Spring Birds and a

It's been fun seeing more flashes of color in the trees. Yesterday I saw that the goldfinches had regained their brilliant yellow feathers as they prepare for breeding season. They hang out around this area all winter, but turn a dull gray with just a touch of yellow. Now they're back to their magnificence. They're hanging out in mixed flocks with pine siskins, but before too long the pine siskins will be able to move up into the pines, where they'll make their nests.

Black-billed magpies stay here year-round, but here's one with a bit of vegetation in its mouth, presumably for a nest. It can take them up to 40 days to make their large nests.

Magpies, with their long tail and strong contrasting black and white feathers, are an easily recognizable sign that you're not in Kansas anymore. Actually, they do live in Kansas--but they don't live east of the Mississippi. This member of the crow family only lives in western North America.

Less conspicuous in color but noisier are the yellow-rumped warblers. All of the warblers head south for the winter, and the yellow-rumped is one of the first to return, often before it is warm.

The little patches of yellow on its rump, under the wing, and under the chin make it fairly easy to identify.

And along with the birds decorating the spring landscape, the snakes have left their dens. This is the common garter snake, the most widespread reptile in North America. They are harmless and eat everything from insects to small mammals to fish. In the West, they are often found near water.

Garter snakes have fascinating life histories. Well, it's time to head back outside and see what else is going on!

The Birds are Back

It's been a lot of fun listening to the different sounds in the air as migrating birds pass through the area on their way further north and breeding birds return to make their nests and get ready to fill them.

One of my favorite bird sounds is the sandhill crane, which sounds like sort of a rattling, gurgling goofball. I know, that's highly scientific. Maybe it would be better to call them pterodactyls like my husband does. If you want to hear the call, click here and go about half-way down the page.

The sandhill cranes like to hang out in the fields eating grain and insects.

The pivots are big attractions for ravens and hawks. We call the hawks 'pivot hawks' no matter what species they are. The convenient high perch helps all the birds spot prey, like gophers.

Another noisy bird that's back is the long-billed curlew. That long bill is slightly different between the males and females, and they use it to eat little invertebrates, including digging earthworms out of the fields.

Here's a closer view of that cool-looking bill. It almost makes the bird look a little unbalanced. You can find out more "official" information here. 

There are a lot of other birds that have come back lately, and with the trees putting on leaves, it's getting harder to spot some of them. Some of the birds are busy building nests, while others are more intent on finding food. It's definitely a busy time of the year, and it's fascinating to observe it. So turn off your computer and head outside for one of the greatest shows on earth!

Migrating Snow Geese

Despite the snow covering the mountains, more signs of spring are appearing, including the annual migration of snow geese (Chen caerulescens). I recently saw some at the Snow Goose Festival held in Delta, Utah, but they were a little camera shy so I didn't get any closeups.

This medium-sized goose breeds in the arctic, so it's on the leading edge of migrating birds. It doesn't mind a little snow and cold weather on its journey. They travel in families from southern North America to the arctic and back each year, and the geese mate for life. Snow geese need to eat as they travel, so they spend a lot of time in fields, nibbling on vegetation.

Most of the snow geese are all white with black wings, but there is a dark morph where they appear with white heads and dark bodies (sometimes called a blue goose). At the beginning of the 20th century, snow geese were in decline, but now they are surviving in high numbers, so high that their breeding grounds are becoming overcrowded. 

One of the best things about the snow geese is listening to them. They make a nasal honking sound, and when tens or hundreds fly overhead, they can be really loud. 

Prairie Falcon

Outside our house are some tall trees that the birds just love. The other morning I saw a small, crow-sized raptor fly up to the top of one of the Lombardy poplars. I ran back in the house to get the camera, because I instantly knew it wasn't a red-tailed hawk by its size and shape. With a closer look, I saw that it was a prairie falcon.

The prairie flacon has yellow feet, a mottled belly, darker back feathers, and interesting stripes on its face. The stripe that goes across its cheek is called the mustache--even for the females. 
Usually I spot prairie falcons low to the ground, not on the tops of trees. That's because prairie falcons fly low to surprise small mammals or other birds, their favorite prey. Prairie falcons are known to be aggressive birds. Their preferred habitat is open country, but apparently once in awhile they don't mind a change of scenery.

Great Backyard Bird Count Results

This past weekend was the Great Backyard Bird Count. I did two counts; the first was when I took Desert Boy for a sled ride down the road. We didn't actually see the Canada geese pictured above during the count, but we saw them a little later in the day--hundreds down in the feed yard. 

