Archive for the ‘birds’ Category

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More from Antelope Island

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

Above, at a ranch run by Antelope island State Park, a ranger in the white truck was herding the bison away from a group of visiting school children when one bison turned on a dime and faced the truck. The ranger backed up and turned around and the bison shortly continued walking with the other two bison. He looked like he was ready to fight the truck if it had continued.

Pronghorn elk. They were concerned about some bicyclists. They take cars more for granted, but were uncertain about people on bikes. There are some very good dirt bike paths here. Many cyclists ride over the causeway to the island. I wonder about riding a bike here on bad bug days. Every day it got warmer, the bugs got worse. Along the causeway especially, there were lots of midges like I saw in the Klamath Falls, Oregon area.

A burrowing owl. It would not cooperate to let me get a better picture. (It’s in the center of the picture).

A loggerhead shrike. Often saw it hunting in the same area as the owl.

Thought the coyote (fox?) below was a domestic dog at first, it was so fluffy and was wagging it’s tail while  pouncing on prey on the ground. Think he finally captured and ate it.

Posted in coyote, owl, Salt Lake City, shrike, State | Comments Off

Great Salt Lake, Utah

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

Got to stay at Antelope Island State Park in Utah. When I passed through the area last September it was full.

The second picture above is Bridger Campground where Bison sometimes roam. Opened the door of my trailer one morning to find a bison 10-15 feet away.  You just ignore them and they move along.

The bottom picture is the causeway from the suburb town of Syracuse out to Antelope Island.

There are lots of chukars on the island, but they don’t come out in the open a lot. I heard lots of them in the bushes near my campsite, but never saw any. It was just by luck when driving around, that I came upon the one above sunning itself.

A woman went walking up the hill next to my site early one morning. When she got to a ridge where she was somewhat hidden, I saw a bunch of heads bobbing up and down. Later found that it was a group of jackrabbits that had been surprised.

Meadowlarks are all over. You hear them all the time, but they, like the jackrabbits, don’t tend to stay still for pictures.

Have seen a number of coyotes. One evening was sad to see one go into the bushes where the chukars were.

Started seeing magpies as I got close to Utah. The one above is a young one.

Above, a horned lark. The first one I’ve ever seen.

Barn swallow at the Visitor Center.

The way here: Stopped a  night at a Manti-la Sal Forest campground near Blanding, Utah. Next day drove through Moab for the first time. It has to be the “Yellowstone” of Utah. It was so crowded. I had hoped to stay at a BLM campground along the Colorado River near Moab, but no such luck. All the campgrounds were full. I had been watching the weather in Salt Lake City and when I saw that good weather was forecast and there were campsites available on Antelope Island, I changed course to Salt Lake City.

Below, sunset on Antelope Island. Least I should paint the island as idyllic, it can be very buggy. Depending on the weather, time of day, location, and other factors there are varying number of nat like bugs.

Posted in Airstream, bison, Bureau of Land Management, chukar, coyote, lark, magpie, National, rabbit, Salt Lake City, State | Comments Off

Spring Weather

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Stopped at El Vado State Park near Chama, New Mexico to let some spring weather systems pass. Had snow, hail, and rain. The snow melted as soon as it hit the ground. On the distant mountains, it just lasted a few hours. I have been in drought areas so long, I enjoyed the rain. Left my trailer cleaner than it’s been for a while.

Bluebird with a worm.

Have started seeing osprey nests. The osprey below looks to be a young one.

Posted in bluebird, Chama, osprey, State | Comments Off

Georgia O’Keeffe Country

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

Stayed at Abiquiu Lake a few days. Georgia O’Keeffe had a home in the village of Abiquiu, along with one at Ghost Ranch.

First picture above, the Rio Chama River after it reconstitutes out of Abiquiu Dam heading towards Abiquiu.

The second picture is of Cerro Pedernal Mountain, seen from the lake campground. Georgia O’Keeffe is supposed to have called it “her mountain” because she painted it so much. After her death, her ashes were scattered on top of it.

