A Brit abroad

Thanksgiving trip day 2 - the thrasher grand slam

Much of today's birding was done close to the California-Arizona border, starting at the Black Meadow Landing resort near Lake Havasu. For the last few winters a Curve-billed Thrasher has frequented a cactus garden, thanks to the copious amount of seed put out by Ernie. Soon after arriving Ernie came out to greet us and feed the birds. The resulting feeding frenzy had to be seen to be believed - hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Great-tailed Grackles, Gambel's Quail and Mourning Dove joining the melee.

Eventually we spotted the Curve-billed Thrasher showing at point blank range. The bird was a little camera-shy, lurking in the middle of a tree, but this shot shows its velociraptor-like beady eye.

Our next stop was Blythe, where Roger Higson (another Brit abroad) kindly guided us around his local patches. The Blythe area was positively dripping with Vermilion Flycatchers, more than I had ever seen in one place (Roger estimated 28 birds in Mayflower Park that morning). He also pointed us in the direction of another hard-to-find state bird, Crissal Thrasher.

With reports of Harris's and Zone-tailed Hawks, Gilded Flicker and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in the Blythe area this winter, this may not be my last visit to the area...

We spent perhaps a little too long in the Blythe area and spent the rest of the afternoon racing against time to reach the south end of the Salton Sea. At Obsidian Butte we failed to locate any Stilt Sandpipers amongst the dowitchers, but did get good views of 3 Soras (prior to this the only Sora I'd seen was in Britain!) and my first state Laughing Gull.

Posted by rjhall at November 30, 2004 3:27 AM