travel with pam and wade

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Borrego Valley Windstorm 2013

Well, I wish I hadn't mentioned something spectacular happening in my last post! On Sunday, our last evening in Borrego, we noticed a high wind advisory on the NOAA site and decided to stay put until Tuesday morning. About 8 am Monday morning the wind started, blowing dust and debris. The trailer became a roller coaster ride. We've been in a lot of desert wind over the last 30 years, but this was extreme, with gusts over 85 mph!

About 11 a.m. the wind subsided and we went out to survey the damage. At least 6 large trees were felled by the wind. Fortunately, the campground was almost totally empty, so no one was injured. We were camped against a row of Tamarisk trees. One large branch fell right next to our trailer. The passenger window in Wade's truck was blown out and the truck was full of glass, sand and debris. Both of our vehicles were sandblasted on the side facing into the wind. Power was out in all of Borrego Springs for the entire day and most of the evening. Luckily we had battery power for electricity and propane for cooking.

We are home now and dealing with the insurance company. It will take us several days to get all the sand, dust and dirt out of the trailer.

One positive note, the wind must have blown in a few birds...in the afternoon I saw a Western Tanager and several Lazuli buntings!

While this wasn't a fun ending, overall the trip was a lot of fun and we saw over 112 species of birds during the month. We hope to return next spring!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

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

Friday, March 29, 2013

Borrego Valley Hawkwatch 2013 - Part II

March 29, 2013

Well, still having a great time despite the heat. The highlight of the last week or so was a trip to Salton Sea with my birding friends Wes and Rose. We left early and made a great day of it, seeing 54 species of birds. The weather was cooler than expected making for a gorgeous day. We stopped many places, but our main stop was the visitor center at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge. We walked the trail up to Obsidian Butte and hiked up for a beautiful view of the Salton Sea and surrounding areas. I won't list all the birds, but the highlights for me were Burrowing Owl, Savannah Sparrow, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Abert's Towhee, Nashville Warbler, White-tailed Kite, and a "flock" (?) of at least 90 White Pelicans soaring overhead. We enjoyed a nice Italian lunch in Brawley and headed back to Borrego Springs, arriving just in time to watch about 100 Swainson's fly in over the Evening Site. Great day!

Obsidian Butte near Salton Sea

Burrowing Owls

Beautiful White Pelicans

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Borrego Valley Hawkwatch 2013

Kettle of Swainson's Hawks

Here we are at the Hawkwatch again this spring, although with temperatures in the high 90's it seems more like summer! We've been here for about a week and are having a good time in spite of the hot weather.

This year I am participating in the Hawkwatch as a volunteer leader on occasion and as an assistant on most days, morning and evening. Our biggest day since we've been here was yesterday, when over 500 Swainson's seemingly appeared magically above the evening site. They soared on the thermals for about an hour, before settling and resettling a few times into a group of Eucalyptus trees. This morning, due to windy conditions they lifted off very early at 6:35. Luckily I arrived in time to be treated to an amazing view of over 700 hawks migrating out through Coyote Canyon! Even on days when the numbers are low, it is exciting to watch the hawks and learn what I can from their behavior. And of course the desert setting is beautiful and relaxing.

We've had some pretty extreme weather in the last week, ranging from snow at Culp Valley to 50mph wind gusts, and 97 degree afternoons in the valley.

My bird list is as follows, with new birds for the year in bold type. Verdin, Roadrunner, Violet-green Swallow, Swainson's Hawk, Raven, Turkey Vulture, Red-tail Hawk, Osprey, Cooper's Hawk, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lesser Goldfinch, White-winged Dove, House Finch, Shrike, Crow, Anna's Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Say's Phoebe, Costa's Hummingbird, Mockingbird, Red-winged Blackbird, White-crowned Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Phainopepla, Wrentit, and Western Kingbird.

This weekend Borrego Springs hosts the Circle of Art, which is always fun. Art, music and food. Who could ask for more?

Pretty sky at Morning Site

Sand Verbena

Closer view of Swainson's Hawks

Sunrise over Font's Point

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Anza Borrego - February 2013

Wade, Keeva and I are spending a few days in Borrego Springs. We thought it would be a nice way to celebrate Valentine's Day. Also, I wanted to attend the organizational meeting for the Borrego Valley Hawkwatch. I am volunteering this year for the month of March. We have mostly been relaxing. I've done some birding and Wade has done some bike riding. We've gone out to eat a few times. The weather has been perfect; beautiful blue skies every day. New birds this week include White-winged dove, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Sparrow, Costa's Hummingbird, and Verdin.

Monday, February 4, 2013

New Mexico "Chilly" Trip - 3 of 3

Well, it's taken me a while to get to finishing up the blog post for this trip, but wanted to post a few pictures. While we enjoyed the adventure of traveling in cold weather, we were rather pleased to arrive in Alamogordo where the daytime temperatures were in the 50's! We finally had water, showers and laundry facilities!

