Birding in the California Desert s National Monuments

Vermilion flycatcher | Photo: Daniel Pettersson, some rights reserved

For the past eight years I've lived in a four-stoplight town that is a gateway to Joshua Tree National Park. I moved to Joshua Tree after living in the crowded greater Los Angeles area, where I taught elementary school, had a freelance writing business and moonlighted as a board member for the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society.

The transition from city lights to quiet nights was a great one. Rows of empty parking spaces beckoned me at the supermarket. I began to know my neighbors really well - for better or for worse. At night, from my backyard, I gazed up at millions of stars and the hazy white light of the Milky Way. Best of all, there were millions of acres of mountains, washes, canyons and oases on public land in every direction and many, many birds!

This year, thanks to President Obama, Senator Feinstein and the work of many tireless advocates, people around our nation have something to celebrate: The creation of the Sand to Snow, Mojave Trails and Castle Mountains National Monuments. These new monuments connect and protect 1.8 million acres of California desert ecosystems, preserve historical and cultural sites, and enhance opportunities for recreation... including some of the best birding in California.

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The road to protecting these special places has been long and winding, but the effort really grew out of Senator Dianne Feinstein's California Desert Protection Act, later called the California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act. This bill addressed significant threats to public lands in the California desert, including inappropriately sited utility-scale wind and solar projects that were sometimes proposed in ecologically sensitive locations or adjacent to national park units.

Feinstein's legislation would have added lands to our national parks, created wilderness and Wild and Scenic River segments and designated two new national monuments. Despite broad support, it did not move through a conflicted Congress.

In 2015, Feinstein requested that President Obama use the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the President the authority to designate federal land with objects of scientific and historical interest as protected national monuments. In February 2016, Obama created the three new desert monuments which benefit desert ecosystems, recreationists and the tourism economy.

Big Morongo Canyon in the Sand to Snow National Monument | Photo: J. Maughn, some rights reserved

Sand to Snow

The Sand to Snow National Monument covers more than 150,000 acres, and is managed cooperatively by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Contained within its boundaries are diverse botanical specimens, the Whitewater River and a 23-mile stretch of the much-beloved Pacific Crest Trail. Sand to Snow connects the low elevation oasis at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve with the snow-capped peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains to the west and Joshua Tree National Park to the east. The slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains rise dramatically from the floor of the Colorado Desert up to Mount San Gorgonio, Southern Californias tallest peak.

I became enchanted with Big Morongo Canyon Preserve back when I was a teacher in Los Angeles and would come out to the desert on long weekends to camp, hike and watch birds. If water is the liquid gold of the desert, then Big Morongo Canyon may qualify as Fort Knox. In the shadow of large cottonwoods, red willows and native desert fan palm, you'll find glistening water burbling to the surface underneath some stretches of the Preserve's accessible boardwalk. If you are really lucky and your timing is right, you may see a delicate rosy hued stream orchid poking out of the ground.

Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is a birdwatcher's paradise. The Preserve is designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) and has over 250 species that come to enjoy the water, food and shelter that are provided in this desert oasis. In fact, Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is one of the ten largest willow and cottonwood riparian areas in the whole state. As one biologist I know says, if you were a bird migrating across the grey and brown expanse of the California desert, this patch of verdant green would draw you like spring break road tripping college students are drawn to fast food joints! Also important for birds is adjacent Covington Park, which is managed by San Bernardino County, and which has amazing bird habitat for a wide variety of species.

On this particular spring day, I patrol the fence line along the western edge of the Preserve, fueled by morning coffee. Western kingbirds chatter and flutter in and around the mesquite bushes. Crossing into Covington Park I spy a vermilion flycatcher sitting on the fence surrounding the tennis court. A hooded oriole sounds the alarm call as I approach an enormous cottonwood tree that stretches towards the sky, and a male American kestrel watches over children playing on the jungle gym, as if to make sure everybody is behaving.

Doubling back and heading into the Preserve along the Canyon Trail, I flush a Cooper's hawk looking for breakfast and then catch a glimpse of a summer tanager darting through the vegetation. Later, I head down canyon and manage to get a glimpse of a common yellowthroat peeking out from behind some willows.

It's here that I first hear the yellow breasted chat, which gives a series of Chuck, chucks and clear whistles. I've seen and heard this large warbler many times, but not usually for more than a short amount of time before it dives into the trees. This time, the chat perches atop a tall snag in full morning light for over five minutes, as if on display at a museum.

Afton Canyon in Mojave Trails National Monument | Photo: Michael Dorausch, some rights reserved

Mojave Trails

The Mojave Trails Na

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