On our walk we saw a bald eagle, ravens, American robins, northern flickers, and European starlings within a half-hour time span. One of the advantages of birding in the winter is there aren't so many birds around, so it's easier.

Later during the weekend I went up on the mountain and did some cross-country skiing. The snow was relatively deep, so there weren't too many birds around. But I found several red-breasted nuthatches hanging out in a white fir, eating the little seeds. There was also a mountain chickadee, a Townsend's solitaire singing its repetitive whistle, and a raven. Not too much, but they are still hardier than I am, being able to hang out so long in the cold and snow! 

It won't be too long until the migratory birds start coming through. One of the neatest things about birding is that you don't have to go anywhere to see bright and colorful birds come and visit from a whole bunch of different states and even countries. 

Desert Destination: Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge

Every Monday we visit a desert destination.

Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, about 90 miles north of Las Vegas on Highway 93, was established in 1963 to provide habitat for migratory birds, especially waterfowl. The 5,300-acre protected area contains lakes, marshes, and meadows, all of which are rare habitats in Nevada. It is part of the Pacific flyway, an important migratory route.

Pahranagat has two lakes, Upper and Lower, along with two marshes, North and Middle. The mix of vegetation and water depths provide food and shelter for more than 230 species of wildlife. The water component of Pahranagat is essential for most wildlife species, and comes from sources further up the valley, such as Ash Springs.

When we went by in early February, Lower Pahrangat Lake was covered with birds--thousands of them. 

This is the shallower of the two lakes, so it is often covered with dabbling ducks--those ducks that tip over with their tail feathers high in the sky as they reach down to eat aquatic vegetation and insects that are slightly below the surface. Easily identified dabbling ducks are mallards and green-winged teals.

It looked like the most common birds were American coots--small black birds with stubby white beaks. They were bobbing along on the waves in the windy afternoon.

A highway parallels the lakes and marshes of Pahranagat NWR. You can see that it's winter by the leafless cottonwoods. A couple old roads run between the highway and the lakes, allowing you to enjoy the view at a slower pace.

One of the first things to see at the turnoff to Upper Pahrangat Lake is this bird blind, built by a Youth Conservation Crew in 2008. There are a couple benches inside, where you can hide out and let the birds forget you and get closer.

Besides wildlife watching, hunting and fishing are popular activities at the national wildlife refuge.

Further down the road is the Visitor Information Center, a tiny building. An information kiosk is next to it to provide an orientation to the 32,000 visitors who get off the highway to visit the refuge. The full-time staff of Pahranagat NWR consists of two employees, so needless to say, they are always looking for good volunteers and interns.

There's a nice picnic area with a shelter over it near the visitor information center. 

One of the attractions of Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge is free camping. About a dozen campsites are located right next to the lake. They are simple, with just a picnic table and grill, so you have to bring all your amenities (including drinking water). The view is spectacular, especially considering the price!

If you don't want to camp, there's a three-mile long trail around Upper Pahranagat Lake. There's also a wheelchair accessible fishing pier at the south end. Winter is obviously not a good time to try fishing from the pier.

However, winter is an excellent time to visit the refuge, especially if you like birds. Thousands of water birds use the lakes as wintering areas, including hundreds of tundra swans. The upper lake is deeper and is used by many diving ducks like canvasbacks and lesser scaups. The diving ducks have their legs further back on their bodies and are heavier than dabbling ducks, so when they take off from the water, they have to run on it first to get up enough speed.

The day we visited, there was only one person camping and no one else visiting the refuge. Even though it's right next to a highway, it's a beautiful spot to take a break and feel like you're far from everyone. To find out more, visit the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge website.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Want to do something a little different this President's Day Weekend? From February 13-16, you can participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. The great thing about this bird count is you can do it anywhere, including just looking out your kitchen window and noting the birds you see for at least 15 minutes on any of the four days. 

The Great Backyard Bird Count has the most participants of any bird count. It's held in February to find out where birds are in winter before spring migration begins in March. If you'd like to learn more, check out the Great Backyard Bird Count website. I'll post what we see in a few days. Happy birding!

Golden Eagle

Whenever I see a really large bird of prey, I know it has to be one of two species: bald eagle or golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Adult bald eagles have easily distinguished white heads and tails, which means that an all-dark big bird is usually a golden eagle (immature bald eagles are often mostly dark, too, but a little observation makes it fairly easy to tell them apart).

