Starting Our 2019 Backyard Bird Count

Hi! Do you like to observe birds? Want to see what's coming and going in your own yard?

We invite you to join us in Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge  for 2019. We've done it for the last few years, and the kids are getting pretty good at differentiating bird species now. All it takes is a piece of paper and writing down when you see different birds.

In 2014 we had 35 species, in 2015 we had 35 species, in 2016 we had 35 species, and in 2017 we had 36 species.

How many species do you think we got for 2018?

Here's our list:

1. Great Horned Owl (1.1.18)

2. Dark-eyed Junco (1.1.18)

3. European Starling (1.1.18)

4. Black-billed Magpie (1.1.18)

5. Eurasian Collared Dove (1.1.18)

6. Pinyon Jay (1.2.18)

7. American Goldfinch (1.2.18)

8. Cassin's Finch (1.3.18)

9. House Sparrow (1.3.18)

10. Red-tailed Hawk (1.5.18)

11. Common Raven (1.11.18)

12. Bald Eagle (1.17.18)

13. White-crowned Sparrow (1.18.18)

14. Canada Goose (1.19.18)

15. Northern Flicker (2.6.18)

16. Mountain Bluebird (2.7.18)

17. American Robin (2.19.18)

18. Sandhill Crane (2.22.18)

19. Killdeer (3.1.18)

20. Turkey Vulture (3.13.18)

21. Western Meadowlark (3.23.18)

22. Hummingbird (4.15.18)

23. Audubon's Warbler (4.3.18)

24. American Kestrel (4.4.18)

25. Mallard (4.19.18)

26. Northern Mockingbird (4.25.18)

27. Western Kingbird (4.25.18)

28. Barn Swallow (4.25.18)

29. Yellow Warbler (5.7.18)

30. Rough-winged Swallow (5.7.18)

31. Pine Siskin (5.8.18)

32. Bullocks Oriole (5.13.18)

33. Western Wood-Pewee (5.19.18)

34. Common Nighthawk (5.31.18)

35. Coopers Hawk (9.30.18)

 

We were delighted to watch owls raise two owlets in our backyard this year.

Well, looks like 35 species is pretty consistent for us! None of the lists is exactly the same, which makes me think each year that we can get up to 38 or 39. We've already gotten started this year, although the kids convinced me to put down chickens, and I'm not quite sure that's fair, lol! We'll keep our list on the sidebar (visible on your computer, not sure how you see it on the phone).

 

This post needs more photos, so

See this post for some more backyard bird photos. 

Happy birding!

Starting the New Year with the Diary of a Nevada Ranch Girl

I had an email from a blog reader about the Nevada primrose, and during correspondence, found out the writer had written several books. I bought a copy of 1957: The Diary of a Nevada Ranch Girl and was quickly immersed.

Jeanne Sharp (Howerton) was nine years old when she started her diary on January 1, 1957. She had gotten the diary as a Christmas present and watched as her father wrote in his diary every night. Inspired, she wrote every day about her life on a rural ranch about 60 miles from Ely, Nevada in Railroad Valley. She wrote about her chores, hobbies (raising parakeets was one), going to school (in a one-room school house where her mother taught), games she and her sisters played, her father's travels for Nevada Farm Bureau, visitors, and holidays. She also mentioned the atomic testing that was taking place on the other side of the mountain range from them on the Nevada Test Site.

Decades later, she went back to that diary and decided to publish it, with explanations of what she took for granted then.

The book is a fascinating look at rural life during the 1950s. In some ways it was what I expected, but in others it surprised me. It's a quick and fun read.

When I finished it, I gave it to Desert Girl (yesterday, on the seventh day of Christmas). She read a little and decided she wanted to start her own diary. She made her first entry today, on January 1. Here's hoping she keeps it up and in a few decades can go back to it and be reminded of how she lived as a Nevada Ranch Girl.

Limited copies are available from Amazon. I'm hoping more are out there, this book is great!

And here's an article about Jeanne's mother in the Las Vegas Review Journal.  She lived to age 98 1/2 (Ely Times obituary).

Snowy Lexington Arch Hike

There was snow in the mountains, but the valley was clear, so we decided on a lower elevation hike to Lexington Arch. We drove the very good Lexington Arch road and parked just before the yellow snag warning sign. Then we hiked on the 4WD high clearance road, with the kids throwing snow balls.

When we got to the end of that road, we could see Lexington Arch in the distance. Can you see it?

Here's some help, with a telephoto lens!


Desert Boy wasn't feeling that great so stopped there, but Desert Girl and I continued. We started on the trail and found it snowy going.

But it was easy to find.

Nevertheless, we soon got off the trail and just hiked uphill on the melted off hillside.

It was steep and soon got snowy. We met up with the trail again and forged ahead. I was ready to turn around, but figured I should set a good example for Desert Girl and get to our destination, even if we were postholing to mid-calf in the crusty snow.

Finally we got to the bench (which was overturned, I'm not sure why). The sun had changed position so the sunlight was no longer on the arch itself, but it was still beautiful. And it's not really an arch, but the remnant of an old cave. Water wore away the limestone, so it's technically a natural bridge.

Here's hoping for many more great hikes in 2019!
Thanks for following along with the blog. See you next year!

Up into the Snowy Mountains

 Jenny and I wanted to get Christmas trees up in the mountains, and we figured we could combine it with a sledding trip. We went up Lexington Canyon until we couldn't drive any farther, then we hiked up the road to the top of a nice hill.  Then it was time to launch.

We focused on making sledding trains.

The snow was falling as we played.

Sometimes the sledding didn't go quite as planned, resulting in some funny crashes.

It was so fun to be playing outside in the snow!

Then it was on to finding the perfect Christmas tree. We wanted a white fir, as they are not pokey like pinyon pines, and we found a selection. Desert Girl worked on cutting it down (and so did all the other kids!). 

We loaded the trees and then headed home for some fun times decorating. We're hoping for more snow for more winter adventures.

Growing a Giant Pumpkin

 In the spring I found a packet of giant pumpkin seeds at the store. 'How fun!' I thought.  But we certainly wouldn't want them all. So why not make a contest? Plus we had been listening to the story Sweet Home Alaska, where they had a giant pumpkin growing contest. I presented it at our local 4-H meeting, and several kids wanted to participate. They each got two seeds.

Desert Girl put hers in pots that she could bring indoors when it got cold. Apparently a bean seed was also in the soil!


She had to keep checking them to make sure they had enough water.


Eventually it was warm enough to plant the pumpkins out in the garden. Desert Girl dug a hole and put the plants in, with ag bag around to keep the weeds down.


We soon found that the insects were enjoying the pumpkin plants. We weren't sure they would survive.


Fortunately they seemed to grow. We watched with eager anticipation for the first blooms.

 

 The vines started creeping out, and we wondered if we had given them enough room.

And then we started seeing flowers!

And more flowers. And more flowers. But no little pumpkins. We tried some hand pollination.

It worked for one plant, which started producing a bunch of pumpkins. We pinched off extra blossoms so only four pumpkins would grow. But the other plant didn't produce any, so we eventually pulled it up to let the other one have more space.

The pumpkins grew and grew, and then they stopped growing. We thought they might grow more, but they seemed to just stop. We talked to others who were growing pumpkins, and they said theirs did the same thing. 

Finally it was time for the competition to end. Desert Girl took the largest one to the 4-H meeting and weighed it in. It was 51.8 pounds, the largest in the club! She won $10 from donations for the prize money and was quite excited by that.

 Now our chickens are enjoying the pumpkin and we'll save some seeds for next year!