Burrowing Owl
Photo by Earle Robinson

This was the first festival that my wife, Maria and I have attended and we were really impressed by the professional way it was ran. Everything went as smooth as silk with no hang-ups. We saw quite a few people we knew either from Birders’ Anonymous or the Sonoran Audubon Society – seen were:
Marshall Esty, Jane McNeill, Helayn Aranguena, Donna Smith, Judith Burke, Larry and Audrey Schander, Ken & Rosita Larsen, Jim and Dea Leonhardt and Andrée Tarby .

There were chances for night and day trips, seminars, etc and everyone did their own thing. Here’s what we did. On Wednesday night, Maria and I paddled in a canoe for about 4 miles down the Colorado towards Mexico. In in this area, the Colorado is not very wide. We looked for bank beavers and found them. This was not a birding trip, but we did see some Lesser Nighthawks.

Thursday at 6am we left for the Penecate Biosphere Reserve in Mexico where we traveled back in time to a land of dormant volcanoes, giant “maar” craters and lava flows. There are 9 of these “Maar” type craters (craters that were formed by explosions from underground) in this area and we visited 2 of them – the Elegant and Cerro Colorado. This was quite an impressive sight. Again, this was not a birding trip, but what beauty. As we walked around lava flows and up sand dunes, we saw flowers such as the Sand Verbena, Ajo Lily, Sand Primrose, Rock Daisy and lots of Brittle Bush in full bloom along the road.

Friday was our first full day of birding at the Salton Sea. Along the way via Hwy 115 and through the Imperial Valley we saw these bird in the order seen:
Great-tailed Grackle, Western Meadowlark, Cattle Egret, Northern Harrier, White-faced Ibis, Green Heron, Great Egret, Mallard, Cliff Swallow, Western Kingbird, Black Phoebe, Rough-winged Swallow, Snowy Egret, Double-crested Cormorant, Red-winged Blackbird, Long-billed Cur-lew, Burrowing Owl, Brewer’s Blackbird and American Kestrel.

We then stopped at Finney-Ramer lake where we saw Clark’s Grebe, Eared Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Common Moorhen, Forester’s Tern, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Mourning Dove, American White Pelican, Anhinga (yes, he had been at this lake for several days and we got a very good look at him), Black-crowned Night Heron, Ruddy Duck, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Cinnamon Teal, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Killdeer, Common Ground Dove, White-crowned Sparrow, Rock Dove, European Starling and Abert’s Towhee. The bus then took us to see two owls – a Great-horned Owl sitting in a tree with its young and a Barn Owl sitting in his hole in an old haystack that had been at the same spot for 20 years.

We then took a break from birding and visited some mud flats where gas and water comes up through the ground forming 5 foot high domes of mud and water pools around them. We then finished the trip at the Salton Sea where we saw Bonaparte’s Gull, Franklin’s Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Willet, Yellow-footed Gull, Black-bellied Plover, Ring-billed Gull, Least Sandpiper, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, California Gull, Western Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, Northern Shovelers, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Chilean Flamingo, Greater Yellowlegs, Western Meadowlark, Whimbrel, Savanah Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, and Marbled Godwit.

Saturday, we left at 5:30am for Cienega de Santa Clara in Mexico for a day of birding. The Cienega is a wet-land of more than 10,000 acres situated near the Colorado Delta but formed not by the Colorado but by drainage effluent which has flowed from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District in the United States since 1977. Along the way to the Cienega we saw Lesser Nighthawks, Great-tailed Grackle, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, House Sparrow, Eastern Starling, Red-winged Blackbird and American Kestrel.

We stopped by a very wet field and saw several Ring-necked Pheasant, Cattle Egret, Long-billed Curlew, Whimbrel, Great Blue Heron, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt and Great Egret. We then continued on our way and saw Burrowing Owls, Brown-headed Cowbird, Black Phoebe, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Gambel’s Quail and Phainopepla.

After arriving at the Cienega, we observed a Black Phoebe by a nest with young in it. At this point Maria and I parted. She went with the boats and canoes to paddle through the reeds of the Cienega Wetlands while I went with Mike Giscombe (a professional birding guide who had previously told me we might see more along the edges of the reeds), Bill Thompson, III (his family established Birdwatcher’s Digest in 1970 and he’s now the editor) and his wife Julie Zickefoose (she’s an artist and contributing editor to the Birdwatcher’s Digest).

Here’s what we saw in the order seen: Whimbrel, Northern Harrier, Great-tailed Grackle, Loggerhead Shrike, Orange-crowned Warbler, (Yuma) Clapper Rail out in the open with her chick, Killdeer, Least Tern, Black-necked Stilt, Cinnamon Teal, Sora (out in the open foraging), Forester’s Tern, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Herron, Royal Tern, Osprey, American White Pelican, Great Egret, American Avocet, Western Sandpiper, Nashville Warbler, Song Sparrow, Marsh Wren, Elegant Tern, Mourning Dove, White-crowned Sparrow, White-faced Ibis, Snowy Egret, Long-billed Dowitcher, Common Yellowthroat, and Green Heron.

This was a wise choice for me as the boaters didn’t see half of what we saw. As we were leaving the Cienega we saw Least Sandpipers, a Western Kingbird and a Verdin.

That night we had a farewell dinner at the Paradise Casino (Old Fort Yuma Casino) where Bill Thompson, III and his wife Julie were the guest speakers.