For decades, the Imperial Valley, where the hardpan Sonoran desert meets the verdant agricultural fields that stretch from Mexico to the Salton Sea, has provided an improbable refuge for these owls. They were once relatively scarce here, but now the valley harbors 70 percent of the state’s population, thanks to a 3,100-mile irrigation system that transformed this stretch of desert into a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry.
Authorities say thousands of migrating birds have died at California’s Salton Sea this month from avian cholera.
The California Department of Fish and Game says ducks, gulls and other birds were found dead at the south end of the state’s largest lake between Jan. 8 and last Thursday.
http://www.tribtown.com/2019/01/22/ca-salton-sea-bird-die-off/
The death of a couple thousand birds of an infectious disease at the Salton Sea earlier this month has helped underscore the impact of diminished quality and quantity of the habitats there.
