthlink.net