California, July 2001
by Andy Birch
7th July 2001
We were up early at a place called Warner Springs in search of Gray Vireos. Now, Gray Vireos aren't easy birds to find. It's probably no coincidence that a recent big year lister logged over 700 species of bird in one year and still didn't manage to see Gray Vireo. They love Ribbonwood and at Warner Springs there's a lot of it. This is Gray Vireo nirvana. After about an hour or so, we hear a bird singing on what seems like the horizon. There is no chance and no point in going after it. We just have to wait for it to come closer - which it does. Patient waiting and the bird soon comes closer, only to move further away again back to its original location! This is all part of the fun of birding I suppose.We lose patience with this bird and we move further up the hillside. In the distance, the first bird continued to taunt us with its occasional bursts of song. However, we soon come across another bird singing right by the road. One and a half hours of singing later and we still hadn't seen more than a fleeting flight view! Finally, we locked onto it as it moved through a bush picking up a grub along the way. A nice subtle bird of blues and grays and a weak wing bar and rather longish tail. It moved about deep in the bush not wanting to be seen.
Having had our frustration of the morning finally satisfied with views of the Vireo, we decided to head down to the Salton Sea to see what was (literally) cooking. The Salton Sea really is an experience. The heat and smell often makes many a birder go home, nursing a headache and feeling quite ill. But it is the lure of life Yellow-footed Gulls and the chance of a mega seabird like a Cook's Petrel or Wedge-tailed Shearwater or Blue-footed Booby skimming past that is too much of a temptation for most birders.The Whitewater River Delta at the north end was teeming with gulls. Some Flamingoes were rather distant pink blobs in the heat haze but we chanced upon a Reddish Egret close by. Down at the south end, we found a few Yellow-footed Gulls. The Salton Sea is the only reliable place in the States to find this Mexican species. Now if you can just imagine the heat haze and the smell of rotting fish...I think even this gull is starting to look a little queasy...
