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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xenospiza" data-source="post: 1387149" data-attributes="member: 23772">Dec 25: Somewhat to my surprise I was not awoken by children shouting: "Look what I got!" In constant drizzle I walked up Palm Canyon again, up to the palm grove. Still on the campsite I found at dozens of California Quail (no Gambel’s or hybrids). Not all hummingbirds appeared to be the ubiquitous Anna’s Hummingbird, but it took a while until I saw a Costa’s Hummingbird clearly enough to be sure. In the end I saw at least ten: they’re supposed to be plentiful in February. A flock of ten White-winged Doves was present on the campsite when I returned.In Coyote Canyon I (again) failed to find LeConte’s Thrasher in the continuing drizzle. A nice find here was a Merlin, along with more Sage Sparrows.I drove to the southern side of the Salton Sea, where I first visited the Vendel Road unit of the mostly submerged Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. A few hunters had positioned themselves on its edge for some Christmas Geese. The path on the refuge first went mostly through windy reedbeds with little views, but then turned south along a few open ponds, where I found Cinnamon Teal. Thousands of Ross’s and Snow Geese flew towards the reserve, and kept me from walking the full circular route (I did not want to scare them off towards those hunters). Sandhill Cranes were visible in the distance, and some butterflies (Westy Coast Ladies) and dragonflies (Sympetrum?) were about despite the wind. I couldn’t identify a distant falcon, but luckily a Prairie Falcon then flew by at very close range.On towards the Rock Hill Unit of the NWR, where a flock of Gambel’s Quail ran around the car park and below the feeders at the entrance. I wish its western relative had been this easy! There were many birds along the shores (the amounts of gulls, although mostly Ring-billed are baffling), but most importantly on the ponds inland there were some (very distant) Canvasbacks.After a bit of searching for the most promising location made me skip Red Hill (to the north) for Obsidian Butte (just a bit to the south). The beach here was made of rows of barnacles and dead tilapia. In now very strong southeasterly winds, I trampled through the halophilic scrub until I flushed a Large-billed Sparrow and got an honestly rubbish view. It did not get another chance, and had a look at the much easier to find and less mobile obsidian instead.I drove to Brawley through my first real dust storm, and had a tantalising view of some plovers. This town looks much better than the desperate settlements on the western shore, so I decided to spend the night here (my tent would probably been a bad idea with such winds). Domino’s Pizza was having a busy night: many failed Christmas dinners?</blockquote>

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