A very fine day trip today! Given all of the political weirdness currently under way, we elected to head out to Bombay Beach along the Salton Sea's east shore. CHAZ/CHOP and its art forms are deeply-shaded by the stuff in Bombay Beach. Google "Bombay Beach art" for a sampling online of what is offered to the onlooker. Though we didn't head to other nearby Imperial County art enclaves (Salvation Mountain, East Jesus, The Slabs), Bombay Beach didn't disappoint. Some serious drugs were involved in creating these productions, I imagine.
That mission accomplished, we headed to the Cal-DFW Wister Wildlife Unit to see some critters. Our last few trips here were not real productive in that department, but today was EXCELLENT. Doves were THICK--hundreds of mourning doves and white-winged turtledoves all over the Unit and the surrounding farmlands. Whitewing doves love heat, and that part was up to standards--106*-111* the entire time we were in the Valley. Par for the course in late June, though we had 40%-70% cloud cover throughout the day. "Mare's tails and mackeral's scales......" Yeah, storms from the Gulf of California will arrive soon.
We drove around and through Wister circuitously, and saw several dozen burrowing owls along the irrigation canal banks that the dirt roads run parallel with. These guys were VERY SCARCE for several trips, it was good to see them back in good numbers.
We ambled over to the farmlands, and a lot of changes have been wrought this Spring. When I was a kid in the 1960s, milo and kaffir maize was the primary crop grown here, and as you might expect the doves were thicker than Louisiana mosquitoes. Over the years, the grains disappeared and alfalfa ruled the earth until recently. Maybe it was over-produced, dunno. There is little money in it for the past few years, and quite a few of the flood-irrigated alfalfa fields we have fished next to are now growing rice, wheat, or barley. Several 1/4 square mile fields are planted in date palms, also. I have never seen dates being grown this far south in the Valleys--this was an Indio-Coachella crop for most of my life. Short palms 8'-12' tall were producing LOTS of date clusters. I hope the growers do well with them.
By about 4:30 P.M. we started ambling toward home via dirt roads that followed the base of the Chocolate Mountains, the old bombing range that Navy pilots used during WWII and up until very recently. There are still DANGER--BOMBING RANGE/UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE signs all over the fences that have seen better days that surround the Range. Crews are still busy removing whatever ordnance might still be present after 70+ years of aerial war training. I think the rationale here is to allow people in to prospect for gold in this area that has been closed to the public since 1942. Some prospectors have jumped the gun just a bit--we saw 3 gates that had been cut open with recent tire tracks into the Range area.
There are hot springs along the mountain edge, and small islands of habitation every few miles. The Coachella Canal (irrigation project) parallels the road, so water is always there for the critters, and the irrigation District has built cisterns and guzzlers along the canal right-of-way for the Gambel's quail, doves, bighorn sheep, and mule deer that live here. We saw at least a dozen family groups of quail running across the road, those little chicks are beyond cuteness and their tiny legs are just a blur. Doves were flitting around in good numbers as well; most of this area away from the settlements is legal to hunt within, as is Wister. Things are shaping up nicely for bird season.
A good day, and we got home just after dark. Those clouds we had all day said "Weather coming", though.