109th Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday I participated in the Christmas Bird Count for our area. It was the thirteenth year it's been held here, but the Christmas Bird Count as a whole has been going 109 years, starting in 1900. Back in those days, there weren't many bird watchers, but there were a lot of bird hunters. In an effort to stop the annihilation of hundreds (or thousands) of birds every year just for sport, Frank Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History proposed an idea. Instead of the "side hunt," where people took sides and saw which side could shoot more birds at Christmas, people would count birds instead.

The idea took hold, and the Audubon Society took over the Christmas Bird Count. Today it is held in 22 countries in the Western Hemisphere.  The count is conducted within a 15-mile radius circle on one day between December 14 and January 5. 

We didn't have a big turnout for our Christmas Bird Count, so I had a large area to cover.  Some years we have quite a few people turn out, both experienced birders and those new to birding. Those that are new are paired with someone more experienced, so they end up learning a lot about birds. I know I was a bit cautious the first year I did my first Christmas Bird Count. My thoughts went somewhere along the lines of:

A whole day looking at birds? 

It's winter, I don't see birds. 

It's going to be really boring.

But I was pleasantly surprised. When you concentrate on birds, you end up seeing them in more places than you would expect. And the day has gone by surprisingly fast every year. 

Some of the birds can be obvious, like the raptor perched on the power pole above. The white speckled V on the scapulars (shoulder feathers) helps to identify this as a red-tailed hawk, the most common roadside buteo. Other raptors I saw included a second red-tailed hawk, a rough-legged hawk, a golden eagle, and a merlin.

Some of the birds are quite small, not much bigger than this sunflower seed head. The gold head along with the black and white wing feathers make this bird easy to distinguish as an American goldfinch. A flock darted along ahead of me as I went along the edge of a field. I enjoyed seeing the flash of their golden heads.

Here's the goldfinch eating the sunflower seed head. Other birds that were common in the fields and feed lots were ravens, blackbirds, white-crowned sparrows, and European starlings.

Later, as I stopped next to the road to look at a marshy area, I saw a flash of blue in a tree. The blue made me think of pinyon jays, because we have a lot of those. But when I got out the binoculars and looked closer, I saw it wasn't a pinyon jay.

Instead, the bird was a bit smaller. The male was brighter blue and the female (on the left) was greyer. This blue bird turned out to be a mountain bluebird.

Yesterday was a really cold day. In the morning it was only 14 deg F, and the highest it got was 31 deg F. As a result, most bodies of water were frozen over, including this big lake. That meant the lake, which is usually a great birding spot, was not too exciting. Nevertheless, I managed to find a loggerhead shrike and a black-billed magpie near it.

Not too far away I found this open water. Why isn't it frozen over? The water emerges from a deep spring, and the water is warm enough that it stays unfrozen for a long distance. Out on the water I could see little blobs, mostly brown, but in the center one white blob.

With more magnification, I found my most exciting find of the day: a bird that wasn't on our list--a tundra swan. It might not look very swanlike here because it has its head tucked into its back. Fourteen green-winged teals, about a dozen mallards, and a few northern pintails were also present. At another open-water area I spotted a belted kingfisher and a great blue heron. It amazes me how much variety exists even in the desert.

After I had searched the valley bottom, I headed up a couple of the canyons. In one I found a flock of wild turkeys. They ran across in front of me and up the canyon side. Dark-eyed juncos were all fluffed out and chirping quietly as they tried to stay warm in leafless bushes.

As I got up higher in the mountains, it started snowing. I didn't see many birds, but finally something flew across the road. I got out and started walking.

A flock of mountain chickadees was darting around the pinyon pines, with a couple red-breasted nuthatches hanging out with them. A little later I found a Townsend's solitaire. During the winter it often makes a piercing whistle call that is unmistakable.

Wintertime is when huge flocks of birds gather near the roadsides. They fly up in front of vehicles and it's difficult to see what they are. Here I captured them alongside the road, and it's possible to see the yellow chin and dark mask and chest band, although the "horns" that give the horned lark their name aren't really distinguishable.

Hopefully these photos and descriptions have whetted your appetite for birds! If you'd like to learn more, and possibly participate in a Christmas Bird Count near you house (remember, the counts are held until January 5), check out the Christmas Bird Count website! Happy birding!

In Search of the Perfect Christmas Tree

This last weekend it was time for us to go out tree hunting. We always get a live tree for Christmas, and we figure with the relatively recent influx of trees to lower elevation areas, we are doing our part to help restore sagebrush grasslands. 

Although some years we go different places, this year we went to our usual haunt, which is full of pinyon pine and juniper trees. Not far from the truck I saw the tall juniper tree above, and it looked like the perfect Christmas tree to me. But you can never pick the first tree you see, that just wouldn't be right.

So we wandered around some more in the freezing temperatures, tromping through the snow. The snow wasn't very deep this year, so we couldn't go sledding, but there was enough of it that we could follow our tracks back to trees we liked a lot. The one above was in contention.

My mother-in-law liked this cute little one. You can see some sagebrush nearby--some people will get sagebrush as their Christmas tree, but we haven't tried that yet. I bet it would smell good.

Here I am squinting into the sun next to a really bushy pinyon pine that would take up half our living room. My husband for once said he would take a photo of me. I said okay because of you dear friends who read this blog and say I don't have pictures of myself. But I knew what I was letting myself in for.

"Dear, your finger is over the lens."

"No it isn't."

