Big Morongo Birding with Luke

Well yesterday was a bit of a suprise. I ended up birding Big Morongo (out near Palm Springs) after my class with Luke DeCicco from Alaska. =) Birding was pretty quiet considering we were there from 3-6ish but still not too bad. Weather was gorgeous, sunny and 90+ degrees.

We got verdins, ash-throated flycatchers, phainopeplas, plenty of hummers, orioles, and even a nuttall's woodpeckers at the feeders. The black-throated sparrows eluded my camera lens sadly. We heard a black-tailed gnatcather calling, found it not far off of the trail, a lifer for me, bringing my lifelist up to 368.

Cal thrashers and towhees were trip birds for Luke, as was the Nuttalls. Lots of LEGOS, WIWAs, and YWARs in the trees, a MacGillivray's called and sculked in a bush. The 'wow' call of the cal quails were omnipresent but we never got a look at any. As for butterflies, I got three species for the day, Reakirt's Blue, Lorquin's Admiral, and a dozen Cabbage Whites. Some red dragonflies and a blue damselfly made an appearance.

I was invited to dinner when I dropped him back off at his host's home. The meal was delicious and we dined outdoors. I saw a bat go over, no clue as to species though =) Anybody know what's common out there in palm desert?

And no for some pictures:

Unidentified damselfly

Western Scrub-Jay

Lorquin's Admiral

Reakirt's Blue

Ash-throated Flycatcher

It's me!

Cactus Flower

Look, Luke's birding!

Black-chinned Hummingbird and females

I want to call this Bush Poppy for some reason, is that right?