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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xenospiza" data-source="post: 1386383" data-attributes="member: 23772">Dec 24: In two hours, I drove to Palmdale, which is basically a grid of mostly unpaved streets in a broad desert valley, with some cheap and decrepit houses thrown in at random locations. Despite it being a desert, it was grey, freezing, with the odd patches of snow amongst the Joshua Trees. I walked a few miles of sandy washes without finding the hoped-for LeConte’s Thrasher. Luckily, Cactus Wren, Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Sage Sparrow (canescens, so best called Bell’s?) were around to ease the pain.I drove through the completely white San Bernardino Mountains (not a place to venture off the highway without chains...) to the somewhat warmer desert further south. The I-10 was the first place where I saw rows of large billboards along the road, mostly trying to persuade me to come and gamble in one of the various (very obvious) casinos around Palm Springs, in which they failed, as I was heading to Mecca.Around 11:30 I arrived at a shiny new road stop (“am–pm”) with dirty toilets near this town at the north end of the Salton Sea. This was one of the few places where my atlas failed me, because the road lay-out has recently been changed. I figured out that the saltbush/mesquite habitat just east of the road stop (at the crossroads of highways 86S/195) was the one mentioned in my Birder’s Guide (I was right). I wasn’t deterred by the salt-crusted mud I had to struggle through and was rewarded with expected Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Abert’s Towhee and Verdin, less expected but quite numerous Phainopeplas (one of my aims in the desert) and an only-hoped-for singing Crissal Thrasher.I couldn’t find the coastal access south of Mecca and drove on to Salton Sea Beach. This is a poor but quite closely-knit town with a fenced-off shore where someone is obviously failing to build a harbour. The sea was filled with American White Pelicans and Black-necked Grebes, with some space left for gulls, although I could “only” find a Glaucous-winged Gull here.My next stop was in grandiosely-named Salton City (a collection of wide-spread and sometimes hilariously tacky houses on a wide curvy network of streets – a complete waste of space). I found access to the shore at the West Shores Boat Ramp (and RV park), where I got a chance to smell the curious aroma of this lake: something between fertiliser and broth (probably strong enough to wipe out any hint of dead fish). This boat ramp was an excellent spot: many waders (e.g. American Avocet) and gulls – with thankfully one adult Yellow-footed Gull flying by! I was then distracted by a lesser golden-plover, of which I took some embarrasingly bad pics to convince myself it really was a Pacific Golden-Plover (lack of tertials did not help!)With more “seawatching” tomorrow, I returned to the desert. I passed the Ocotillo Wells Vehicular Recreation Area where you can reduce the sparse vegetation even further with “Off-Highway Vehicles” and drove into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, where the Ocotillos are left in peace. I found a camp site at Borrego Palms, and decided to walk into Palm Canyon to finally see a few wild palms. This was a race against sunset, but well worth it as I finally, finally found five California Quail which I disturbed from their roost site in a mistletoe.When it was truly dark, I walked along the access road to Borrego Springs hoping to find some mammals. I managed to lose my way on the way back and went cross-country back to the campsite (luckily that’s easy enough in the desert!), but even this did not yield any.</blockquote>

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