Southern Cal: Salton Sea, January 14 & 15, 2020

This is the second post of our southern California trip, this one covering our time at the Salton Sea, on January 14 and 15. For an overview of the trip, and a map, see here.

The Salton Sea was an interesting place. In geological time, the lake has been alternately full and empty, with a cycle of approximately 500 years, depending on the course of the Colorado River. Since approximately 1700 it was dry. But then in the early 1900s farmers built canals to bring water and agriculture to the Imperial Valley. In about 1905, heavy rainfall and snow melt caused the canals to overflow, and the full volume of the Colorado river flowed in the Salton Sea for about 2 years. In the 1950s it became a resort area, with a lot of investment, and visits by the rich and famous. It was a huge lake (aka “sea”) of about 343 sq mi. However, over time, the lake has receded significantly, and the salt level has reached super-saline proportions (since there is only inflow to the lake – no outflow). All of the resorts have been abandoned and are in ruins.

For birds, the Salton Sea has been termed a “crown jewel of avian biodiversity”. Over 400 species have been documented there. However, based on our trip at least, it seems that may be changing, too. We went to places where all of the literature (even info we got at the visitors center) said there was water full of shorebirds, but we found that, in reality, the water had receded farther than we could walk. We talked to locals who claimed that, as little as two years ago, there were hundreds of pelicans and other shorebirds, that are now gone due to fish dying off from the the super salinity. I read that California has recently appropriated about $200 million to restore the area.

If you’re interested in details about the Salton Sea, see here.

So, the Salton Sea wasn’t what we expected, but it was still fun to visit, and we did see quite a few birds. On the first day we went to the Sonny Bono NWR on the south end of the sea. On the second day we hit places on the east and north end of the sea. In addition to spots along the lake, there are nice spots close to the sea, that are surrounded by farm fields. On the evening of the second day (Jan 15) we went to the Joshua Tree National Park, which will be the subject of my next post.