2016 Fish Springs Christmas Bird Count

 The first Saturday after Christmas is the traditional day for the Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Bird Count. I've done it a couple times before and really enjoyed it, so when our schedule allowed us to return this year, I did a little happy dance. Then the day before, we drove two hours on gravel roads to get there. It's a beautiful drive, but pretty isolated.

Fish Springs has a wonderful bunkhouse, and when we arrived we found the current refuge manager, the past refuge manager, and a very nice couple from Salt Lake City. We settled in and had dinner. Then the kids wondered if they could eat the gingerbread house. They eventually worked up the nerve to ask and were delighted to hear they could.


The next morning we split up and went to different areas of the count circle. Desert Boy ventured out with me along one slough, despite the very cold temperatures.

We could tell where the water was because the frozen vegetation stuck up around it. From a distance we could see a little water and birds on it. The American coots are easy to identify, with their all black bodies and white bills. The duck was a harder--I'm no duck expert. I think it's a wigeon (if not, please let me know!)

I paused a bit to admire the beautiful ice crystals.

Even the coyote tracks had ice crystals!

Birds were frequently taking flight, this is hunting season after all, and they see humans as predators. Below are northern pintails and mallards.

One of the most common birds were green-winged teals. When I got a close enough look, their colors were magnificent. They are a smaller duck, so that makes it easier to distinguish them when they fly.

Mixed in with the coots were pied-billed grebes, a smaller bird that dives frequently.

We all gathered for lunch and then afterwards it was time for the big refuge-wide count. That involved the refuge manager trying to get all the birds up in the air, driving from one spring to the next and honking his horn, while the rest of us sat at designated locations and tried to count and identify.

It's not just a few birds. More like hundreds. In fact, our total was about one thousand. That's very low, but it still seemed like a lot of birds to me.

At the spring where I was hanging out I got to see some Greater Yellowlegs.

I also enjoyed the ducks, first going opposite directions...

...then they figured out where they were going.

My most exciting bird was an American bittern.

The kids were good sports. Birding isn't their favorite activity, but Desert Boy said he liked the great blue heron and many northern harriers we saw. He also brought up our backyard bird list and has been enthusiastically adding species to that. So far we're a little ahead from last year.

But probably what the kids liked best was making new friends at the bunkhouse, playing hide'n seek, and devouring the gingerbread house.

 It was a fun weekend, and I hope to do it again!

Looking Forward to 2016

The Magic Unicorn

So after some thought, I've decided I'm not going to make specific resolutions or challenges for 2016. Whew, after admitting that I feel a sigh of relief. It's not that I'm going to be a total slacker, but I do feel like I need a little more breathing room in my busy schedule.

I want what most people do: good health, good friends, intentional living. I will try to eat more veggies, exercise sufficiently, and be more patient. But making those into resolutions won't get me farther this year. Instead, I will try to simplify and just enjoy the moments around me. Carpe diem, sieze the day. That was our graduating class motto, and I think it's still a fine one.

I will continue to go caving and canyoneering and backpacking and hiking. I plan to learn some new photography tricks. I hope to encourage my kids and husband in their endeavors and be there for them as much as possible.

There is one big new thing for 2016 I will mention: I plan to self-publish a mystery novel. It's in the editing phase now, and as scared as I am to share this story, since it's taken me a couple years to create, I'm also very excited by the prospect of putting it out there for anyone who wants to read it. The book will not become a best-seller, but if I can entertain a few hundred people, that will be enough.

If you're making resolutions, I wish you the best with them. If you're not, have a good year, too!

And to everyone, may your future involve magic unicorns. (The one above can be your first one for 2016.)

Reflections on 2015

I gave myself four main challenges in 2015:

1. Desert Survivor's Get-Out-And-Camp Challenge: spend 12 nights outside
2. Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge: find at least 34 bird species in the yard
3. Try-A-New-Recipe-Every Week Challenge: cook up 52 recipes new-to-me
4. Full-Moon-Photography Challenge: photograph the full moon every month

So how did I do?

1. Camping
For camping, we did awesome. We camped in February (in a rickety old trailer that may have seen its last excursion), over spring break, several times during the summer including two backpacking trips, and on a fall trip. All total, the kids camped out 12 nights. I had a few more due to some caving and canyoneering trips.


