Salton Sea Tour highlights… burrowing owls, sandhill cranes, shorebirds aplenty

Last weekend my husband and I did a Salton Sea tour through the Living Desert Museum in Palm Desert, led by College of the Desert professor Kurt Leuschner. For those who don’t know Kurt, he is a birding, wildlife and ecologist extraordinaire. We saw so many birds, and learned so much –including debunked myths about this amazing place.

Below are some photos and takeaways. First some history and basics: The Salton Sea is a shallow (25 feet at deepest), saline (50% saltier than the ocean) lake located on the San Andreas Fault east of Palm Springs. Below sea level, this area has a long history of being water-filled, and the current Salton Sea was created in 1905 when a diversion structure of the Colorado River failed. Since then it’s become a vital haven for migrating birds — and home to 420 bird species and 350-400 million tilapia — despite increasing in salinity and retreating in size. Today the 360 square mile sea is facing further demise, due to an agreement to provide San Diego with more water.

Photo Gallery (with good descriptions):

Note the old shoreline of the ancient Lake Cahuilla, 6 times the size of the Salton Sea

Another view of the ancient lake’s bathtub ring (end of Jackson Street)

One of 80+ species we saw -Vermillion Flycatcher, normally found farther south

Note red rocks, which shows where the San Andreas Fault terminates near Bombay Beach

Click for large panoramic view taken from the North Shore Beach & Yacht Club

At the Salton Sea Visitor Center on the northern end, Kurt explained how the San Andreas Fault pulls apart as we continue to the southern part of the lake

According to Leuschner, American White Pelican are much fewer in number this winter, a sign of concern

American White Pelicans in flight (note black wingtips)

There’s some die-off of Introduced tilapia (3 other species -corvina, croaker and sargo, were common but couldn’t adjust to rising salinity)

Geothermal vents are common in the southern end of the lake

Burrowing Owl sightings along the the sides of the roads on the southern end were a highlight.

This burrowing owl has his burrow in this tire

They often stand for hours next to their burrows – but they do blend in

Sandhill Cranes (sighted in Unit 1 of the wildlife refuge) were skittish, here showing their alert body language

Sandhills took off when people get out of their cars to look

Great Biue Heron on our way to the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Natl Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center (next 7 photos)

Roseate spoonbill ducks and Black-necked Stilt in background

Snow Geese (with geothermal plants in background)

Snow Geese taking off to go to the fields for eating

Snow Geese landing in the planted fields of the refuge

Sighting a Loggerhead Shrike (they’ll perch on bushes)

Loggerhead Shrikes (nicknames butcherbird for placing their prey on thorns or barbed wire)

Observation towers at Unit One of the refuge (off Vendel Road) had ponds full of shore and water birds

Birds galore: spoonbills, pintails, teals, and a host of plovers/sandpipers

Other takeaways:

One myth that Kurt debunked is the sea’s supposed toxicity. The Salton Sea is not toxic! You can eat the fish and swim in the sea, you can even launch a boat here if you would like.

There are many ways to tour the lake – from Palm Desert we went east through Coachella/Mecca to the northern part and went south around the sea clockwise, and back up to catch Interstate 10. Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge and Salt Creek (closed due to mud during this visit but fantastic at dusk when all the birds congregate) are must do’s.

For wildlife and human health reasons, it’s important to save the Salton Sea – here’s an Audubon article on the subject. One way to help is to order a Salton Sea license plate

Earlier articles I’ve written that feature Kurt Leuschner are his sharing about pollinators and attracting hummingbirds to your yard

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Sign Up!