Sal del Rey, 11/25/07

I headed up to Sal del Rey this cold, blustery morning. After a wet summer, the rainless fall has pretty much dried things up. Water evaporating from already hypersaline Sal del Rey is causing a salt precipitate to form along the shores and coating anything in the water.



There were not to many shorebirds and they were concentrated in the southwest corner. I was happy to see 15 Snowy plovers after missing them on my last visit.



Long-billed Dowitchers are supposed to prefer freshwater while we often find Short-bills in salt water along the coast. I tried to turn this into a Short-billed Dowitcher, but I thing it's just a salt loving Long-billed.



I was sad to see this dying Sand-hill Crane. I'm sure it won't go to waste as there are plenty of coyotes around.



Snow Goose 50
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 8
Turkey Vulture 10
Northern Harrier 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 3
White-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 4
Sandhill Crane 1
Snowy Plover 15
Killdeer 8
American Avocet 1
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Sanderling 10
Western Sandpiper 10
Least Sandpiper 175
Stilt Sandpiper 8
Long-billed Dowitcher 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Kiskadee 2
Green Jay 3
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 1
House Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Northern Mockingbird 5
American Pipit 10
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Eastern Meadowlark 1