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.

From San Diego I returned to Rancho Jurupa Park in Riverside for a few days. It turned into a week because of the fierce winds that kicked up and perpetuated the Southern California fires.

Above, an adult night heron on top and a group of egrets and herons seen at Rancho Jurupa.

I finally made my way to Blythe. It was unseasonably hot there, so after two days, I decided to press on to New Mexico. I took the I-10 to Phoenix and then the I-17 to Flagstaff. Northern Arizona was at least 10 degrees cooler than Southern Arizona was my reasoning. I’ve never taken the I-17 before. It was a nice drive, but there is a pretty steep grade.

Below: A falcon seen at Cibola Wildlife Refuge in the Blythe area. There were a hundred or so sandhill cranes there.

On the I-40 in Arizona, I stopped at Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow, Arizona. Ended up staying two days because it was so nice. In the past, I’ve always hit severe winds coming through this area. It was calm and peaceful this time, with only a couple of other visitors in the park. It got down to freezing at night, but by mid-day, it warmed up.

My camp site is shown below. There are both pull-throughs and very wide back-ins.

Burrowing owl that nests and roosts in underground burrows.

Cattle egrets and yellow-headed blackbirds on farm near refuge.

This looks like a shrike, which is listed as uncommon and declining in my bird book.

I am in the vacation mecca of Blythe, California to check out Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.

It is amazing how many white trucks similar to mine are both in the park I’m staying at and in Blythe itself. Seems like 95% of the trucks are white. I got a white truck because I was in a hurry to get a tow vehicle and just got a truck that was on display at the dealers.

Sticker shock with diesel gas prices in California. One mile across the river in Arizona at Flying J the price was $3.27; here in Blythe it was $3.79. There was a traffic jam at the Flying J station. Reminded me of gas rationing in the ’70s.

More sandhill cranes! Cibola is doing a lot of the same things Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge is doing…planting crops for the birds and flooding fields. There is also an auto tour route at Cibola.

Another prairie falcon (or American kestral).