I bit my lip and tried to smile, then realized it didn't matter. But his finger wasn't completely over the lens, and  I cropped that part out. Someday my husband will learn to take photos. Maybe. When pigs learn to fly.

Before we get into the actual cutting the tree down part, I should tell you a little more about getting a Christmas tree, in case you live in the city and your only experience has been to the tree lot on the corner. On public lands in the West, it's quite common for the BLM and Forest Service to sell Christmas tree permits. The permit conditions range quite a bit, often depending on how many people live near the public land. Some permits cost up to $20, but where we live a BLM permit is only $3.50. The number of permits is generally limited to one to three, but in some areas an unlimited number of trees can be cut. The species of tree can vary from pinyon pine and juniper to white fir, Jeffrey pine, and even incense cedar near the Reno/Tahoe area. 

Okay, now to the cutting. When you go and cut your own Christmas tree, you have to remember to bring the right tools, namely a saw. My husband used a little saw that happened to be in the truck from when we cut our Christmas tree last year.

Which tree did we choose? We ended up back at the first one I had seen and liked, a juniper. We had never had a juniper tree before and I wanted to try something new. Junipers are often used for fence posts, and with this one growing so nice and straight, after Christmas we'll strip off the branches and make it into a fence post for our garden.

After a few minutes of sawing,  the tree was down. My husband may not be good at photography, but he makes fast work of cutting down a Christmas tree.

Back at home, we took it inside and found---oops, it was a couple inches too tall! A little clip solved that problem. Next came decorating it, which was quite a chore with Desert Boy. (My husband went off to do ranch chores.) While I put one ornament on the tree, Desert Boy decided it was fun to play with the others. With his fascination with balls, he had to handle nearly every one of the bulb Christmas ornaments. He found out the hard way they really aren't balls, and they shatter when you throw them. He also learned that it's not a good idea to bang them against the stone fireplace. I now have extra room in my Christmas storage bin.

Nevertheless, we eventually got the Christmas tree decorated, and Desert Boy is fascinated with the lights. Any bets on how long until he pulls the whole thing down?

Desert Destination: Ibex Practice Rocks

About an hour west of Delta, Utah, steep cliffs descend to a dry lakebed called the Tule Hardpan. Over the last couple decades, these cliffs have been "discovered" by rock climbers as an excellent place to climb without crowds. About two miles to the northwest is a smaller rock outcropping, known (at least by me) as the Practice Rocks.

These Practice Rocks are sedimentary rocks called Eureka and Watson Ranch Quartzites. Fossils are rare, but occasionally found. The name Watson Ranch refers to Jack Watson, who moved to the southern end of the big Ibex crags in 1911. He developed a ranch and operated a small store for sheep herders and anyone else wandering around the West Desert for about 20 years. Nowadays, no one lives out here. In fact no one lives for at least 40 miles in any direction.

Because the practice rocks are so much smaller than the main crags, they don't get much attention. But there is a campfire ring, and after scrambling around on the rocks for twenty minutes, I decided I'd like to make use of it sometime. There is plenty to see and do to make camping a good option.

Many of the rocks are parallel to each other, allowing hallways, and in some cases, tunnels, to get between them. There are easy and difficult ways to move about the rocks, and it would be an awesome place to play hide and seek. (I can't help it, scrambling on rocks brings out the kid in me. In fact, I kept thinking how fun it would be to bring a bunch of kids out here and play--but I would give each one a whistle because the area is big enough it might be hard to hear a shout.)

The views are spectacular, with distant mountain ranges appearing in all directions. Notch Peak is to the north, which is a fun climb I'll cover someday in a separate post.

One of the surprises at the Practice Rocks is the corral, which was built using the rocks themselves on one side to help keep the sheep in place. The corral is in pretty good shape, so I expect it may still be used once in awhile.

The Practice Rocks are only about two miles south of Highway 50, and they're worth the detour to scramble around and take in the outstanding views. It's always fun to stop and find something is more than it seemed while passing it at 65 mph on the highway!

Desert Boy Rides Henry

I came across this charming scene a couple days ago, Desert Boy trying to ride Henry, holding tight onto his collar.

Desert Boy seems to be trying to get Henry to go; Henry doesn't seem to be enjoying it much. But like a faithful dog, he just hangs out.

Then Desert Boy bails. What is he up to now?

He decided he should get a stick for Henry. Henry's not too impressed.

With his gift rejected, Desert Boy is ready to ride Henry again. But Henry has had enough and gets up and wanders away. Desert Boy will have to try again another day.

Preparing for Winter

In order to prepare for winter, yesterday two ranch hands were busy getting some of the equipment inside. This is a Massey Ferguson 2150 baler. It won't be out in an alfalfa field until next June.

The tractor slowly backs up, aiming for one of the big open doors. The upper shop was cleaned out so as many pieces of farm equipment as possible could be sheltered from the winter winds and snow.

The baler's going in...

and further in...

...and finally can't be seen anymore.

Next up is the big chopper, a John Deere 6910. This is one of Desert Boy's favorite pieces of farm equipment because it has a tall ladder to climb to reach the cab. The chopper is really big--and really tall.

It's going in okay, although it looks like it might be close to get it under the door.

It's almost in, but the last few feet are just a tad too tall. So what do you do when you need to get your machine indoors, but it's just a couple inches too high?

Take some air out of the tires, and then it gets shorter. The chopper then fits just under the door and can be parked next to another baler.

When the snow and wind get too extreme for Desert Boy to play outside, we'll be heading to the shop to give the machines some company.