Our next stop was the Salton Sea south of Palm Springs. The Salton Sea was originally part of the Sea of Cortez, but was cut off from the ocean by silt from the Colorado desert and eventually dried up. Then in 1905 an irrigation canal from the Colorado River was breached and by the time they fixed it the Salton Sea was filled up.
In the mid - fifties they developed the area for recreation, one info board says they they used to have a twelve lane boat ramp to handle all the traffic. But with no water inflow the lake started to recede and became twice as salty as the ocean, which killed all the fish except for (introduced) tilapia and our friends the native pupfish.
Present day Salton Sea is a hardscrabble place, lots of abandoned and graffitied places and rundown old trailers and yards full of junk. We visited an abandoned marina (looking for birds) with falling down old showerhouses.
It's a great place for birds though, with thousands of birds overwintering.
We spent the first two nights at the Salton Sea Headquarters campsite, lined up next to the big rigs in a parking lot.
but then we moved to the neighbouring New Camp which is more to our liking.
Closer to the showers and more natural but also closer to the railway. Neither campsite is very busy.
There is a lagoon right by the campsite
which is full of birds, hundreds of stilts,
ducks and other shorebirds. There are two rare strays from Eurasia here right now, a Gargany (teal duck), which was pointed out to us and a black - headed gull, which we haven't spotted yet. Serious birders from all over have showed up to see these two birds. Leo is enjoying hanging out and chatting with the other birders.
The much sought after but unassuming garganey
We're here for a week then heading for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to the west.
Darkness falls on the Salton Sea
No comments:
Post a Comment