Birding in Borrego

I decided to go birding out in Borrego Springs and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park today.  I first stopped at Lake Henshaw where I saw my first mountain bluebird and I think I saw three snow geese there along with white pelicans.

I haven't been to Borrego Springs in a while because of high gas prices, but I wanted to see the new Borrego Springs sign.

I was also surprised to see that Borrego Valley Foods is gone, but I think it had closed down when I was there last.  There's a new art institute there now and they were having an art show:

I really came to see birds and add to my life list and went to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor's Center to see some of them.  They have a nice garden and variety of desert plants.  But, I didn't find a whole lot of birds to photograph.  Mostly, I got a couple photos of this verdin:

They were very active like warblers, jumping around and chasing each other and other birds. I think they're related to chickadees and bushtits:

There was also a greater roadrunner who quickly hid as soon as he saw me.  I didn't see him again.  I saw a mama Costa's hummingbird and her nest and cute babies.  And, I swear I saw and heard a black-tailed gnatcatcher in the Visitor's Center parking lot.  Their vocalizations are nothing at all like the blue-gray or California gnatcatcher.  I think I saw a verdin chase one away.

I also saw a blooming agave:

Here is the view of the valley from the Visitor's Center.

I went to the Ramona pond,  just outside Ramona, on the way home and saw some killdeer, yellowlegs, shovelers, coots, and dowitchers, but no tundra swans or snow geese. The photos I took didn't come out very well.  The property is up for sale, too.  I would love to buy it just so that I could watch the killdeer every day.