As I was walking by this, I thought wouldn't it be awesome to have an earthquake and see these rocks roll down. They look like they rolled down recently, but they have been like this for hundreds of years.

 

You would think one rock pile would look just like the other, But even in the rocks there is diversity

 

That's the Marine Base way out in the distance. My husband said after a couple weeks here in the desert, he'd seen enough desert to last a life time. I guess like trees in Washington State, you seen one tree you've seen then all. Well I see changes every day and so much beauty.

 

 

You wouldn't think there was such a diversity of plants in the desert, but on a short hike I saw so many different plants. Jojoba, the small green leaf plant is well liked by both small rodents and Mountain Sheep alike. Its seeds are oily and is being used commercially now.
The cactus is Beaver Tail and there wasn't a lot of it around. The dark gray trunk is Desert Willow, a plant that lives in the washes and low areas to get water by sending its roots deep into the ground. The Yucca is a very interesting plant. It is pollinated by a moth that only lives in the flowers and it's larvae bore into the seeds. Pencil Cactus seems to come in two colors, a red tinged one and a light green variety. Another cactus variety is the Chola, stay well away, it latches on and wont come off. Some of the plants are pretty even dormant or dead. The rusty red plant is very strange. Its dead but looks more like a vine that draped itself over a plant.

 

I'm going for California Gull here and my reasoning is, Herring and California are common in the area and I think the bill tip is small like a California's. Comments? Questions

Today going back to Joshua Tree where I haven't been before.

 

American Avocet?

 

This little guy greets me every morning on my way to work. I'm thinking Cactus Wren? Anyone want to jump in here and tell me for sure.

PS WhatBird posters came thru. Cactus Wren. Thanks guys

 

Decided to spend the night and went back to Unit one the next morning. From the Visitors Center, the hike out to the Salton Sea is about a half mile and then another half mile the trail follows a dike the separates the Salton Sea from a fresh water lake. Just as I caught sight of the Sea, the Gulls could be heard really raising a ruckus. OMG is sounded like the Senate fighting over health care, with each gull trying out out shout the other. The din lasted about 10 minutes and then quit just as quickly as it had started, it ended.
What a difference a day makes. This day there were tons of Snow Geese in the fresh water lake, but none in the farmers field like yesterday. Snow geese flew overhead in the hundreds and my camera worked a bit better.

 

American Kestral?

 

When your out, you should consider wearing a hat.

 

Is this little guy an American Coot? They are very common along the Salton Sea and seemed to mix well with the Gulls and Shovelers but they also float far out in open water, probably to get away from the gulls boisterous arguments.

 

Northern Shoveler

 

 

 

 

 

 
On the way home I took a "longcut" thru Box Canyon. Awesome

 

Drove down to the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge at the Salton Sea on Saturday and loved it. Checked out Unit Two first, it was on the southern tip and there must have been thousands of geese, mostly Snow but White-front also. The short loop traill was more sound than sightings, the geese of course - a constant drown of honks, Red-winged and Meadowlarkss providing melody and then the occasional chirp and tweet of some little one hiding in the brush. Oh there were birds. Ducks I couldn't get close enough to to ID, a Great White Heron who posed for me along with a Great Blue who let me get really close before scaring the heck out of both of us. A Black Phoebe who hung out at the Obersvation Deck and Cattle Egrets who stood on the dike

Unit One was more amazing, the hike was flat and circled around passing the Salton Sea on one side and a fresh water lake on the other. Saw Stilts, Gull, Term, Kestral and I was amazed at the numbers Think I'll go back in the morning.

I was walking along and thinking I really needed to get a longer lens and a young man passed me an his camera must had a 10 inch lens on it. I told him I needed something like his and he laughed and said it never mattered, birds had a habit of staying just out of range.

 

 

Not sure what this is but it had a sweet citrus smell,

 

Even in mid-January flowers bloom in the Reserve.

 

Landscape of white.

 

The whole day, the Snow Geese were way off in the distance but leaving the Refuge, I came upon them right along side the road. So cool