Visited Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Above, two kestrals. The one in the top picture has blood on it’s feet.

Two meadowlarks. Think the second one is a young one.

Sage thrasher

Swainson’s hawk

Below: Saw some white pelicans soaring and gliding at the refuge one day. The next day a very large flock were near my campground at Storrie Lake State Park. Half of them were preening and the other half were in a very large fishing group working their way along the shoreline. Pelicans are not common in this area, so I assume this is a flock migrating south (like me).

Have been in Lolo National Forest for most of the past few weeks. Highway 12 goes up to Lolo Pass, where you enter Idaho and the Clearwater National Forest. In Idaho it’s called the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. This is the route Lewis and Clark, and Indians long before them, used.

Above, two gray jays. The first ones I’ve ever seen. They are very elusive and were in my campsite area only a few minutes.

Highway 12 follows along a number or streams and rivers. I saw lots of  stellar jays while driving, but only a few in my campground.

A kestral in farmland in the town of Lolo.

A blue-grouse (I think) seen along a forest service road.

A red-breasted nuthatch (top) and a red crossbill (lower).

A red squirrel that buries nuts that bears often dig up. It, like many of the birds, is not interested in handouts from humans. They generally run and jump quickly away from you.

There were a huge number of these moths (?) flying around one campground for a few days.

Above, an adult and fledgling yellow-rumped warblers. They were seen near Big Sky in the Gallatin National Forest.

Made one quick trip to Spokane, Washington, to get my trailer serviced. Was surprised to see a pair of marmots in the industrial area.

Made a quick visit to the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. It is listed as an Arizona refuge, but it’s along the Colorado River and the border with California. I stay on the California side, below Blythe.

Saw some sandhill cranes, but most of them were out of range of the refuge tour route. The visitor center said they start to leave in March when the winds pick up. There were lots of Canada geese and other assorted waterfowl. They know they are safe on the refuge, but can be hunted when leave that sanctuary.

The American kestral above has to be one of the calmest I’ve seen. They usually are gone by the time I point my camera in their direction.

A huge ball of yellow-headed blackbirds were in a cleared corn field.

Have been in this area for three weeks now. It has been cool, in the 50′s and 60′s most of the time. Weather Seattle would love. There are some positive things from it—less people and bugs. From the early cold weather in Socorro, New Mexico, the snow in El Paso, and the cold all down Southern Texas, it has been a cooler season than usual. A cold spell is supposed to arrive Thursday, with strong winds. Hope it doesn’t hurt the grapefruit crop. Love the 5 lb bags of grapefruit you can get here.

Above, a male kestral with prey (top) at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and a female kestral (bottom) seen near the refuge.

Another white-tailed kite seen near the refuge. Have seen three pairs of them. They are striking with their dramatic red eyes and white and silver color.

An osprey with a fish coming out it’s rear.

A caracara. He’s only the second one I’ve seen here. Saw a lot of them on the drive down through South Texas.

A kingfisher (top) and a black skimmer (bottom) both seen on another visit to South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center. It’s the first black skimmer I’ve ever seen.

A golden-fronted woodpecker on a telephone pole.

Have been in the Socorro area for three weeks now. Had planned to stay in the area a few more days to avoid some of the Thanksgiving crowds, but it has gotten cold here again. Weather Underground is saying it could get down to 19 degrees tomorrow night, while weather.com has it 10 degrees warmer. Who to believe? I’ve had a single propane tank filled three times since I’ve been here. That’s more than I’ve done in the last six months! Went out and got a ceramic heater today. The furnace needs to be kept on to keep the pipes from freezing, but the portable heater can be useful to quickly heat an area. The downside is the ceramic heater draws a lot of power.

Have seen a number of sandhill cranes sitting down this visit (to the right of the standing one). Maybe the ground provides some warmth and/or they are really tired after a long flight.

A “ball” of black birds above cranes eating in a corn field.

Mallards surrounded by geese.

Lesser scaup (top) and Northern pintail (bottom).

A male (upper) and female (lower) Gambel’s quail.

Kestral

Have been at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park in Riverside for about a week. Have been surprised at the wide variety of birds I have been seeing. There are the regulars that I have seen in the past, as well as some new ones.