The next day we visited White Sands National Monument; a beautiful, surreal place with miles and miles of white sand dunes. Unlike most sand dunes, these consist of gypsum, which accounts for the unusual white coloration. The sand is soft and fine, it feels almost like talcum powder. The Visitor Center is a restored WPA project, a beautiful structure that was built in the 1930's. We spent the afternoon and had a quick picnic, as it was a little chilly to sit out in the wind.

We toured the New Mexico Space History Museum on our last day in Alamogordo. The highlight there for me was seeing a moon rock! Wade of course, enjoyed all the rockets and related information. That afternoon we went did some wine and pistachio tasting at a couple of farms outside of town. That was pretty unique. The garlic and green chili pistachios are awesome! See below for a picture of the World's Largest Pistachio!

The next morning we headed for San Diego, staying one night each in Lordsburg, NM and Gila Bend, AZ. We really enjoyed our trip but it was nice to be home.

For those of you who are interested, here is the bird list for the trip: Audubon's Warbler, Great Horned Owl, Coot, Kestrel, Killdeer, Wild Turkey, Junco (Oregon and Gray-headed) Shrike, Golden Eagle, Crow, Cooper's Hawk, Black Phoebe, Turkey Vulture, Green-winged Teal, Bald Eagle, Raven, Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbird, Sandhill Crane, Mallard, Snow Goose, Ross Goose, Canada Goose, Shoveler, Gadwall, Pintail, Bufflehead, Snipe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-tail Hawk, Harrier, Great-tailed Grackle, Red-naped Sapsucker, Downey Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron, Starling, Steller's Jay, Northern Flicker, Goldfinch, House Finch, Lesser Scaup, Gambel's Quail, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, Phainopepla.

Wade enjoying warm temps!

Visitor Center at White Sands - Pueblo Deco at its best!

Architectural details

Moon Rock!

Rocket at the Space Museum

World's Largest Pistachio

Arizona Sunset at Augie's Quail Trail RV Park
(it's a sculpture, not a real quail)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

New Mexico "Chilly" Trip - Part II

We arrived at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in the late afternoon and checked-in to the aptly named BirdWatcher's RV Park, just in time to drive a short 5 miles to the Visitor Center and get the lay of the land. I was immediately impressed by the beauty of the refuge. We saw over fifty Sandhill Cranes not 3 miles from our campsite! The refuge is a stopping place for thousands of migrating Snow Geese, Ross Geese and Sandhill Cranes. The birds "fly out" in the morning to feed in farm and refuge fields and "fly in" at dusk to spend the night on the water, where they are protected from predators. During the few days we were there the light geese count was over 48,000 and the Crane count was over 8,000. We saw many other birds, the highlights being Harrier, Bufflehead, Shoveler, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Red-winged Blackbird, and Meadowlark.

The first morning I got up very early to see the "fly out". It was dark and about 20 degrees when I left the trailer to drive to the Flight Deck (OK, I know many of you are thinking that I'm making this up, but I REALLY did do this!). I was so excited that I barely noticed the cold, at least for the first hour or so. The sunrise was beautiful and there were about 300 geese and 50 cranes on the water. The cranes took off first, a few at a time, but the geese all left at once and it was an incredible sight. The sound they make is very interesting, too.

During the next couple of days I explored the North and South Loops, which are gravel roads that wind through the refuge. Wade, who thinks that a little birding goes a long way, was content to stay in the warm trailer and read. He did join me for a few hours one day. We also took a day trip to the Very Large Array (a really interesting side trip; check out the link) which was about an hour's drive east. We drove "around' a snow storm which created a cloudy sky that was incredibly beautiful and uniquely "New Mexico".

The highlight of the entire trip so far was the "fly out" on Monday night. When I arrived at the Flight Deck there were a few hundred light geese (Ross and Snow) on the water. Over the next thirty minutes geese arrived in large groups, each circling noisily overhead before finally landing on the water. Eventually there must have been 20,000 geese or more; it's really hard to estimate. I had never seen so many birds in once place! Then something really unexpected happened. As if a switch had been thrown, every goose on the water took off at the same time and circled overhead before landing again. What an incredible sight and sound! A beautiful sunset accompanied this...really, one of the most spectacular experiences of my life! On Tuesday night the experience was repeated and I wouldn't have thought it possible but there were even more geese and cranes! See the photos below. .

I have also enjoyed meeting and talking with other travelers and birders and hearing their stories; a rewarding part of traveling.

The weather has also been a fun part of this experience. We knew it would be cold, but the weather is about 15 degrees lower than usual for this time of year. The daytime highs have been in the mid-30's and the nighttime lows in the teens. One night it was 1 degree! Our heater keeps us comfortable, however the water pipes froze and broke on Monday, so we had no running water for a couple of days. We had to drive 10 miles to buy water. Guess that's why they call it camping! No matter what, we are happy campers though!

I could have spent a week or more birding at the Bosque, but we left this morning and arrived mid-afternoon in Alamogordo. We will be here for a few days and plan to visit the Space Museum and White Sands National Monument.