Monday, January 31, 2005

BMB05/07 Coachella Valley Wild Bird Centre 31st January 2005

Fourteen BigMorongoBirders spent a very pleasant couple of hours at the Wild Bird Centre in sunny weather with a devastating wind – it made for difficult birding. We saw 31 species including a very low grade male Vermillion Flycatcher which looked rather like a bedraggled reject; vermillion beret on his head, and orange mottle on the breast. Dee, who was not there, tells me that it was a first-year male. If you would like the complete list, please contact
bigmorongobirders@earthlink.net

Friday 11th February UCR Botanical Gardens. Meet for car-pool at Big Morongo 7am and at Denny's Palm Springs, Indian and I10 at 7.30. Bring water and a picnic lunch; we have no good feel for timing and will play it by ear. Admission is a suggested donation of $1 and parking should be free. You might like to look at their web site http://gardens.ucr.edu/. This visit was suggested as 'good birding' by Barbara Carlson, and she should know.

Margaret has drawn my attention to the 8th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count, which will occur February 18th thru 21st. Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society are involved and more information is available at www.birdsource.org/gbbc

Good Birding………….bb