Friday, November 24, 2006

Thanksgiving and a Rarity

A belated "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone! We ate an insane amount of food yesterday and plan to have some leftovers today. Beth's family has a huge Thanksgiving feast with 30-40 people in attendance. There were 3 turkeys, 4 different stuffings, and about 20 pies. Yummy.

In bird news, a real rarity and one of the most wanted North American birds - a Ross's Gull - was found at the Salton Sea in southern California recently. It was found by legendary California birder, Guy McCaskie. Here's the full article. This is the southernmost point that this bird has ever occured.

I was reading "Wild America" recently. There was an interesting chapter about the origin of the Salton Sea. It's basically an accidental creation. It was created due to a 1905 breach in a dike on the Colorado River that flooded a salt mining area known as the Salton Sink. Local authorities tried for years to restore the valley to its original state, but they couldn't beat mother nature. Apparently, she wanted this body of water there to serve as the awesome migration stop-off point it is today.

2 comments:

Susan Gets Native said...

Glad you and yours had such a happy, stuffed Thanksgiving!
Thanks for the link to the Salton Sea info. Wow, a man-made sea...sound cool. But it's in trouble because of high salinity. I hope they find a way to help it, otherwise all those wonderful birds will have to go elsewhere.
You do such a good job with your blog. I always learn something new.

Patrick B. said...

Thanks Susan!!! That's a shame about the salinity. I hope they find some way to fix it too.