Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Cattle Call Park

1. cattle call park-kab Cattle Call Park 11-24-12 Brawley, CA

On the morning of November 24 last Thanksgiving Gus and I checked out of our hotel in the Imperial Valley of California and prepared to leave town. But before we left we made one last stop at the town park. I saw it was an eBird Hotspot on the eBird map of that location. We arrived just before 7 a.m. and I was so glad that I came. It turned out that this was the only location where I spotted Gambel’s Quail and Gila Woodpeckers! They were the last 2 species I added to my California Life List!

2. palms-kab Most of the Gila Woodpeckers and some of the Northern Mockingbirds were hanging out in these palm trees that lined the park.

 

3. mockingbird-kab I found a mockingbird and a house sparrow in some thick bushes near the edge of the park.

4. mockingbirds-kab Northern Mockingbirds were everywhere!

5. Gambel's quail-kab  A small Flock of Gambel’s Quail were in the same corner of the park.

They actually came leaping down out of the palm trees!

6. kestrel-kab On top of a tree an American Kestrel perched.

7. nomo n WCSP-kab Hiding in the same bushes behind the mockingbird was a White-Crowned Sparrow!

8. RTHA-kab And far off in the distance a Red-tailed Hawk surveyed the world.

 

9. nomo-kabI counted 12 Northern Mockingbirds in all.

 

These are the birds I saw at Cattle Call Park on 11-24-12:

  1. Gambel’s Quail 12
  2. Red-tailed Hawk 1
  3. Rock Pigeon, 12
  4. Gila Woodpecker, 2
  5. American kestrel, 4
  6. Black Phoebe, 3
  7. Verdin, 1
  8. Northern Mockingbird, 12
  9. European Starling, 36
  10. Yellow-rumped Warbler, 6
  11. Abert’s Towhee, 2
  12. White-crowned sparrow, 4
  13. Great-tailed Grackle, 6
  14. House Sparrow, 12
  15. gull species, 12

We drove away from the Imperial Valley after this and with the addition of the Gila Woodpecker and the Gambel’s Quail it brought my California Life List up to 74 species! Not bad for a 48 hour trip! I am sure it could have been much higher if I could have identified all the shore birds and gulls I was seeing!

Note: Things are finally starting to get back to normal around here. I will post an update tomorrow. Suffice it to say that it was a stressful week and I still went out birding on Sunday with Chris Rohrer and Rich Hoyer in the Santa Cruz Flats! They reminded me of the Salton Sea area without the sea! Lots of agricultural fields and flatland surrounded by mountains. We even saw abandoned and decrepit buildings, though not in the same quantity as the Salton Sea area. We did see a lot of bird species and my Big January List soared! I also added 3 species to my life list! There is so much to tell and barring any more crises I should be able to get caught up this week!

7 comments:

  1. The Gambels around here look rather clumsy when they land off the ground.

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  2. Great to see the mockingbirds, they need to be wary of the hawks though. Lots of quail here in the interior of the province; they are a delight to see.

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  3. Hi Katie...Things here in the North east are mighty cold 2 above right now!!
    The Mockingbird, I usually only see a pair a summer..that is a good group of them you saw!!
    Your past few post and today's have some awesome photos, nice to see from other area birds, so familiar and some very different and nice to see!!
    I think my favorite of them all is the Owl sleeping in the Palm tree : ) !!
    Grace

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    1. Grace, I do not envy you that cold weather! You don't want to hear this but we had a high of nearly 80F today! the Salton sea was a grand adventure. I will never forget it!

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  4. Hi Kathie

    What a lovely series of birds, I am glad you saw the quail and woodpecker that sounds like a fun sighting.

    Regards
    Guy

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Welcome to my nest! I hope you will enjoy spending time here with me and the birds. Thank you for your comments. I will try to get back to you as soon as I get back from counting more birds.