The third picture is of her former home in Abiquiu. She also had a home on Ghost Ranch a short distance away. She was supposedly not pleased when the owner left the property to the Presbyterian Church, but eventually made peace with the owners.

When I drove into Abiquiu to see Ms. O’Keeffe’s former home, I stopped my truck when I saw a large number of birds I didn’t recognize in some trees. Saw that they were crossing the street to where there was a bird feeder and then returning to the trees which I later found out were on Ms. O’Keeffe’s former property. The birds are evening grosbeaks.

Below, sunset at Abiquiu Lake.

Posted in Abiquiu, grosbeak, US Army Corps of Engineers | Comments Off

Sangre de Cristos Mountains

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Stayed at Hyde Memorial State Park in the Sangre de Cristos Mountains, just 8 miles above the historic Santa Fe district. The campground is only open when the snow melts. This year it was gone in April, usually it’s May.

The road to the campground continues on 8 miles to the Santa Fe ski basin. The top picture above is from an overlook there. A sign says aspen trees grew in after a fire in 1880 and fir trees will eventually replace them. If they haven’t been replaced in more than 100 years, guess they will be there for some time.

Sculptures at the Ghost Ranch building in Santa Fe.

Above, a white-breasted nuthatch and a Clark’s nutcracker. The nuthatch appeared to be collecting nesting material.

Also stopped at Manzano Mountains State Park, southeast of Albuquerque. It is a small park that is closed most of the year because of snow.

Above, a picture taken as I was leaving and an Abert’s squirrel in a birdfeeder.

After I left Bandelier National Monument, stopped in Albuquerque for a day. Saw there was a wind advisory and possible thunderstorms forecast for the next day. Subsequently headed to Elephant Butte State Park to wait it out. Not sure if that was the right choice, as I was buffeted by severe winds for 4 days. However, saw that most of the southwest had weather problems during this period.

After leaving the Elephant Butte area, stopped at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro. The sandhill cranes are gone, but there are still plenty of other birds there.

Posted in Clark's nutcracker, nuthatch, Santa Fe, squirrel, State | Comments Off

Gambel’s Quail in a Phoenix Suburb

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

Spent a few days in a Phoenix suburb and found lot’s of Gambel’s quail. There was both a greater number than I’d ever seen before and they were not as skittish. Nesting appears to be on the agenda.

There are some beautiful areas around Phoenix. One I drove through had the desert landscape, especially palo verde trees, heavy enough to pretty much hide business and shopping areas from the road.

A female phainopepla.

Below, a verdin and a cactus wren. Just starting to see ocotillo plants blooming.

Posted in cactus wren, County, phainopepla, Phoenix, quail, verdin | Comments Off

In and Around Tucson, Arizona

Friday, March 18th, 2011

Stayed in the Tucson area for a couple of weeks. Nice to see that grass front yards are 98% gone. Many people have used creative ways to continue the desert landscape around homes and business’. Saw a lot of dead palm trees and eucalyptus trees in the area.

Above is the eastern unit of the Saguaro National Park looking towards the Catalina Mountains.

Drove the Catalina Highway to the top of Mt. Lemmon. It rises 4,000 feet in around 25 miles—it’s all uphill. Lots of bicyclists were making the grueling ride to the top. It would be a beautiful place to see a sunset or escape the summer heat at 7,000 feet elevation.

Curved billed thrashers seen in an urban area.

Birds, and critter, seen at Catalina State Park in the campground: a canyon towhee with a malformed bill, a gila woodpecker, a Cooper’s hawk, and a ground squirrel. The Cooper’s hawk flew to the ground, perhaps to catch one of the many ground squirrels. Later saw it hiding in a bush stalking birds and squirrels.

Posted in hawk, squirrel, State, thrasher, towhee, Tucson, woodpecker | Comments Off

Davis Mountains State Park

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Finally made it to Davis Mountains State Park in Texas. A lot of people I’d seen in Big Bend also stopped here. At a mile above sea level, the landscape is made up of a oak trees, junipers, and grasses. They are in the midst of a drought and many oak trees have died in the Davis Mountains. Water is a precious commodity. Also, the two recent cold fronts that brought freezing temps to west Texas killed a lot of plants. While in a hardware store in the nearby town of Alpine, heard people say they lost most of their plants, including cactus and palm trees. During my visit, a red-flag condition was in place, with temps in the 70′s-90′s and the humidity around 4%.

