With reports of Blue-footed Boobies for the previous month, Kimya and I finally got the chance to look for them.  We had Friday, 9/29, off of work, so we headed out Thursday evening.  A quick stop at the Westley rest stop south of Stockton at around 10 PM revealed about 200 cottontails on the lawn.  We drove through the night with a few breaks, and were looking at Mullet Island, north of Red Hill Marina, at 8:30 AM.  Unfortunately, Mullet Island was over a mile away, and, though we tried many roads to get closer, we couldn’t get close enough to get reasonable views.  We tried walking from the end of Hazard Rd (as I recall), but were quickly mired in the mud despite trying to use garbage bags as makeshift boots.  As the temperature climbed, heat shimmer got worse and we had little hope of seeing the boobies.

 This Lesser Nighthawk, as well as a Rock Wren, was at the Calipatria Inn

We got a room at the Calipatria Inn, and caught an hour's sleep out of the midday heat.  We went to the Wister HQ after a few more futile attempts to find a better view of the island.  In the hot late afternoon, we found a male Vermilion Flycatcher, one or two male American Redstarts, and, best, a Northern Waterthrush. 

I called Guy McCaskie, who had been reporting the boobies at Mullet Island, and fortunately he was home.  He gave us very detailed directions:  Garst Rd, cross Alamo River, make an immediate left before a large pump, and drive along a makeshift track as near to the island as you dare.  He also told us where to look:  left of the two pinnacles on a flat rock.  We drove out to Mullet Island before dark, but could not find our target birds.

 Sunset near Alamo River mouth

The following morning, we arrived at first light and got into position for viewing the island, walking right up to the squishy sea shore.  We found some likely shapes and watched as it began getting lighter.  Maybe…Probably…I think it could be…  Mullet Island was still far away and the forms we saw were about the same size as the abundant Double-crested Cormorants, but yes, they were boobies.  We traded off viewing them in the scope.  At times they would flap, revealing pale on the underwings, and white bellies.  First Kimya, then I, got to see them fly and return to their rock, even walking a short distance.  If they turned the wrong way, it was impossible to distinguish them.  There were certainly two and probably three present.

 In addition to the boobies, it was remarkable to see the sheer abundance of life.  All of the gulls (mainly Ring-billed, but also many Laughing and Yellow-footed), terns (Caspian, Forster’s, some Black), many pelicans of both varieties, and many Western Grebes with a few Clark’s mixed in.

 Yellow-footed Gulls of various ages

 This gull has quite broad white eye arcs, but otherwise looks like a typical Laughing Gull to me.

By midmorning we were heading north.  We drove through Joshua Tree National Park and on to Mojave National Preserve.  A stop at the overwatered lawn at the Kelso Depot produced a few good birds.  Back in May I had a Common Moorhen there.  Not quite as bizarre, but more interesting as rarities, we had a Blackpoll Warbler and an Orchard Oriole.

 Blackpoll Warbler

Orchard Oriole

 We also enjoyed watching this Northern Flicker on the lawn (note tongue).

From there we went to Zzyzx.  There were a lot of birds to look through, but nothing unusual.  Most interesting, perhaps, were a male Redhead and a male Ring-necked Duck.  Driving north on Hwy 127 from Baker, we saw a kit fox cross the road.  We drove until we got about a mile from Crystal Spring, flushing a few poorwills along the way, and spent the night on a side road.

 It was our first visit to this very remote area, and that was at least half the reason for the trip.  A Wood Thrush had been reported there for a couple of weeks, but we didn’t have much hope that it would remain.  We walked from the main road up a secondary road toward several cottonwood trees and fairly dense vegetation.  We came across a flock of Chukars, and they ran up the hill ahead of us. 

We quickly saw two Red-naped Sapsuckers, and then heard voices and saw that a couple had camped right at the springs.  We were a bit disappointed, thinking we had the place to ourselves, but were told that the thrush had been seen the previous day and already heard that morning.  In about a minute, we had brief views of the thrush, but it flew up the hill before I could get a single photo.

We continued up the hill to where the thrush had been reported, but heard a whistle, and the guy parked at the bottom of the spring was pointing to the thrush.  We climbed as quietly as we could to a hillside above the spring and watched as the Wood Thrush worked its way along the moist ground below us.  Several times, it flipped leaves like a turnstone flipping rocks. 

 Flipping leaf

There were a half-dozen or more Townsend’s Solitaires, a total of at least five Red-naped Sapsuckers, one competing with several tarantula hawks (very large wasps) for its sap wells.

We spent an additional half-hour watching Gambel’s Quail and Chukars coming down for water and food. 

A Chukar had some kind of fruit that it kept dropping and then having to chase after it as it rolled down the hill.

There was a previous report of bighorn sheep, but not that morning.

We needed to get home, with work the following day, but stopped briefly at Furnace Creek in Death Valley.  We were told of a Chestnut-collared Longspur close to the road on the putting green near the airport.  We tracked it down, but had more distant views.

From there, we headed to Lone Pine, then north on 395.  A great day was marred somewhat by a stupid anti-abortion/pray for our country rally along the main drag in Bishop.  What a drag…and just as I was talking up the merits of Bishop to Kimya.

There were great fall colors over Monitor Pass on Hwy 89, though it had started raining.  The car’s thermometer read 41 degrees.  It had been 100 in Death Valley when we left at noon.