Upswing in Birding

I've been through a tough stretch with a pretty low response to my bird walks here at Cattail Cove State Park.  It's the kind of thing that makes me question if I put together an idea that just was not workable.  Maybe there are not that many people interested in birding.  Maybe this is just the wrong place to attract people interested in birds.  At the same time I have just tried to soldier on, grin and bear it, and try to believe it will eventually catch on.  All those fears vanished this weekend.  I had six people show up on Friday, and today, Saturday, I had ten people show up.

 This is the group from Friday, looking at the cliff where there is a Great Horned Owl nesting sight from past years.  It's strange, but the rumor persists and people insist that an owl and chicks have been seen here this year.  We are camped a few hundred feet away and pretty much keep around the clock watch, and we see no owls.  We do hear them nightly, but during the past week their calls come from further up the canyon.

This is the group of ten today at our meet-up place at the amphitheater. From here we usually walk out through the park, noting Great-tailed Grackles and Gamble's Quail hanging around the campsites. Next we check out Verdin nests, Great Horned Owl nests, and Common Raven nests.  Down at the cove we count American Coots, Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks, and Pied-billed Grebes.  We end up back at the start hoping to see Black-tailed Gnatcatchers a maybe some Verdin. Click here to see todays list.

Visit from the Klievers

Sonara Tacos y Mariscos

Monday afternoon we met up with friends and fellow Salemtowne residents, Kerry & Debby Kliever and their dog Max in Lake Havasu City.  We set up our RVs in the Lake Havasu State Park overflow lot and then went for a nice walk through the park. Next was a short walk up to Sonora Tacos y Mariscos for their one dollar taco special. This was our second time here this year and may be a standard on our days off. On Tuesday we all did a number of errands and groceries, took the dogs for a walk at London Bridge Beach, and had lunch at Barley Brothers with a view of the bridge. In the afternoon we all moved to Cattail Cove State Park, where Kerry & Debbie are set up in their RV with us in the overflow lot.  This morning, Wednesday, we took a great hike on Ted's Trail out to Whyte's Retreat, circling back on Ripley's Run Trail.  It made a nice loop of around three and a half miles. Any of you hikers, this is the a route we would recommend. 

Climbing through a dry falls

An important junction of Ripley's Run

Changes in the Bird World

Singing male Verdin

We have been here at Cattail Cove State Park for just under a month now, and we are starting to notice changes going on in the bird world.  When we got here there were large rafts of ducks in our cove on Lake Havasu.  I just realized yesterday that has changed, the migrating water fowl have evidently moved on south, we now have only a hand full of a few ducks.  American Coots are down from over 200 to around 50.  Offsetting that down turn, is the changes going on with the non migrating birds.  Pairs of humming birds and gnatcatchers where chasing each other in the Cactus Garden where I was doing a stationary count, the list can be seen here, and this is where I got the above photo of a singing male Verdin close to a nesting sight.  Every morning now the Say's Phoebe are singing in the wash behind our campsite and in several locations in the campground.  Nightly we hear a pair of Great Horned Owls hooting in the canyon where we are camped. The next few weeks should be interesting as nest building gets underway.

 Say's Phoebe

Monarch Butterfly

Yesterday afternoon while taking Buster for a walk, a butterfly came filtering past and lit on a Creosote Bush.  Zooming in with my camera I recognized it as the beautiful Monarch Butterfly. If you look closely you can see its proboscis inserted into the flower blossom to harvest nectar.  Well known author Barabara Kingsolver wrote an important book, Flight Pattern, about the plight of the Monarch Butterfly in its struggle against the devastating changes going on with our climate and habitat deforestation.  I was doubly pleased to see this Monarch feeding on nectar from the Creosote Bush.  My understanding is that the Creosote Bush is the most widespread plant of the South West desert, and we have lots of Creosote Bushes here at Cattail Cove State Park, so come on by Monarchs! In light of all the current negativity in politics  and the crumbling support of our natural resources, I am happy to spot light a positive observation.  Maybe that should be my goal for the New Year.

Bussman's Holiday

Buckskin Mountain State Park

I have been leading Bird Walks at Cattail Cove State Park for two weeks now.  I'm starting to get in a rhythm, knowing where the birds will be and what kind, and enjoying meeting new people each day.  Yesterday was a day off, so we did what any bird crazed people would do, we went birding.  We traveled on down the Colorado River about fifteen miles to Buckskin Mountain State Park for a morning of birding.  Having spent several years volunteering at Buckskin, we always enjoy coming back and birding.  We got a good list of birds and photos which you can see here. 

Undisclosed Location

Later in the afternoon we moseyed on down the river to this area we know for some stealth camping for the night.  Of course Buster was anxious to go for a walk, so we also made up another bird list, which you can see here. As the sun went down later in the evening, this was the view out our windshield.

Evening Sunset

Rare Bird on the Colorado River

The reddish headed duck in the photos is an Eurasian Wigeon.  This is a rare bird for this far inland in the the South-West.  In winter they can be seen occasionally along the coast line from Alaska to California, having strayed from their route along the Asian Coast.  We noticed this guy yesterday while birding at Buckskin Mountain State Park. He seems to have taken a liking to this American Coot.  I'm not sure what he will tell his wife when, or if he gets back home.  But then, maybe it's a case of what happens on the Colorado River stays on the Colorado River.  It certainly goes against the old saying of "birds of a feather flock together".

Birding at Oxbow Campground

Early morning light on the Colorado

We used our time off this week to travel further south on the Colorado River to camp with friends Glenn Reuben and Rich & Dawn Bailey. All of us have volunteered in the Snowy Plover program on the Oregon Coast in past years.  Glenn has now been camped for almost a week at Oxbow BLM Recreation Area, just across the river from Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, and has been having a fantastic time birding.  The price is right, 15 dollars for a campsite, and half price ($7.50) for us Senior Pass holders. We spent the morning birding with Glenn and Dawn, and Glenn was able to show us all the good spots, like where the Great Horned Owls were roosting, where the Vermilion Flycatcher can been seen, where the Crissal Thrasher roams, and point out Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. You can see our check list with photos here.