Now the second part of my spring break journey. I flew out of HRL at 4:30 on Saturday March 19th, and after a delay in Houston(shocker), I landed in LAS at 8:00pm PST, so I gained two hours, but off to bed. Birds in the morning.
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| Sunrise Corn Creek Preserve |
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| Almost there . . . |
There's always something special watching the sunrise when your on west coast time. I"m already three hours ahead by east, so it's a beautiful sight
to see. I highly recommend it if you can.
We where in hopes of seeing Sage Thrasher and Sagebrush Sparrow, but no luck this time. Damn. But we did hear a thrasher signing off into the brush. After several minutes, and hoping it was a Sage, the bird popped up and sang on top of a bush, it was a . . .
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| Crissal Thrasher Code 2 |
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| Phainopepla, female |
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| Say's Phoebe |
Now's where it gets good. After birding on the backside of the wooded trail, down from the fish exhibit, we hear this loudly singing bird. We walk down and locate it singing on top of some bushes, then if flies over to another bush, then tree. Clearly it was singing to mark it's territory and attract females. I spot it in the bincolours, it is small, grayish overall, small warbler beak, white eye ring . . .
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| Lucy's Warbler |
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| ABA Lifer #579 |
One of the smallest warblers, the Lucy's Warbler is a bird of the hot Sonoran desert. It occupies the driest habitat of all the warblers breeding in that area.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lucys_Warbler/sounds
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| Lucy's |
Holy Cow!!! I thought I had correctly identified the bird, but was not sure until I got home that I needed it for a life bird. So sure enough, another trip to Las Vegas has paid off. Thanks Mr. Lucy's Warbler. Nice doing business with you.
This now leaves me with only 3 common wood-warblers that I need for for lifers. Code 2 Swainson's warbler, Code 1 Comila & MacGillivray's warblers. I know where to get this guys, just need to plan some trips.
Now off to the mountains and 8500 ft elevation. I visited Mt. Charleston in September, but March, boy was it colder, 78 degrees in the valley, but down to 53 degrees in the mountains . . and SNOW?!?
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| Lifer Snowmen in Nevada |
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| SCOTT!!!!! |
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| Team #BrambleOn |
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| Townsend's Solitaire |
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| Yellow-headed Blackbird @HBP |
On Monday, we visited Henderson Birding Preserve, my go to place, and Clark County Wetlands. No lifers, but several FOYs and birds commonly seen here. The Nevada trip ended up with 68 total species. Not too bad.
By the time I got home Tues night at 11:30pm, I was tired, jet-lagged, sore, and birded out. My Fitbit had read that I averaged 9500 steps a day, or about 3.8 miles/day for the trip.
Next up: I'm heading to SE Arizona April 29th . . . more lifers!!
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