Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge

The Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR (the "Refuge") is found in Southeastern California at the southern and southeastern end of the Salton Sea. 

The Salton Sink is a closed drainage area which separates the Coachella Valley from the Imperial Valley and has alternately been a lake and a dry lake bed as the channel of the Colorado River has changed off and on over time from the Gulf of California to the Salton Sink. 3,000 years ago the Salton Sink was covered by Lake Cahuilla that was 105 miles long and 300 feet deep. In 1905, when the Salton Sink was dry, the Colorado River flooded through two dry arroyos creating the New River and the Alamo River and for two years these new rivers carried the entire flow of the Colorado River into the Salton Sink and created the Salton Sea. This flooding was eventually controlled by human intervention and the Colorado diverted back to the Gulf of California. 

The resultant Salton Sea, much smaller than the previous Lake Cahuilla, has a surface area of 343 square miles, but is still the largest lake in California. It is up to 35 miles long and 15 miles wide, has an average depth of 31 feet and a maximum depth of 51 feet.  The lake surface is 236 feet below sea level and the low point of the lake floor is only 5 feet higher than Badwater, the low point of Death Valley NP. Three streams feed into it: (a) the Whitewater River with headwaters in the San Gorgonio Wilderness of the San Bernardino Mountains feeds the northern end, mostly through the porous desert floor, but occasionally above ground during flooding; (b) the Alamo River, which supported part of the Colorado River flow from 1905 to 1907, flows from the Mexicali Valley in Baja California through the Imperial Valley into the southern end and is mostly a ravine full of vegetation with a small water-course at the bottom; and (c) the New River, which also supported part of the Colorado River flow from 1905 to 1907, flows from the Cerro Prieto Volcano southeast of Mexicali, through Mexicali and Calexico into the southeastern end and is now mostly agricultural runoff, municipal discharge and industrial wastewater and is severely polluted. The Salton Sea has no outlet and loses water only through evaporation. The dissolved salts left behind raise salinity and it now has a salinity 25% higher than the ocean. 

The Refuge currently consists of about 2,200 acres and has two units separated by 18 miles. Each unit has managed wetlands, tree rows and agricultural fields. There are 826 acres of wetland flooded with water from the Imperial Irrigation District. Tree rows include honey mesquite, screwbean mesquite, blue palo verde, fairy duster, sweet acacia and desert ironwood. There are 869 acres of croplands which include alfalfa, wheat, rye grass, milo and sudan grass to provide forage for wintering geese and other migratory birds. 

Unit 1, off Verdel Road at the south end of the Salton Sea, has the half-mile Michael Hardenberger Trail which goes to a freshwater pond that is a favorite nesting area for the endangered Yuma clapper rail. The New River enters the Salton Sea at this Unit.  

Unit 1

An observation deck next to the parking area. 

Another observation deck, further north, viewed from the above observation deck. 

Reeds along the Hardenberger Trail.

Freshwater pond. 

Blind at the freshwater pond. 

An observation deck which has been closed off due to lack of water. The first observation deck is in the left background. 

Sandhill cranes

Ross's geese mix with snow geese. 

Blue morph snow goose.

Ross's goose

Great egret

Black-necked stilt

Great blue heron

Green heron

Northern shoveler

Unit 2, which includes the visitor center, is at the southeastern side of the Salton Sea and has the two mile roundtrip Rock Hill Trail which goes to the top of Rock Hill. The Alamo River enters the Salton Sea at this Unit. 

Snow geese dot a green field with the visitor center (back center), observation deck (back right) and a geothermal electricity plant pushing out steam (far back) behind them. 

More of the agriculture field further north of the visitor center. 

Tree rows and the Rock Hill Trail.

Rock Hill in the background.

Rock Hill

View of the south end of the Salton Sea from Rock Hill. 

View of a more northern portion of the Salton Sea from Rock Hill. 

Snow covered mountains across the Salton Sea. 

Man-made islands in a freshwater pond provide safe nesting sites from marauding raccoons, coyotes and skunks. 

