Birdwatching at California's Salton Sea
09-24-2007 - California's broiling hot Salton Sea is where to find skimmers, terns, gulls, plovers, and more.
by Henry Detwiler
Two hundred twenty-seven feet below sea level. Searing summer temperatures that exceed 115? F. The largest lake in California. Saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Breeding Burrowing Owls, Ruddy Ground-Doves, Gull-billed Terns, Black Skimmers, and Laughing Gulls. A magnet for rarities, wanderers, and snow birds alike. Welcome to the Salton Sea and the Imperial Valley. No matter the season, you can find thousands of birds and 100 or more species in a day here.
View and download a printable map of 20 great places to go birding at California's Salton Sea.
My first visit in 1990 still shimmers in my mind. A malodorous summertime excursion that had me drenched in sweat and flailing at flies, it was not the most auspicious start to what would become a wonderful relationship. Since that introduction, I have yet to miss a season here, and I have added Ross's Goose, Mountain Plover, Pacific Golden-Plover, Gull-billed Tern, Yellow-footed and Ross's Gull, and Vaux's Swift to my life list.
Every year, sharp-eyed observers find choice birds to complement the residents and migrants. Jaegers and scoters are spotted annually. Summer's end may produce Magnificent Frigatebird, Wood Stork, or Blue-footed Booby. The list of rarities reads like a who's who of great birds found across the United States.
But rarities do not define a birding trip to the area. That distinction belongs to the overwhelming numbers of birds. A few of my favorite personal observations:
- 500 or more Mountain Plovers in an asparagus field -- a significant percentage of the world population
- Clouds of Black Skimmers, Caspian Terns, and California Gulls wheeling over Obsidian Butte, a 100-foot-high volcanic dome on the sea's southeast coast
- Thousands of White-faced Ibis and Cattle Egrets blotting out the sun
- Hundreds of American White Pelicans standing side by side at the mouth of the New River, along with countless waterfowl and waders
- An acre-size mat of phalaropes swirling on the surface of the water
And because the sea is so large (380 square miles) and the habitats that surround it are so varied (riparian, agricultural fields, marsh, shoreline, and open water), it's impossible for me to point you to only one or two birding locations. I recommend 20 must-see spots on the southeastern side of the sea -- sites as different as the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge (for geese, terns, and Abert's Towhee) and the grassy fields of the Calipatria State Prison (for plovers, pipits, and longspurs).
Gulls, especially the young mottled brown and gray look-alikes that invade from the north every winter, are the bane of many birders. But the sea is an excellent place to study them. Last fall and winter, birders found 16 gull species: Laughing, Franklin's, Little, Black-headed, Bonaparte's, Heermann's, Ring-billed, California, Herring, Thayer's, Lesser Black-backed, Yellow-footed, Western, Glaucous-winged, Glaucous, and Ross's.
Of these, the gull most closely associated with the area is the large, massively billed, black-mantled Yellow-footed Gull. It breeds on islands in the Gulf of California (or, if you prefer, the Sea of Cortez) and comes north in large numbers toward the end of summer. The Salton Sea is the only spot in the U.S. where it can be found regularly. And you don't have to be an avid gull fan to appreciate the significance of these three:
Little Gull: a Eurasian species that has been recorded regularly in North America only since 1987. Lately, it has turned up annually at the sea. The same bird may be returning each year.
Black-headed Gull: common from Greenland and Iceland to China. In the U.S., the East Coast is the best place to look for it. Before last January, it had never been spotted at the sea.
Ross's Gull: an Arctic bird that breeds on marshy tundra, mostly in the Russian Far East. It had never been seen in California until Friday, November 17, 2006.
Source: Birders World Magazine
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