Borrego Valley Hawkwatch 2013 - 3 of 3

This will be my last post for this trip (we leave for home on April 8th), unless something spectacular happens that I want to share! The last week has been pretty uneventful as far as Swainson's Hawks are concerned. Numbers are way down, and the last 2 nights we have seen zero hawks. Still, can't beat sitting out in nature, watching the sun go down and the stars come out over the beautiful Borrego Valley, while chatting with like-minded folks. One evening we saw the moons around Jupiter through a scope.

Still seeing a lot of birds though. On April 1st, I tagged along with Borrego Birders and saw 47 species of birds. New birds for me in that bunch were the Black-chinned Hummingbird, Brewer's Blackbird and Pacific-slope Flycatcher. Later in the week I also saw a Hooded Oriole and a Hammond's Flycatcher.

Grand total of bird species seen in the last month is 105. It's been a very birdy trip! This weekend the San Diego Audubon Society is hosting a field trip here and I hope to attend, so I may be able to see a few more species, hopefully the elusive LeConte's and Crissal Thrashers!




Great Horned Owl on her nest - zoom in, it's windy!

Very unusual clouds

Moon setting