Happy New Year!

I started off 2012 by going for a camping trip in southern Nevada.  My first bird of the year? Common Raven.  It took me awhile to see my first wild mammal, but it looks like this year will also be the Year of the Black-tailed Jackrabbit.

I started the year off on a good note, running with the pups out on the Columbus Salt Marsh, north of Tonopah.  (No marsh, really, but a heck of a lot of salt! A little later in the year, the 2 springs that pop up on the flat will draw in breeding Snowy Plovers.  It’s not particularly fun getting out to the primary place where they nest though – I was there a couple of years ago, and the crust isn’t quite thick enough to reliably walk on.  Fortunately, I found two discarded boards, and I was able to use them to make my way – very slowly – back to firm ground!)  A beautiful day, gorgeous views, and happy pups – and happy me!

January 2^nd, I woke up in the midst of Joshua trees at Joe May Canyon, and went for a bit of a jaunt, and watched the sun rise from a rocky pinnacle.  The Spring Mountains glowed pink and orange.  Sadly, some of that glow was due to air pollution from nearby Las Vegas, but I pushed that resolutely from my mind!  A beautiful morning, but incredibly quiet – I’d expected a few more birds and jackrabbits.  Or at least a few black helicopters flying up over a ridge at an inopportune moment!  The sun was warm, but the breezes were quite chilly, so every time they kicked up, out came the long-sleeved shirt.

The 3^rd was a little more mixed – my morning that was to be spent searching for Bendire’s Thrashers and Gilded Flickers amongst the Joshua Trees in the McCulloughs was blasted to pieces before I’d really even woken up- poor Minnie got caught in a coyote trap.  Fortunately, I was able to get her out fairly quickly in spite of the dark, and she managed to escape serious injury.  I was on an adrenaline rush for hours afterward though!   

After that, I was halfway tempted to just hang it up, but decided to continue on, and camped that night on the other side of the McCulloughs, by the WeeThump Joshua Tree Wilderness.  Lots of gorgeous Joshua trees and chollas, and a lot of fun running and birding – Minnie’s foot was doing so well, I was able to bring her along, which was very happy.  It was Cash’s first experience navigating a maze of cactus spines, and he did really well.  Sadly, no Bendire’s Thrashers, and no confirmed Gilded Flickers – I haven’t heard enough of them to confidently distinguish them from the regular Red-shafted Northern Flickers, so while it sounded right, and the Gildeds outnumber the Northerns there, didn’t feel I could write it down.  I tried tracking them down, but the difficult thing about birds is that the darn things fly.  Maybe I’ll switch to plants.

Then on the 4^th, I played around in the mesquite stands by Moapa, then on up to Pahranagat, where I saw my first Bald Eagle of the year, and then northward home.  A great way to start the year!

I hope you all are having a great start to 2012, yourselves!