Snow geese

Snow geese

Snow goose

Snow goose

Blue morph snow goose

Great egret

White-crowned sparrow

Northern mockingbird

Additional wildlife I've seen since this first post:

Gambel's quail

Mourning dove

Greater yellowlegs

Anna's hummingbird

Common ground dove

European starling

Northern Harrier

Northern shoveler

Peregrine falcon

Red-winged blackbird

Ruddy duck

Savannah sparrow

Yellow-rumped warbler

Verdin

Killdeer

Long-billed dowitcher

Double-crested cormorant

Marbled godwit

Greater yellowlegs

Yellow-footed gull

Ring-billed gull

Caspian tern

Least sandpiper

Osprey

Western sandpiper

Say's phoebe

Black phoebe

Burrowing owl

Western meadowlark

Belted kingfisher

White-faced ibis

Sandhill cranes

American kestrel

Harris hawk

Red-tailed hawk

Great-tailed grackle

Gambel's quail

White-winged dove

Killdeer

The killdeer is an American plover. There are three subspecies. The nominate (originally described) subspecies is found in the U.S. Canada and Mexico. Other subspecies are found in the Caribbean and in Peru. 

When I was growing up in Salt Lake City we had a ranch outside of Oakley in the foothills of the Uinta Mountains. We had a pasture in front of our ranch house with a large soggy patch which emanated from a small spring/pond next to the ranch house. The pasture variously had horses and cows in it and I remember the soggy patch to be full of hoof print indentations and manure piles. I used to go out into the pasture regularly looking for garter snakes, frogs and other animals. A regular occurrence would be one or more killdeer feigning a broken wing and pleading its dilemma. I knew they were trying to distract me from a nest and I looked and looked for the nests and never found one. I always imaged that the killdeer was pleading "baby, baby, baby...." I have loved killdeer ever since. 

I've not seen one in many years until recently seeing one on each of two trips to the Salton Sea, both at the Salton Sea SRA outside Mecca, in the same spot, next to the lake in a small inland bay. I was taking photos from quite a distance and only have one relatively decent photo which I share. 

Bufflehead

I saw a duck called a bufflehead at the Salton Sea SRA a few weeks ago and had no idea what it was. The when I learned its name, I'd never heard of it before. 

I saw a male, the most interesting of the species. It puffs out the feathers on its head greatly increasing the size. It gets its name from the oddly shaped and large head - buffalo head or bufflehead. Adult males are black and white with a large white patch behind the eye and an iridescent green and purple head. 

It is one of the smallest American ducks and is highly active, almost continually diving. 

Greater Scaup

On November 30, 2019 I did a post on the greater scaup, a bird I'd seen at Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. When I joined iNaturalist some time later I submitted photos of those birds and was informed by a number of identifiers that the birds were actually lesser scaup. 

Note the green sheen on the head of the male to the left and the yellow eyes of the females in the middle. They are greater scaup.

Several weeks ago I was at the Salton Sea SRA and got photos of birds I submitted to iNaturalist as lesser scaup (see above). Again I was wrong, identifiers came back with the identification of greater scaup.

These males, photos taken last Saturday, have a greenish sheen on the back of their heads and are greater scaup. 

This female has an amber iris, rather than a yellow iris, and I believe is a lesser scaup. 

I've decided I need to learn the difference. The male lesser scaup has a purple sheen on its neck and the female has an amber iris. The male greater scaup has a green sheen on its neck and the female has a yellow iris.  

Ross's Goose

Ross's Goose is basically a reduced version of the white morph snow goose (40% smaller). It also has a smaller bill in proportion to its body, the bill has a bluish base, and the bill lacks the black "grin patch." 

One of my goals was to find and photograph a Ross's goose on our recent visit to Salton Sea, my second visit in two weeks. In one photo, taken early in the morning near the Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR off of Vendel Road, I got a less-than-perfect photo of several Ross's geese, primarily identified by the blue bases on their bills. In the photo below, note the front goose to the left of center which has a black horizontal line on its bill - that is the grin patch. The goose immediately behind it does not have the grin patch, but does have a dark patch at the base of the bill. To the right of the photo, behind a fuzzy brown goose, are the heads of two other geese lacking grin patches and with the dark patch at the base of their bills. The identified geese are the Ross's geese. 

I hope to get a better photo some day, but I'm happy I got at least one, though lacking in clarity.