November 22, 2019 - On a Dark Desert Highway

I was awake at 4:40 again, and tried to catch up on my way out-of-date Blog, but the internet was intermittent, so any updates will be put off for yet another day.  The restaurant across the street was scheduled to open at 7, but folks were going in at 6:30, so I went over to have breakfast.  $10-12 gets you a large portion, with drinkable coffee.

That done, I packed, checked out, and decided to go over to Salome’s Centennial Park to see what birds were in the area this morning.  I walked around the golf course and a ‘hiking trail’ through the desert scrub.  I had clear views of the Bell’s Sparrows, which were split off as a separate species from the more 'interior' Sagebrush Sparrow by the AOS back in 2013, but sadly couldn’t get any photos.  The “Coastal” (or, “Bell’s”) form of the old Sage Sparrow has an unstreaked, rather than streaked, back, while the interior has - amazingly - a streaked back.

I drove across to the Bill Williams River NWR, where the river enters the Lake Havasu reservoir of the heavily-damned Colorado River behind Parker Dam.  There is a cattail marsh at the confluence, where birders had recently reported Ridgway’s Rail.  This is another bird that had been determined to be a species separate from the Clapper Rail back in 2014, and one that I’d never seen nor heard.

I walked from the Visitors’ Center along the Delta Trail, hoping that the path would get close enough to the marsh for me to have a chance at the rails, but the trail stays up on the hill without approaching the marsh, and I did not hear or see this skulking species.  This was a good place to scope for ducks and grebes, and I got good views of both Clark's and Western Grebes.

I recommend this short hike; especially if you’ve been driving for a ways.  Returning to the parking area, I stopped to check out the desert tortoise habitat, but the reptile must have been hiding in his "man-made cave."

Next to the tortoise habitat is a "refugia" pond where desert pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius) are raised.  This species was listed as endangered in 1986, due to the loss and degradation of its habitat, so establishing such ‘captive’ populations is very important to their survival.

I also drove three miles up the auto tour road, but bird activity there was light this late in the afternoon, and off-road, there is little access to the marsh without pushing through mesquite thickets.  There were a few quail and wrens around.

I made a few miles in the afternoon, leaving the land of the saguaro cactus.

I ending up entering the little village of Nipton, California at dusk.  On a dark desert highway, in the shimmering light, I noted that the lodging place was called Hotel California.  My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim; I had to stop for the night.

I was checked in at the Magical Nipton Trading Post by “Mayor Jim”, and given Room Number 3 - the Clara Bow room.

 

I knew about Clara Bow from my interest in silent films.  My own family had a silent movie star, Margarita “Babe” Fisher, who was an aunt on my Dad’s side.  After talkies came out, many of the starlets didn’t make it.  Clara was said to have a high, squeaky voice and the ‘frenetic’ acting style that didn’t fit with the new format.  So, she and her husband Rex Bell bought a ranch and moved to the desert.  This was the closest railhead for Rex to drive his cattle for shipment.  Clara ostensibly stayed in Room 3 when she came to town for her fan mail.

I ate at the Whistle Stop Café restaurant and bar, which has burgers and ‘light fare’ along with several local brews.  I had their Amber, which wasn’t half bad!  The ‘crowd’ at the Café wasn’t too loud; I think most of the other hotel guests were “mellowed out” by the time I went to bed.

The town was bought by American Green, Inc. and its subsidiary CannaWake in September of 2018 and developed into a cannabis destination spot, but Nipton has once again been put up for sale as of 2021.  Sweet Dreams!

Salome Centennial Park eBird Checklist is Here

Bill Williams River NWR HQ eBird Checklist is Here

Bill Williams River NWR Planet Ranch Road eBird Checklist is Here

NB:  Interesting that on this date in 1963, the Right-wingers assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy.  Now, they’re in power.

 

 

February 20 - The Thrasher Spot

I was up and going early.  Claire and Bob and I went out to breakfast at the Essence Bakery Café on Indian School Road.  What a great place!  I highly recommend stopping here. 

Photo shamelessly stolen from Frank on Foursquare

Taking my leave of “the Cousins”, Gilles, and finishing my coffee, I headed west on Interstate 10 toward Tonopah, then turned south past the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant in Wintersburg.  This is the largest nuclear plant in the United States, and is unusual in that it has no ‘natural’ water source to cool the reactors.  Instead, the cooling water is supplied from the treated sewage of Phoenix and surrounding communities!

There is an eBird “hotspot” on the Salome Highway at Baseline Road called the “Thrasher Spot”.  This place is famous in the U.S. for seeing the Le Conte's Thrasher.  It is open desert habitat with saltbush, and some mesquite and paloverde trees.  The site is purportedly excellent for viewing the Le Conte's and other thrashers, as well as other common desert birds.

Desert Habitat

As I started out, another birder, Julie Michael stopped to search for the thrashers.  We angled west and south of the intersection, and immediately found a flock of Sagebrush Sparrows.

After discussing how other birders had described the LeConte’s being so secretive, I saw a pale thrasher in front of an Atriplex bush.

Whoot!  I called Julie over and we watched a pair of LeConte’s Thrashers running through the desert before disappearing into the bushes.

Giving us "the tail" . . .

We continued out into the desert scrub, hoping to find a Bell’s Sparrow mixed in with the Sagebrush Sparrows.  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology notes that:

Taxonomy can be confusing, even for the experts. In the nineteenth century all the “sage” sparrows from the Rocky Mountains west to the Pacific Coast were known as Bell’s Sparrow, although ornithologists noted there were several regional forms. By 1910 they had split Bell’s Sparrow into the two distinct species we know today, but a revision in 1957 lumped them together as the Sage Sparrow. In 2013 they were split back into two species, now known as the Sagebrush Sparrow and Bell’s Sparrow.

The Bell’s has a much more distinctive and pronounced malar stripe (‘mustache’), and no streaking on its back.  Greg Gillson has a good web page for identifying "Sage Sparrows".  I saw several with fairly distinctive malars but light-to-moderate streaks on the back, and eBirded those as “Sagebrush/Bell’s Sparrow”, along with those I didn’t get a view of.

Sagebrush Sparrow - Artemisiospiza nevadensis

We saw and heard a distant Bendire’s Thrasher, sorted through the “Sage” sparrows, finding one that had an unstreaked back and a very dark mustache, that I eBirded as a Bell’s.  There was a flock of White-crowned Sparrows, and I heard the fussing call of gnatcatchers, and saw a few Verdins.  We then found another LeConte’s Thrasher that popped up to the west.

LeConte's Thrashers have nice, long, decurved bills

It was after noon that I decided to stop wandering through the desert and continue my route to the west.

Desert Globemallow - Sphaeralcea ambigua

The Thrasher Spot eBird Checklist is Here