A Summer Day at the Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is a place I've been to several times, and each time has been in late fall or winter.  It is California's largest lake, and is truly an inland sea.  As far as inland seas go, it is one of the largest in the world.  California called this huge lake an oasis over a hundred years ago, but now it is considered to be the state's biggest natural disaster.  For starters, the Salton Sea is a very shallow and toxic lake due to high saline levels.  Water sources of three different rivers, drainages, agriculture, and creeks have filled up the Sea over the years and it has increased toxic saline levels.  The Alamo River especially carries harmful pesticides, DDT and other harmful chemicals, and fertilizer nitrates into the giant lake, and this build up has occurred for years and years.  What it has amounted to has equaled out to have much higher salinity levels than that of the Pacific Ocean.  It's not safe to boat or swim at the Salton Sea.  Because the Salton Sea is a saline lake, it will dry up in time and it continues to dry up.  The toxic waters of the Sea that have been dominated by years and years of pesticides and more in it's waters are dangerous for those who have respiratory problems, and it's also harmful to birds.  Speaking of birds, the Salton Sea has hosted more than 400 species.  It has one of the highest densities of birds out there, and the numbers of species and the species that have shown up so far are truly remarkable.  I've gone there to see incredible numbers of waterfowl, gulls, terns, and shorebirds.  Rarities I've successfully chased have included Garganey and Bean Goose.  While the Salton Sea is decreasing, it remains to be an incredible location for avian diversity.  The Sea is located in southern California in Imperial and Riverside Counties.  I'll flat out say that the surroundings of the lake are extremely ugly.  If it weren't for an abundance of neat birds, I would never find myself wanting to go to the Salton Sea.  It's right down there with Yuma County.  As I've gone to the Salton Sea in the cooler months, I've never gone during the summer.  The summer hosts hellish temperatures, but the birds are spectacular.  It's the one reliable spot to see Yellow-footed Gull in the ABA area, and on top of that, there are many other birds.  I needed to see a Yellow-footed Gull again after my one-and-only sighting had been of a bird about a mile away in 2010.

On July 9th, 2020, I joined my buddies Ronnie Reed and Caleb Strand, and we left Phoenix at 2 A.M. to go explore the Salton Sea.  Ronnie and Caleb have both been to the Salton Sea much more than I have, Ronnie for fishing and Caleb for birding.  As Ronnie had been there before, this would be his first time for birding and he was pumped.  Caleb was hoping to find a stint.  My main goal was to see and photograph a Yellow-footed Gull up much closer than a mile away.  The best thing about the Sea was that we would be seeing an incredible variety of waterbirds.  Shorebirds, waterfowl, gulls, terns, and more thrive at the Sea.  And for birders, it is a place where they can pull out something incredibly rare at any time of the year.

We got to the north end of the Salton Sea early, and walked for over two miles to a location where we could bird a massive stretch of shoreline.  It was hot, nasty, and there were millions of obnoxious flies everywhere.  On the flipside, the abundance of birds made up for the abundance of flies.

Gulls became Seagulls and Terns were Turbo-gulls (Ronnie's previous name for terns before he was a birder).  We had a good time!  It wasn't long before Caleb and Ronnie spotted two Yellow-footed Gulls along the shore.  While they looked at an assortment of birds out on the waters, I went to make sure I obtained a few pictures and closer looks at my main target.

And then there was an assortment of other birds that were briefly forgotten by me due to my tunnel vision.  That Yellow-footed Seagull.  Terns were fun as we had Gull-billed, Forster's, Black, and Caspian, as were all of the waterbirds really.  Our first stop yielded nearly 80 species and was close to four hours.  The heat and flies would make things challenging as the day went on further.

Black Tern

Brown Pelicans and Black Skimmers

Caspian, Forster's, and Black Terns on the sandbars

Caspian Tern

Snowy Plover

Caleb and Ronnie looking for a Bell' Vireo

One of our other stops was further south along the Sea as we drove along a road called Lack Road.  This was one that I really wanted to go to, because it is known to be very good for seeing Yellow-footed Gull up close.  It wasn't long on our drive along Lack before we found a nice adult Yellow-footed Gull right along the road.

In comparison to my first Yellow-footed Gull a mile away through a scope back in 2010 at the Salton Sea, the birds on July 9th with Ronnie and Caleb were practically lifers.  We had 8 of them in total at the first stop at the north side of the Sea (some were fairly close, others more distant), and this one was the 9th and it gave us what we were hoping for.

It made it's way over to us to join us for the snacks that we were having.  Perhaps our snacks were considered healthy compared to the crappy snacks it was getting out at the Sea.  Literally.

Yellow-footed Gulls are native to Mexico, and they can be seen at the Salton Sea in good numbers after they breed.  They are a large gull, and are very similar to Western Gull.  The Yellow-footed Gull does have a considerably larger bill, and of course, yellow legs rather than pink legs.  It is a well-named bird!  It eats fish, crustaceans, eggs of other birds, carrion, and more.  Because of it's snack leaching behavior, we found out it also likes Flaming Hot Cheeto Fries and Cheez-its.  It was great to see the target bird at such a close, epic range!

When snack time was up, a Black Skimmer joined a flock of peeps along the shore.

And a Gull-billed Tern flew by too.

Ronnie and I got a much closer view of the Black Skimmer!

On the way out of the Salton Sea, we had excellent looks at this Gull-billed Tern at someone's farm pond.

We had 85 species in total at the Salton Sea, not bad for a scorching day in July.  Thanks Ronnie and Caleb for a good time.  Thanks to the Yellow-footed Seagull too!