It started off a promising day at the Salton Sea this past saturday. A comfortable 75F, relatively low humidity, partly cloudy skies and a 10-20 mph breeze. As the day progressed the clouds thickened and winds started gusting up to 30-45 mph. This proved not only challenging trying to maintain focus on moving subjects but also created bad lighting conditions on some of the high contrast subject I was trying to photograph (ie. Gull-billed Terns).
![Salton Sea Salton Sea](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/scenery/salton_sea_may_2009/salton_sea_2161.jpg)
Salton Sea
There were amazing numbers of alternate plumaged Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers, Long-billed Dowitcher and massive flocks of Western Sandpipers. I encountered a few Brant around Unit #1 and was lucky enough to be there at the same time they were banding Clapper Rails – which I got lots of photos of.
![Clapper Rail Clapper Rail](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/galleryphotos/clapper_rail/clapper_rail_2185.jpg)
Clapper Rail
![Clapper Rail Clapper Rail](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/galleryphotos/clapper_rail/clapper_rail_2174.jpg)
Clapper Rail
Click here to see more of the Clapper Rail banding.
![Brant Brant](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/galleryphotos/brant/brant_7C2V7286.jpg)
Brant
![Black-bellied Plover Black-bellied Plover](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/galleryphotos/black_bellied_plover/black_bellied_plover_7C2V7176.jpg)
Black-bellied Plover
![Gull-billed Tern Gull-billed Tern](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/galleryphotos/gull_billed_tern/gull_billed_tern_7C2V7207.jpg)
Gull-billed Tern
Of particular interest was a Glaucous-winged Gull I found at the intersection of Crummer and Grubel Rd. Typically a “coastal” species every now and then one will wander toward the Salton Sea. Everything else I encountered at the Sea that day was to be expected. I did find a very large fish that recently washed ashore. Not sure the type of fish but it was about 2′ long.
![Glaucous-winged Gull Glaucous-winged Gull](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/galleryphotos/glaucous_winged_gull/glaucous_winged_gull_7C2V7192.jpg)
Glaucous-winged Gull
![Salton Sea Fish Salton Sea Fish](https://www.kiwifoto.com/images/scenery/salton_sea_may_2009/salton_sea_2164.jpg)
Salton Sea Fish