We were a fortunate six Big Morongo Birders, who found Big Bear a cool 80 or thereabouts, and very much enjoyed the Discovery centre and Woodland Trail - OK, part of it! We checked out Discovery Road and the Lake - lucky we had scopes to see the distant water, and found Pelicans, Coots and Cormorants. Carried on to Mill Creek for lunch, dodging raindrops, following which we called at Moonridge to see Wild Wings. On our return we saw thunderstorms, lots of lightning, and almost saw the Pileated Woodpecker that Wild Wings reported, so don't bother to call the Rare Bird Alert. Margaret prepared this list of what we really saw, for which our thanks. Discovery Center, Woodland Trail, Division Road, Aspen Glen |
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| Scrub Jay | Pygmy Nuthatch | Mountain Chickadee |
| Northern Flicker | Dark-eyed Junco | Band-tailed Pigeon |
| Purple Finch | Cassin's Finch | Steller's Jay |
| Western Bluebird | Wilson's Warbler | Townsend's Warbler |
| Mourning Dove | House Sparrow | Rufous Hummingbird |
| American Robin | House Finch | Acorn Woodpecker |
| Northern Shoveler | American Coot | Caspian Tern |
| White Pelican | Double-crested Cormorant | Pied-billed Grebe |
| Brewer's Blackbird | Red-shouldered Hawk | Lesser Goldfinch |
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| Total species seen = 32. |
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Salton Sea 26th August. We joined SBVA for their Summer Salton Sea excursion and had a most enjoyable day. 19 birders (seven from Big Morongo) started at Wister at 5.30am: just think about that! After a very full morning - and a late lunch - we missed the Wood Stork, which had clearly fled from the day before, but we did see several Ruffs and had a wonderfull view of a Ruddy Egret. We all appreciated the support and help that John Green provided.
Early Warning!!
Friday 12th October 2007 Bear Paw Ranch in cooler weather. Meet at Denny's, Palm Springs, Indian and I10 for car pooling at 7.30am, bring picnic and water.
Good Birding......bb
Barry Parkes
