Salton Sea: A great time for bird-watching at one of the nation’s best spots

With the Colorado River rarely reaching the Gulf of California most months of the year, the Salton Sea has become a critical link on the Pacific Flyway. Over 400 species have been documented there, many of them endangered or threatened. The Salton Sea is home to eared grebes, endangered brown pelicans, great blue herons, ospreys, burrowing owls, gulls, ducks, geese and terns; and not to mention the hundreds of thousands more birds that make the stop on their annual migration.

From MyDesert.com:

More than 380 species of birds have flocked to the Salton Sea for mating season, drawing hundreds of binocular-toting spectators to the state’s largest lake. “People love it because there’s so many different species,” said Jose Renteria, biological science aid at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. “We tell them to come in the morning because it’s a great time to explore.”

The Salton Sea is an important stop along the Pacific Flyway – a sort of freeway for millions of migratory birds as they travel south for the winter and north in the spring every year.

The most popular bird, Renteria said, is the burrowing owl often found in the Imperial Valley. Birders also have the chance of spying Caspian Terns, California Brown Pelicans, American White Pelicans, White-Faced Ibis, flamingos, ducks, Yellow-Footed Gulls, Soras and Abert’s Towhee.

Read the rest of this story from MyDesert.com by clicking here.

For more on birdwatching at the Salton Sea, as well as information on other Salton Sea issues, click here or click here.

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