All aboard . . . . second leg of Spring Break 2018 tour, next stop . .
Las Vegas, NV!! During March, it is a great time to travel to Nevada. Certain birds spend the winter there, before traveling north. So, with
Texas in the books, and no life birds added to 2018, let's spend 48hrs in
Las Vegas and Gamble.
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| Daylight at Corn Creek |
Monday AM: Desert Wildlife NWR
Virginia Rail, Verdin, Townsend's Solitaire, Phainopeopla, Cassin's Finch, Common Raven
The park now has 2 resident
Coopers Hawks, nesting pair. So birding is light to say the least. After a quick loop and hearing 2
Virginia Rails calling in the reeds, we headed back out of the park, down the long road to the highway. While driving, we saw sparrow type birds fly down in the shrubs, we pulled over to look. Then a lady in a first generation Honda CRV SE, stopped and asked if we where birding. Well, YES!!
She pointed us down towards the "town" rd. Said to park there, and walk north on the dirt road/north tract, and the desert birds will be calling. And sure enough, once we got out of the car, we could hear the distinct call of a
thrasher.
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| LeConte's Thrasher, lifer #607 |
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| SageBrush Sparrow, lifer #606 |
While tracking down and getting close to the thrasher, several
sparrows where popping up and running on the ground. These are the recently split
"Sage Sparrow" into two species now. The inland
California/Nevada birds are call
"SageBrush Sparrow"(lifer #606) and the coastal
California birds are now called
"Bell's Sparrow". Which I still need now. So Bam!! Another good luck of fortune, thank you CRV lady. --Note**Honda CRV & Subaru vehicles are good signs they are
BIRDERS.
Now, with 2 new lifer birds under the belt, it's time to race to the mountain!!! Going from the dessert of 3200 ft elelvation straight up to over 8000 ft, follow that road.
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| It's Cold up here |
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| Western Bluebird |
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| Mountain Chickadee, note the black bib |
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| Clark's NutCracker, 2nd time only!! |
Monday Noon: Lee Canyon, Camp pulloff, Deer Creek
Stellar's Jay, Western Shrub Jay(Woodhouse now), Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch
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| Mt. Charleston |
Monday 3pm: Floyd Lamb City Park
Say's Phoebe, Ross Goose, Rudy Duck, Gambel's Quail, California Gull, Anna's Hummingbird
Day 2 Tues AM: Spring Mountain Ranch/SR59 North 2nd pulloff on left
Red-naped Sapscker, Violet Grn Swallow, Juniper Titmouse, Catus Wren(h), Rock Wren, Bewicks Wren, Amerian Pipit, Spotted Towhee, Sage Thrasher
Tuesday morning, while waiting for the 8am open to Spring Mountain Ranch park, we birded the two pull offs north, off SR59. West side toward the Rainbow Mountains. Saw and heard
Shrub Jay, White-crown sparrows, but at the second one, this
thrush like bird was running along the ground.
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| Sage Thrasher, #608 |
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| runs stealthily through the brush |
BAM!!
Sage Thrasher. Lifer!! Just the bird I was looking for. This smallest of the
thrashers is a widespread denizen of the West’s
vast sagebrush steppe.
Sage Thrashers are furtive creatures that hunt
for insects beneath a protective sagebrush canopy.
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| Ash Tree forest, Spring Mt. Ranch |
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| Spotted Towhee |
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| Rock Wren, duh!?! |
Tues 10am: Henderson Birding Preserve
Eared Grebe, Bufflehead, Costa's Hmbrd, Black-tailed Gnatcher
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| Henderson BP parking lot |
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| Costa's Hummingbird |
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| Vegas Baby!! |
I finished my 48 hrs in Las Vegas with 76 total birds, with +3 Lifers!! So yes it was worth it. I'd like to thank my birding pal JK, MGM hotels for comps, Kia Optima for a good rental, Inn N Out burger for yummy cheap lunch and SouthWest Airlines for making Spring Break 2K18 a success.
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| KIA Blue |
Next up: Spring time in Ohio, warblers, vireos, flycatchers, sandpipers . . oh MY!!
