Pub Crawlin’

This morning we had a late start (we got into La Quinta after 3 AM in “our time” so we needed the sleep!), but finally got out to do some birding near the Salton Sea in the late morning.  Our hosts, Bob and Dianne, knew just where to go for nice views of the water birds at the Sea and a beautiful walk through San Andres Oasis.

After a day of birding, we stopped off at Oasis Date Garden for date shakes, and then visited the Coachella Valley Wild Bird Center to meet some of Dianne’s friends (Rodney the Roadrunner was one of my favorite!)  We stopped at Trader Joe’s because it’s always a treat to go there, and then returned to the house for a yummy dinner of homemade enchiladas.

Our after-dinner entertainment was the Mr. Christmas Santa’s Marching Band (this video is not HER set, but you get the idea…funny, funny stuff, and pretty darn talented!) 

We ended our night with a trip to Back Street Brewing in La Quinta, which is part of the Lamppost Pizza chain.  There were 7 beers on tap, with guest taps including Framboise.

• Crossroads Cream Ale
• Heritage Hefeweisen
• Jagged Lil’ Pilsner 
• Rita’s Red
• Ron’s Pale Ale
• E.R. IPA
• Saint Nick’s Treasure

Our bird list for the day (not in order of appearance):

1. Eared Grebe
2. American White Pelican
3. Brown Pelican
4. Double-crested Cormerant
5. Great Blue Heron
6. Great Egret
7. Snowy Egret
8. Green Heron
9. Canada Goose
10. Northern Pintail
11. Northern Shoveler
12. Gadwall
13. Ruddy Duck
14. Osprey
15. Northern Harrier
16. Red-tailed Hawk
17. American Kestral
18. Gambel’s Quail
19. American Coot
20. Killdeer
21. Black-necked Stilt
22. Greater Yellowlegs
23. Least Sandpiper
24. Bonaparte’s Gull
25. Ring-billed Gull
26. California Gull
27. Herring Gull
28. Yellow-footed Gull
29. Caspian Tern
30. Rock Dove
31. Mourning Dove
32. Common Ground Dove
33. Costa’s Hummingbird (at the house!)
34. Northern Flicker
35. Say’s Phoebe
36. Common Raven
37. Verdin
38. Cactus Wren
39. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
40. Northern Mockingbird
41. American Pipit
42. European Starling
43. Orange-crowned Warbler
44. Yellow-rumped Warbler
45. Sage Sparrow
46. White-crowned Sparrow
47. Brewer’s Blackbird
48. Great-tailed Grackle
49. House Finch
50. Lesser Goldfinch