Upon closer inspection, it's easy to see that the head is indeed gold-colored. The wingspan can be six to eight feet. Having such big wings can be a disadvantage at times, though. One of the places I regularly see golden eagles is feeding on road kill. They are slow to move away when a car comes, and getting hit by a car is probably the biggest cause of their demise. So if you ever see a bunch of birds up ahead feasting on a dead animal on the road, slow down to make sure one of those birds isn't a golden eagle--it needs extra time to take flight.

Golden eagles will also eat the normal assortment of small mammals, reptiles, and birds. They mate for life, with the female larger than the male as in the case of most raptors. Similar to red-tailed hawks, golden eagles have eyes eight times more powerful than humans.

We see golden eagles year round in our valley, and thoughout western North America they are fairly common. They still are exciting to see, and generally whenever someone sees one they tell other people about it. There's just something neat about seeing such a large and majestic bird. Fittingly, the golden eagle is the national bird of Mexico.

Red-tailed Hawks

Yesterday morning as I was leaving the house, I noticed this pair of red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) perched high in a tree near our house. It was only about 20 degrees F, so they have their feathers fluffed out to give them extra insulation. 

Red-tailed hawks are the most common hawks in the area, and in fact they're found throughout North America. They have adapted to almost every type of habitat, from deserts to forests to urban areas. In the wild, they can live to about 20 years of age.

 
These hawks were silently watching the morning unfold, but they have sharp, piercing calls. I always giggle (or cringe) when I hear the kree-aw sound of a red-tailed hawk on television regardless of what hawk or eagle they're picturing. It's true, the red-tailed hawk has a memorable call, but come on movie and TV industry, we know the same bird isn't making the same sound in all the landscapes we're supposed to think of as wild. (Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now.)

Female red-tailed hawks generally weigh between 2-4 pounds, while males are about 25% smaller. This is called sexual dimorphism and is common in raptors (and ducks, insects, spiders, reptiles, amphibians, and many fish).

Red-tailed hawks usually hunt from perches, swooping down to prey on small mammals, particularly small rodents. They will also occasionally eat birds, reptiles, insects, and fish. It so happens that this diet overlaps a great deal with Great Horned Owls. The owls hunt at night (and often perch on the same tree!), while the hawks hunt during the day. During twilight the battle is on.

Here's a good shot of the front and back of the red-tailed hawks. They have many color variations, called morphs that are generally categorized into light, dark, and intermediate. The morphs may be due to age, regional characteristics, and of course, genes.

Although the moon might appear far away to us, red-tailed hawks have eyes eight times more powerful than humans.

Bald Eagles

In the winter, we are often fortunate to have a couple bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) take up residence in our valley. Their bright white heads and tail feathers sure contrast with their dark brown bodies. Although bald eagles' favorite food is fish, they are opportunistic. That's a good thing, because there aren't too many fish out here in the desert! 

We were driving along when we spotted them, and when we stopped to take a photo, they flew off. Every winter we see two or three bald eagles, and they stay several months. We get excited seeing these huge birds, and I always am thankful they've decided to visit--and curious where they came from and why they choose this valley.

Wild Turkeys

When  I was doing the Christmas Bird Count a few weeks ago, I found some turkeys up one of the canyons. As I mentioned in a previous post, wild turkeys are not native to this area, but were introduced by the state wildlife agency. So whenever I see them, I think of Thanksgiving dinner.

The turkeys must sense this, because once they saw me, they turned around and hurried back into the brush.

I waited for awhile, and sure enough, they came trotting out, crossing the road in front of me.

If you're wondering about the house in the background, yes, it is awesome. It is currently run as a bed and breakfast and is very popular for weddings and family reunions. The landscape around it is fantastic, with steep cliffs, a maze of mountain roads, and views of peaks over 10,000 feet tall.

Okay, back to the turkeys. It's true domesticated turkeys can't fly, but wild ones can--here is proof. They often perch in trees at night to protect themselves from predators, like mountain lions.

They aren't particularly concerned being near other wildlife, though, as they scramble past the mule deer on the left and continue up the canyon.

Pinyon Jays

I noticed a flash of blue out the living room window yesterday morning and found a bright pinyon jay livening up the evergreen foliage. Pinyon jays usually travel in flocks, and sure enough, as I watched I saw many more pinyon jays. These flocks can consist of up to 500 pinyon jays, and many jays stay in the same flocks for their entire lives. Pinyon jays are only found in the western United States.

These social birds eat pine seeds, and they don't have any feathers at the base of their bills. This enables them to poke their bills deep into pine cones and not get any annoying sap on themselves. Each pinyon jay collects thousands of pine seeds each year, caching and remembering where they are for later months. They have such good memories they can even find the seeds under snow. If only I could remember where I put things around the house!