Tuesday, December 16: Salton Sea (South) CBC, CA

Crazy, yes. I was borrowing a friend's car and couldn't convince anyone else to join me, but I managed to stay awake during the drive. So after birding from 4:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and hiking 11 miles over rough terrain on the Atascosa Highlands CBC, I got in the car and drove for some 6 hours and got 4 hours of sleep in a Calipatria motel. The next day I saw nearly as many birds in my area alone as had been seen by all 21 teams on the Atascosa Highlands CBC (6139 vs. 7405). Fun were 120 Stilt Sandpipers and 15 Large-billed Savannah Sparrows. I also had the only Bullock's Oriole. After the countdown at 1:00 p.m (!), I joined the other participants in chasing the Rusty Blackbird that Oscar Johnson had found two days earlier, the Bendire's Thrasher that Paul Lehman found (I missed it), and the Sprague's Pipits that are annual in the Bermuda grass fields near the prison.