The picture above was taken from a scenic viewpoint looking down at the Chihuahuan Desert near Fort Davis.

Spent a lot of time at a bird watching station hoping to see some Montezuma quail. It never happened, although some people were lucky enough to see them.

Again with the peanut butter! Although I didn’t see any Montezuma quail, was pleased with the birds I did see.  Shown above are a cactus wren, a black-crested titmouse, a ladder-backed woodpecker, a Bewick’s wren, and an acorn woodpecker.

An overabundance of white-winged doves were present. Their call sounds like “Give us this day” to me. I will definitely recognize a white-winged dove by it’s call from now on.

Above: a dark-eyed junco and a canyon towhee.

In Big Bend you were warned not to leave food out at night because of the javelina. Didn’t see any while I was there, but they did come around at night here. The javelina and the deer both visit the bird feeding stations for water (drinking all the water meant for the birds). The javelina trump the deer—the deer gave them wide berth when I saw them both there at the same time.

The deer above has it’s head in an oak tree.

Seen below, the campground at Davis Mountains State Park. The park was established in 1933/1935. The white structure is Indian Lodge, originally constructed in 1935 by the CCC. It’s a beautiful building. There’s a trail up the mountain nearby where you may see mountain goats.

Posted in canyon wren, deer, dove, Fort Davis, javelina, junco, State, titmouse, towhee, woodpecker | No Comments »

Big Bend National Park, 2011

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Stayed at Rio Grande Village Campground in Big Bend National Park for a few days. Had the first hot, dry weather I’ve had this year (in the 90′s). Had decided to just stay in the campground this visit, before the price of gas went up ($4 a gallon in the park). I drove all over the park on my first visit here and there was enough to do around the campground.

On driving from the town of Marathon to the campground, I was struck by the complete lack of roadside trash (not one plastic bag blowing in the wind)! Trash in the Rio Grande Valley area is omnipresent.

There are spring fed ponds (in the foreground in the picture above) along a nature trail in the campground. Water from the Rio Grande River enters the one seen above when the river floods.

Saw a number of roadrunners. Was surprised to see one “wag it’s tail”, hold it’s tail up and wag it right and left. Also intermittently heard roadrunners in trees making deep cooing sounds.

Cardinals and pyrrhuloxia were present in the campground area. Near the pond there were two young herons, along with common yellowthroats, a bittern, and a pied-billed grebe.

Coyotes were often seen walking through the campground.

There are mosquitofish in the pond. An endangered species, Big Bend Gambusia, or Big Bend Mosquitofish, are in a protected isolated pond.

Posted in coyote, National, roadrunner, Texas | Comments Off

Falcon State Park: Week 3

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

My third and last week at Falcon State Park. One picnic area at the park has half of its sites closed off because of water damage (top picture). There were strong winds here one day that brought the water in close to the remaining sites. The park has definitely lost land to the water this past year.

There is a 3-mile trail around the park (lower picture) that shows the brush that is so easy for wildlife to disappear into. The brushland appears so desolate when driving through it, but a lot of wildlife depend on it to survive.

There are javelina here. Saw a group with one baby walk through my campsite one night.

The large flocks of kiskadees are gone, but you see individual ones around. Just this week started hearing and seeing cactus wrens (above). They are year-round residents, so they were probably here, I just didn’t cross paths with them.

On the park road, before you enter the park past the headquarters, I saw a group of chachalaca’s. Don’t recall seeing them here before. Know the bobcats would love the park to have a large population of them.

Meadowlarks are seen in groups and individually.

Have seen three pairs of roadrunners that come out to sun themselves in the morning.

Below, a blue-gray gnatcatcher and a pyrrhloxia.

Posted in cactus wren, Falcon Heights, gnatcatcher, javelina, meadowlark, pyrrhuloxia, roadrunner, State | Comments Off

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