Christmas Bird Count Red Rock

Howdee all,

So how exciting is this..To participate in the Christmas Bird Count at Red Rock Canyon…we were thrilled.We arrived a little before 6am

There were 12 of us in all..we split up into two groups to cover different areas.

  And the set out to find the birds..

First stop Red Springs in Calico Basin…it was pretty quiet..

We did see Phainopepla’s, White Crowned sparrows, Mockingbirds, Rock Wren. Meadowlarks, Juncos

The next stop was at at water tank bubbler, built years ago by the Corp of Engineers.

We saw distant views of Western Bluebirds and this resident Big Horn sheep.

A four wheel drive to another birding spot brought, Juniper titmice, tons of American Robins, Coopers Hawk, Juncos, Yellow rumped warblers, Ravens And Scenic beauty

With these sights…its ok that it wasn't too birdie Our Coopers…

From there both groups of six met at Spring Mountain Ranch state park.

A resident Roadrunner greets us.

The group split up again..some of us birded the pond while others walked the trail.

See the tiny dots on the pond..

Mostly coot…

  Again..who cares about lack of birds..Loggerhead shrike allowed me great views..    A distant Great blue heron…hunting for chipmunks? As we have lunch the resident Roadrunner comes out and asks for a handout…

Sorry …we don't feed wild animals.. We leave the park and travel a bit further to a wash..to see what we can see..

more beautiful views…but..slow birding..

Onto the town of Blue Diamond…

I felt we should have spent more time here…lots more birds..but we just did a very brief stop thru town to find the Mexican Black-throated Magpie Jay..

The story that the ranger told us was that the Jay was spotted in town after a hurricane in the south about 4 years ago…and has been here since..Escapee..maybe..

We found the bird ..we had obstructed views….but Wow…what an incredibly cool bird with its long tail and tufted head.

We are going out again with my twitter friend @Patbumstead from Canada and Bird Canada Blog she is visiting family in the area..

We are hoping for some good views of this Jay. We did find a few sleepy Eurasian Collared doves hanging out..

A Red-naped sapsucker was another good find in town..

the visit was so brief..cant wait to go back and see what else we can find in town..

We finished the count at 2pm

Total bird species of the day 47