http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/sets/72157605250412673/.
We stayed the night at Black Rock Campground, a campground in the north-western portion of Joshua Tree National Park. You can't actually access the rest of the park from that area, so you don't have to pay an entrance fee. We arrived in the gathering darkness of light twilight, with lightning and flashing on the horizon, a brisk wind chilling the air, and the first stars blinking overhead. We chose to hedge our bets, and put up our comfortable new tent. Subsequently, we spent a pretty comfortable night. Our sleeping bags kept out the cold, and the only sounds from outside were our fairly noisy neighbors and a pair of Great-horned Owls hunting in the nearby desert.
Here's our new tent, and me, at Black Rock Campground.http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2520587198/in/set-72157605250412673/
Black Rock Campground is in classic Mojave habitat - Joshua Tree forest. Because we would be out of that habitat when we went to Big Morongo, we did a little birding there before we left. Gambel's Quails called from the tops of Joshua Trees and bushes all around us, and we flushed coveys of them as we wended our way through the brush. We were a little puzzled by a California Thrasher, which we thought might be out of habitat. The most beautiful bird of our walk, however, was a trio of Scott's Orioles, including a bright male. That's the regularly breeding California oriole we see the least of, so we were happy to get some good views of it. Libby likes to call them black-headed yellow birds because they remind us a bit of an inverted Yellow-headed Blackbird. I'm going to put a day list, with birds separated by location, at the bottom of the post. You can check there if you want to get a feel for what some typical high desert avifauna.
We couldn't waste too much morning, so we jumped in the car and sped off to Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, an oasis on the edge of the town of Morongo Valley about 10 miles west of Black Rock Canyon. Big Morongo is a special place because it supplies year-round water to desert wildlife - an oasis packed with dense vegetation and bird-life. This makes it a valuable stop-over for a lot of tired migrating birds during spring and summer, and it has recorded far more than its fair share of rare vagrants. It also provides habitat for some birds that are uncommon in California. This is one of the few locations where Summer Tanagers breed regularly, Brown-crested Flycatchers can be regularly be found in one of its eastern-most locations, and Vermilion Flycatchers also breed here every year.
Big Morongo had a fire a few years ago and is still recovering.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2519770487/in/set-72157605250412673/
Migration was slow, though, at the preserve. The most common migrants were Wilson's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and Western Wood-Pewees. We also saw a couple of Western Tanagers, a Willow Flycatcher, and a Warbling Vireo. Still, we were able to find all of the common specialty resident birds, with the exception of Least Bell's Vireo. Besides the three above, that includes such colorful species as Hooded Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, Lawrence's Goldfinch and Yellow-breasted Chat. Oh, and we saw a raccoon - a picture's in the set.
We couldn't waste too much morning, so we jumped in the car and sped off to Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, an oasis on the edge of the town of Morongo Valley about 10 miles west of Black Rock Canyon. Big Morongo is a special place because it supplies year-round water to desert wildlife - an oasis packed with dense vegetation and bird-life. This makes it a valuable stop-over for a lot of tired migrating birds during spring and summer, and it has recorded far more than its fair share of rare vagrants. It also provides habitat for some birds that are uncommon in California. This is one of the few locations where Summer Tanagers breed regularly, Brown-crested Flycatchers can be regularly be found in one of its eastern-most locations, and Vermilion Flycatchers also breed here every year.
Big Morongo had a fire a few years ago and is still recovering.http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2519770487/in/set-72157605250412673/
Migration was slow, though, at the preserve. The most common migrants were Wilson's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and Western Wood-Pewees. We also saw a couple of Western Tanagers, a Willow Flycatcher, and a Warbling Vireo. Still, we were able to find all of the common specialty resident birds, with the exception of Least Bell's Vireo. Besides the three above, that includes such colorful species as Hooded Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, Lawrence's Goldfinch and Yellow-breasted Chat. Oh, and we saw a raccoon - a picture's in the set.