Do not recall seeing a kestral (above) before.

Have seen a number of black-crowned night herons, as I have in the past.

Blue herons and egrets are here as well. Saw a blue heron hunting for gophers this morning. The park has finally hired a gopher control professional who is putting some type of gas into the gopher tunnels.

It’s funny how a blue heron, a night heron, and a great egret will stand side by side next to the water, but will usually get territorial and chase away their own species.

Black phoebe (top) and a Say’s phoebe (lower).

Not sure what kind of woodpecker this is. Doesn’t look like any of the pictures in my bird book.

A lot of birds are here as part of a flock. These include Western kingbirds (top), Western bluebirds (middle), and Cedar Waxwings (botton). I have never seen cedar waxwings here before. Also have had first time sightings of Western meadowlarks, but haven’t gotten a good picture yet.

A few more photos from the San Diego Zoo. Above is a Turkmenistan Caracal, an endangered cat found in the Middle East and Africa. At the zoo it is located next to the polar bears. I was watching the polar bear cam the other day and saw the outline of the cat’s ears in the background. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was an antelope or deer.

Below, Frank the one-year-old male gorilla, is watching an adult female gorilla eat a green pepper. Parts of it is in her right hand and her left foot. Frank had tried to get some of it, but she wanted it for herself.

Bear Lake is a 20-mile-long natural lake, half in Idaho and half in Utah. Both states have state parks along it. The first thing you notice about it is it’s color, a Caribbean blue, due to suspended limestone deposits. I stayed 5 days at the Idaho State Park Campground on the east side of the lake. When I arrived mid-day on a Sunday, it was jammed. Within two hours though, it was just me and three or four other campers. It is a popular weekend place for young families and young people. Boating and jet-sking are allowed and you can drive on the beach (4-wheel drive recommended). When I left on Friday, it was starting to rapidly fill up again.

Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located right across from the north end of the lake and was the reason for my visit. Saw a few sandhill cranes in farmland around the refuge, as well as a pair of swans in the marsh along with a fair amount of waterfowl.

Two different red-tailed hawks seen in the area. There are also osprey.

Kestral

Sora

What looks to be an old church in the small village of Ovid.

The above photos are from the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge visitor center area. The top ones are a gila woodpecker and green jays enjoying a grapefruit. (I put an orange on a tree by my rv and also attracted these two birds). The rabbit is to tame for its own good. I have seen it every time I have been at the visitor center.

A kestral overlooking Laguna Madre.

An osprey taking off with a fish.

South Padre Island from the refuge. There is a wreck of some sort on the left, can’t tell what it is. The dark spot on the lower right is a heron. Even though it is quite a distance from the shore, you can see how shallow the water is.

Driving home from the refuge had to stop for some turkey’s crossing the street. It was near 7 p.m., so there was very little light, but this puffed up guy caught my attention.

Stayed at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas for a week to allow me to get my rv serviced and to stock up at Costco.

Was trying to get a picture of a bird and this kestrel flew down to get it. The bird I had been watching started screeching and I clapped to distract the kestrel, so it left the bird alone. Know that was probably a no-no, but it was my instinct.

After leaving Austin, spent one night at Choke Canyon State Park on the way to the Rio Grande area. There were signs saying don’t feed the wildlife, fine of $500, but these wild turkeys would come up to you when you raised your hand. Someone had to be feeding them.

Moved on to Galveston Island State Park. There were no sites available by the ocean when I arrived, so I took one on the other side of the highway that looks out on a lake and bayous. After the weekend people left on Monday, decided to stay where I was. The wind is a lot less here and there are only a few other campers.

Two birds enjoying the sun at Brazoria Wildlife Refuge.

There are two wildlife refuges around 30 miles from Galveston: Brazoria and San Bernard. Brazoria is huge, with salt and freshwater marshes, sloughs, ponds and costal prairies. It looks like what I picture Louisiana looks like, with lots of water all over the place.

Glossy Ibis. A large group of them were at Brazoria.

A common moorhen.

American kestrel.

Another beautiful tricolored heron.

I saw something colorful moving in the marsh next to the road. Some kind of shellfish.