2. Birding
I really thought we were on track to break our backyard bird tally from last year. But at the end of May, we stopped seeing new species. We kept looking, but I have to admit we were often distracted by other activities, so if some new species came for a visit, we didn't notice them. We didn't even get any fall migrants. But we did get a new species for the year on December 21. And maybe we'll get pinyon jays. But at the moment, we're tied with last year, at 34 (and that includes chickens for this year, so realistically we're a little behind.)

3. Recipes
Well, I discovered I'm no food blogger. I do try new recipes, but it's usually in spurts, and I just don't want to put the time and effort into blogging about them. I keep trying to find healthy and efficient recipes, especially ones where the kids can help me.


4. Full Moon Photography
I did pretty well with photographing the full moon. There were a few times bad weather intervened, and when I was in the city in October I didn't feel inclined to take a photo of the moon, but I learned a lot more about moon phases and where the moon rises and sets. I am not quite an expert (I was sorta hoping I would be after a year), but I'm still enthusiastic and will try from time to time to get that perfect moon shot.

Overall, I enjoyed doing these challenges. They kept me learning, and they say that's one of the best ways to stay young. :)

What's on for 2016? Stay tuned...

Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas is almost here and we've been getting ready in various ways. We've limited the decorations this year but sure enjoy looking at what others have done.

The school Christmas program included some music and then two plays, one from each of the elementary schools. There are ten students in grades K-2, and their play was about the different states they have been studying.

They did a nice job and had quite a few lines to memorize.

There are a few more kids in grades 3-6. Their play was a musical, and Desert Boy really enjoyed learning the songs. His part was king, and he also really enjoyed wearing a crown.

They learned some choreography for the songs, including a bit of swing dancing. It was fun to watch them.

We made three kinds of Christmas cookies this year. One was a dud, but the other two came out well. Desert Girl turned out to be pretty proficient with a rolling pin for these sugar cookie cutouts. She also loves sprinkles!

The kids had dress rehearsal for the Nativity Play. Desert Boy is Joseph and Desert Girl is Shepherd 1. We've been working on memorizing lines, and they fortunately catch on pretty quickly.

Shepherds' Hill includes some attitude and wandering sheep. It should be an entertaining production!

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Bird Count - 2015

 It's nearly Christmas, which means it's time for the Christmas Bird Count! Started in 1900, the Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running bird count in the country. It started with a simple idea--instead of going out and shooting the birds, why not count them instead? It caught on, and today over 2,000 places participate in Christmas Bird Counts around the world. They are held between December 14 and January 5, which means you still have time to participate in one! I have a link at the end to help you find your nearest count.

I participated in the Snake Valley CBC on Monday. It was a cold and windy day and not very pleasant to be outside. Nevertheless, the birding was actually decent. I had a new camera lens and had fun putting it to the test. Above, I was happy to see individual feathers on the Dark-eyed Junco.

A Mallard took flight when I got close.

I heard the chattering of the Belted Kingfisher before I saw him. What a hairdo! Or should I say featherdo? I wonder if the tips of his feathers had frozen. He was hanging out at the rearing station, which is full of yummy fish, his favorite food. Smart bird.

Not all the birds are so easy to see. In fact, for quite a few of them I have to peer into bushes and wait for them to move where I can see enough identifying features. (In the summer, I never see about 40% of the birds, I just have to identify them by their songs and calls.) Below you can see the striped breast with a central spot of the Song Sparrow.

I headed up Snake Creek into Great Basin National Park, where the road was snow-covered. Many years I can't go too far up this road for the CBC, but there has been so little snow this year, I just kept going and going.

At one stop I was rewarded with a close-up view of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

I made it to the end of the road, where I admired the new interpretive signs. It will be fun to head out on those trails next spring and summer.

After I finished Snake Creek I went down to Pruess Lake to see what was out. There was some ice on the lake, but not too much. I saw a bird fly down to a little mud island, and it turned out to be a Northern Flicker.

At the other end of the lake were hundreds of ducks, but the lighting wasn't the best for identifying them.

However, it was fun lighting for getting ducks and their shadows.

And I enjoyed seeing two rows of ducks march.

On Wednesday I went into Ely for their CBC. Here is one of the exotic birds we saw. Do you know what it is?

If you answered emu, you're right! We found three of them plus an ostrich on a ranchette just outside of town.

We didn't find a whole lot of birds, even though the day was beautiful. Nevertheless, it was nice to be outside and enjoying the beauty around us. Here's a Northern Harrier.

Maybe this inspires you to participate in a CBC? There are lots of Christmas Bird Counts left this season, and all experience levels are welcome. To learn more, check out Audubon's website.

Happy Birding!