A male Summer Tanager at Big Morongo.http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2519793715/in/set-72157605250412673/
We spent a few hours at Big Morongo. We made sure to walk all the trails and we also spent some time at the feeders to see all three of the local hummingbird species. But, we couldn't stay all day because we wanted to make it over to Luckie Park at Twenty-nine Palms to look for (or, as the Brits say, "twitch") a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Scissor-taileds are generally found in Texas or parts thereabout, but this particular individual spent last summer at Luckie Park and is back again this summer. We had some directions for the bird, but it never showed in the places recommended to us. A short walk, however, yielded the exciting view of a smallish bird with streaming tail feathers sailing towards us. Hurrah! I got a few pictures, included in the Set, but none show the distinctive tail. The park also hosted Robins and Grackles, but the second best bird we saw there was a fly-by White-winged Dove. Oh, and also.
A nice lady at Big Morongo recommended we stop by the Joshua Tree National Park visitor's center since we were going to be at Luckie Park. It's basically just across the street. So we did, and that was fun. It's got an artificial oasis that they have to maintain since its natural water dried up some years ago. The best bird we saw there was a really sharp-looking MacGillivray's Warbler. We also picked up some desert species that we missed at Black Rock.
You might think that, after all this awesome birding, and as time must have been ticking away, that we would call it a day and come home. Well, we didn't. Next target for the day was Black Swifts, that nest behind a waterfall called Monkeyface Falls near Forest Falls at the base of San Gorgornio. So, instead of taking the 10 all the way home, we turned north in Yucaipa and headed up Mill Creek Canyon. When we arrived it was around 4:30, and it was cold and wet. Low clouds covered the tops of all the nearby mountains. So we ate dinner and then stopped by a picnic area along Mill Creek where we enjoyed a different sort of riparian habitat than earlier. Here we had a Bullock's Oriole, which made the third oriole species for the day.
The creek was quite full from the recent rain and snow.http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2519773249/in/set-72157605250412673/
We spent a good deal of the rest of the evening up at the base of Monkeyface Falls watching for any swifts, but none showed. Well, I did see one, but it went zipping by at the base of the cliffs so fast I couldn't see anything about it before it disappeared in the direction of Forest Falls. It might have been a White-throated Swift, so it's nothing to count. This is delightfully accessible, though, so we might have to go back and try again sometime a half-hour or so before sunset. That's when they come in to roost. And, then we drove home! All-in-all, we had a great time.
Trip List:
Black Rock Canyon:
1. Gambel's Quail
2. Great-horned Owl
3. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
4. Ash-throated Flycatcher (heard)
5. California Thrasher
6. Black-throated Sparrow
7. Scott's Oriole
Big Morongo:
8. Turkey Vulture
9. Cooper's Hawk
10. Red-tailed Hawk
11. American Kestrel
12. Virginia Rail (heard only)
13. Mourning Dove
14. Black-chinned Hummingbird
15. Costa's Hummingbird
16. Anna's Hummingbird
17. Nuttall's Woodpecker
18. Western Wood-Pewee
19. Willow Flycatcher
20. Black Phoebe
21. Say's Phoebe
22. Vermilion Flycatcher
23. Brown-crested Flycatcher
24. Cassin's Kingbird (heard)
25. Warbling Vireo
26. Oak Titmouse
27. Bewick's Wren
28. Western Bluebird
29. Swainson's Thrush
30. Northern Mockingbird
31. Yellow Warbler
32. Wilson's Warbler
33. Common Yellowthroat
34. Yellow-breasted Chat
35. Summer Tanager
36. Western Tanager
37. California Towhee
38. Spotted Towhee
39. Song Sparrow
40. Black-headed Grosbeak
41. Blue Grosbeak
42. Hooded Oriole
43. House Finch
44. Lesser Goldfinch
45. Lawrence's Goldfinch
46. Rock Pigeon
47. European Starling
48. House Sparrow
Luckie Park:
49. White-winged Dove
50. Eurasian Collared Dove
51. Western Kingbird
52. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Lifer!)
53. American Robin
Oasis of Mara Visitor's Center:
54. Verdin
55. Cactus Wren
56. Phainopepla
57. MacGillivray's Warbler
58. Great-tailed Grackle
Mentone/ Mill Creek:
59. Acorn Woodpecker
60. American Crow
61. House Wren
62. Black-throated Gray Warbler
63. Bullock's Oriole
Highway 62:
64. White-throated Swift
65. Common Raven
1 comment:
Sweeeet. I never birded Joshua Tree you saw so many cool birds! I've never seen nearly every bird on your list!
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