Are we getting out of the pandemic?  Cases are dropping rapidly, but several of my friends recently have
been getting it. Fortunately, they were all boosted and cases were mild. I think we are all ready for it to be over. I am ready to get out farther afield.

I took my first overnight trip to the Salton Sea with a group of friends. The Salton Sea is a large shallow, landlocked, highly-saline body of water. It is adjacent to the Colorado River, which also created fertile land for agriculture. It is a major migratory bird stop-over on the Pacific Flyway. I carpooled with two other people, and others drove separately. We birded by day and then spent the evening dining outside at a great restaurant in Brawley. They had good food and music, despite the slow service. Seven people at a table, talking about birds and life, it was such a delight to feel almost normal again. The birding was good too with desert birds, large flocks of migratory birds, and beautiful landscape. See my photos below and the eBird trip report for the entire group: eBird Group Trip Report.

Locally our birds are switching to their spring songs, and there are signs of courtship. Hummingbirds are already nesting. A Least Flycatcher is considered 'rare' around here, although they do show up from time to time. This one is the latest, but not least bird added to my life list. Poor little thing, it is not as spectacular as the Vermillion Flycatcher, but do they have to give it such a dismissive name?

When I got back from from the Salton Sea and went to upload my photos, I found my 2-terabyte disk was full. Where is tech support when you need them. Oh wait, I am the tech support in my house. I found a work-around to finish my photos, but then spent quite a few days trying to make room on the disk. I moved some non-photo files to a new location. I recovered more space by going through some vey old photos and deleting the poor quality ones. I used to keep just about everything when it was all new to me. I have started with photos from my yard. I started documenting the insects in my garden in 2009. When going through the images, I noticed how many more insects I used to see. I have felt this for quite a while, but looking back at my photos confirmed it. I had so much more diversity. The years of drought and alarming decline in insects, as has been discussed in the media, is quite evident in my yard. It inspired me to go out and look some more. Of course I can always find things, but not like I used to.

Happy Nature Walks. 

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimMooreNaturalist/

Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace. Links open in a new tab.

Enjoy the show! I always appreciate corrections to ID's.

Local Stuff:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_feb-2022

Salton Sea:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/best_of_salton_sea_feb-2022