California USA, 2 October 2016

With Jeni Bate of Skyscapes for the Soul . ..

(Click on any image for a larger view).

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We headed off for the southern end of the Salton Sea.  On the way we encountered some chickens on the road.

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Large black chickens with red heads.

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… or turkey cultures, if you prefer.

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Our first intended stop was the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge.  These are probably sandhill cranes, flying overhead.

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This is probably a great blue heron.

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… with an egret or two out of focus in the background.

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Not far from the wildlife refuge is an outcrop of  small mud volcanoes.

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This is a reminder of the San Andreas Fault and subterranean heat.

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Not far away is the Elmore Geothermal Facility.

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Normally I’d reduce this in size so images are roughly equal in area, but I’ll leave it as it is. We are at Calipatria, just south of the Salton Sea. We are at 56 metres below sea level (184 feet, or more than 30 fathoms). The top of the flag pole represents where the surface of the ocean would be if a fissure opened from the Gulf of California. I have read that it is a home-made construction and given that we are on or near the San Andreas Fault, one should not stand too close in the event of an earthquake.

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We are now back at Salton City and I am photographing hummingbirds in Jeni’s back yard.

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Black-chinned hummingbirds.

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