The problem with the climate here is that it is so good that people notice imperfections in the weather.  They complain, "It was 62 degrees at dawn instead of 65." or "There was a mist over the harbor in the morning obscuring the veiw of the island." or "It rained almost too much this month for the cacti in the garden."  Too many such problems might endanger the view that the climate here is too perfect.  As an outsider, I must concede that the climate is not too perfect, it is only perfect.

We arrived yesterday after about a week's stay in the San Diego area.  Before that we spent a few days in the Mojave Desert after our stay in Las Vegas.  The weather there was brutal.  We woke before dawn to drive to the Cima Dome to look for birds and heard rain beating upon the camper.  On our way up the dome the rain turned into snow that adorned the sand, stone, cholla cactus, and even the yucca.  Great fun.  We found lots of birds but failed to locate a LeConte's Thrasher.  Instead we found its cousins the Bendire's Thrasher, the Crissal's Thrasher, and the Northern Mockingbird.  No problem I thought, we will find one at Borrego Springs.  There we tromped up the San Felipe Wash, along the shores of Clark Dry Lake, and in the scrub along Old Springs Road.  Nada.  Zilch.  No sign of the bird.  We will have to come back for this one.  Everyone we talk to says simply, "Tough bird to find.  Easier in February."  Ugh!

To our joy, the desert was green and in bloom during our visit.  The Ocotillo bushes were covered with leaves and flowers.  This spiny shrub is famous for leafing out when it rains and dropping all its leaves as the ground dries out.  Its scarlet flowers are precious color over the arid land.  We enjoyed them and the many other blooms that covered the Mojave this spring.

We enjoyed one day along the banks of the Salton Sea, the strangest lake I have known.  As usual it sported a fine assortment of fowl for our viewing pleasure.  Unfortunately there were few gulls about and no Yellow-footed Gulls.  We knew that at this season we had a poor chance of finding this species.  Another reason to return at a different season.  While cruising farm roads in the Imperial Valley we observed the harvesting of carrots from the fine soil there.  The picker plucked the plants at the base a dozen rows across, pulled them from the earth, shook them, cut, mulched, and returned the greens to the earth, and shuttled the roots by conveyor to trailers alongside, filling them in minutes.  I cannot imagine any competition for the production we saw.  I never grew carrots in my gardens in York in part because the soil there was not ideal for carrots, but also because their cost in the store was so low.  Now I know why. 

In the Mojave we camped first at a National Park Service Campground in the heart of the wild desert and then a lovely private RV Park with shading Eucalyptis trees.  Leaving there we crossed the Laguna Mountains to reach another bushier desert brushland east of San Diego.  By our Eastern standards the land was arid, but after our time in the Mojave, it seemed a parkland.   Our campground  operated by a water utility was situate on the shores of a reservoir. 

We arrived in the afternoon and settled in for the night.  Before dawn we snaked our way by freeway across the city and arrived at the harbor.  We found our boat and joined the local Audubon Society on a spring pelagic birding boat trip to Nine-Mile Bank and then into Mexcian waters to the Coronado Island.  We enjoyed lots of sea birds, dolphins, sea-lions, and seals.  A giant elephant seal was both the best and ugliest sight on the expedition.  Our life-birds included Pink-footed Shearwater, Black-vented Shearwater, Black Storm-petrel, Elegant Tern, Surfbird, and Xantus's Murrelet, and Cassin's Auklet.  What a fine day that was.  We returned as the sun was setting and returned exhausted to our camp. 

On the next day we ventured to a chapparel lined park where hikers, skaters, cyclists, and joggers created a comotion but didn't deter us from finding the famous California Gnatcatcher.  More on San Diego later.