RHH's photos with the keyword: salton sea

The Burrowing Owl, also known as the Shoco, is a small, long-legged owl that lives in burrows it either excavates itself or borrows.

These Snow Geese were photographed in the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge at the south end of the Salton Sea in California.

Tamarisk ramosissimus or Saltcedar is a common shrub in the southwestern deserts of the USA, but an invasive and noxious species. These flowers were photographed at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge on the south end of the Salton Sea.

These Screwbean Mesquite pods were photographed at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge on the south end of the Salton Sea in southern California.

We re still traveling. We left Anza-Borrego Desert State Park last week Thursday and drove to the wildlife refuges on the south end of the Salton Sea. After some really good and authentic Mexican food and a visit to one of the refuges, we camped for night at Obsidian Butte, which more than lived up to its name, the butte formed almost entirely of obsidian, which, for those who do not know, is volcanic glass. The shoreline, which we explored, was littered with huge boulders of obsidian (inset). The high point of the two days, however, was the wildlife refuge, where we saw many different birds including huge flocks of Snow Geese and Pelicans. The stars were the Burrowing Owls. We saw quite a number of these small owls which live in burrows and are usually seen standing guard at the entrance, while driving around the area. We drove on to Joshua Tree National Park and are there now, though we drove out of the park briefly to collect emails. Tomorrow morning we are headed on to Sedona, Arizona, for more hiking and sightseeing.

We car camped a night at Obsidian Butte on the Salton Sea during our travels (we are now at Joshua Tree National Park). The place lives up to its name with obsidian (volcanic glass), often as huge boulders, everywhere. The result of this is that there is now limited room for sleeping, my wife having collected enough obsidian to furnish her own volcano. The water in the background is the Salton Sea, a sea formed in 1905 when the Colorado River overflowed and flooded the area.

Photographed in the Sonny Bono National wildlife Refuge at the south end of the Salton Sea in California, these owls, sometimes known as "Howdy Birds," area feature of the refuge headquarters. We were at the refuge on a trip to California that took us around the Salton Sea and to many other places..

Photographed in the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge in southern California on the shores of the Salton Sea.