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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Cactus show will feature delights of the desert - Living - ReviewJournal.com

Cactus show will feature delights of the desert - Living - ReviewJournal.com

Monday, April 04, 2011

Birding 3-03- 2011 : Willow Creek: Pahrump: (Nye County)


A blue sunny sky and clear water in all the ponds which showed reflection
of the trees all budding out. The area I walked today seemed to be cast in
a golden yellow on this wonderful birding morning.

The first bird of the day at the top of a fir tree filled with pine cones
was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and right next to him on the same branch but a
little higher was a beautiful Yellow-rumped Warbler (male) (Audubon's)

As I walked around I was met by a Cooper's hawk making lots of noise as it
flew over my head and then I saw a second Cooper's hawk with its red brown
breast puffed out with white fluff hanging down around it's legs not far
from a nest.

In the Cottonwood tree at the top of the tree was a male House Finch with a
male Lesser Goldfinch sitting next to it on the same branch.

Northern Shoveler's spinning in the pond amongst male and female Cinnamon
Teal's swimming on the same pond.

Red-shouldered Hawk hidden amongst the new green growth of the tree it was
in. With a second Red-shouldered Hawk not far away.

Western Bluebird's were flitting from fir tree to a stump on the ground
amidst the White-Crowned Sparrow's on the ground.

A Black Phoebe at the top of a Cottonwood tree.Made be think of a gentlemen
all dressed out in his tuxedo.

Say's Phoebe flapping midair with a Raven below it on the ground.

Black-crowned Night Heron's sitting in the greenery and  a Anna's
Hummingbird, with the sun glinting off it's head giving an appearance of
shimmering rose red.

A Northern Flicker (red-shafted) with it's head held out from the tree
displaying it's black mustache and the red crescent on the back of it's
crown.

A tiny Verdin, bounding across the path in front of me to a tree which held
a Phainopepla.

Black-chinned Hummingbird and a Bewick's wren sharing the same habitat.

Pied-billed Grebe's and American Coot's sharing the same pond with their
diving activities.

Red-winged Blackbird's sitting amongst the golden marsh grass.

Two male Ruddy Duck's swimming together when a flock of Yellow-headed
Blackbird's landed in the marsh grass near them. The contrast of yellow,
black, white, blue and reddish brown, was startling and made me realize how
lucky I am to be experience such beauty.

Brewer's Blackbirds on the ground feeding with Brown-headed Cowbird's

Male Mallard's with American Wigeon's swimming in the same pond. The
Mallard's head were an emerald green with the sun shinning on them.

Killdeer with display activity crouched on the green grass near the pond.

Gambel's Quail amongst the Lilac and White Bearded Iris in Richard &Carol's
yard.

House Sparrows, moving among the red Ranunculus flowers in Richard &
Carol's yard, with orange fish in the small pond in their front yard.

Mourning Dove's and Eurasian-Collared Dove's sharing the same space on a
tree.

Tree Swallow's skimming over the pond an then soaring over the Cottonwood
tree with Great-tailed Grackle's sitting in them.

As I headed back to my car, a Crissal Thrasher, was at the top of a
telephone pole singing with its rusty red rump clearly visible as it
flipped it's tail up as I passed underneath it.

A Song Sparrow popping out of the bushes.

Submitted by
Darlene Feener
Pahrump, Nevada

Basic homemade dish soap

½ C of Soap Shavings (or Soap ‘Flakes’) I use a bar of our homemade bar soap!
3 C Water
4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar

Its a good idea to keep an old pot around for making homemade cleaning stuff. Mark it well so no one uses it for cooking.  Pour your water and soap shavings in it and heat up to a medium temperature, slowly. Stir, and keep heating until all soap is melted, do not boil. Remove from heat, allow your mixture to cool a little and then add in your lemon juice or vinegar stir and allow to sit in the pot until completely cooled. Pour into a plastic bottle or old dish soap bottle, shake and it’s voila! 

Monday, March 28, 2011

Birding 3-27-2011 Willow Creek: Pahrump: Nye County

March 27, 2011, started off before sunrise. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of a unidentified woodpecker. Pictures were not good today. I did something wrong and will have to check with Richard. Anyway, Carol, joined me and we had a wonderful time birding Willow Creek.

We had some surprises. I was not expecting to see two Red Crossbills, one a male and one a female. Also the Vermillion Flycatcher returned today, it was a male and he was just beautiful. Also saw a Black throated Gray Warbler.  He was a nice surprise. It was a very active morning with lots of
birds moving. I wish to thank Richard Cantino for all the help he gave me this morning with woodpecker pictures I took last Sunday at Willow Creek.Carol, is a lot of fun to bird with and she hears way more than I do. We make a good birding pair. She is also quick to find the birds that I point out to her. She is a great birder friend. She makes me laugh.

Listing of birds seen today at Willow Creek
Vermillion Flycatcher
Red Crossbills
Black throated Gray Warbler
Woodpecker sp.
Pied billed Grebe's
Canada Goose
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Gambel's Quail
American Coot's
Anna's Hummingbird
Northern Flicker's
Ladder-backed Woodpecker's two a beautiful male and female(plus one more)
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoeve
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Mourning Dove
Eurasian-collarded Dove
Tree Swallow's
Bushtit's
White-breasted Nuthatch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebirds
Northern Mockingbird
Phainopepla
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warblers everywhere (Audubon's]
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco's (2) slate colored and {5} Oregon
White-crowned Sparrow's
Red-winged Blackbird's
Yellow-headed Blackbird's
Great-tailed Grackle's
Brown headed Cowbird's
Houes Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Submitted by
Darlene Feener

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Birding 3-20-2011 Willow Creek: Pahrump: Nye County

March 20, 2011, birding started at 7:15a.m. with a strong wind,blowing spitting rain and tumbleweeds around. Lots of activity in parking lot with Cooper's Hawk nestled in the fir tree overseeing everything. Slate-colored Junco's along with Western Bluebirds, flitting from tree to tree. An American Kestrel was hovering with the wind blowing it around. A woodpecker flattened itself against the tree motivating me to get out of the vehicle. This was a female.

After conversation yesterday with a birding group in California, I was alert to looking at the woodpeckers more closely. Was able to get pictures, but she flew before I could get a look at her forehead. Had a wider black band at base of neck and appeared to have more black in the face. After looking for an hour at home on the computer,at the four pictures I took I came to believe it was a Ladder-backed and that the wind was giving the woodpecker the appearance of a wider solid black than what I am use to seeing.Thank you Richard and Carol for coffee and the pancakes after my birding. It sure did warm me up. Also thank you Richard for the instructions on the GPS.

1.Slate colored Junco's (3) at clubhouse and (2) at Carol&Richard's feeders.
Orgeon Junco's (2)(took pictures)(also at Carol and Richard's)
2.Golden-crowned Sparrow (1) at Carol&Richard's feeders. This sparrow comes
into their feeders when the White-crowned Sparrow's come in to feed.(Took
pictures)
3.Ring-billed Gull's at Richard and Carol's pond. (3)
4.Cinnamon Teal's (3) 1 male and two females. Pond (2) Richard and Carol's
5.Black-crowned Night Heron's building nest in Willow Tree second pond at
Richard and Carol's I was surprised at the size of the limbs that the
Black-crowned Night Heron's were tearing off & carrying to the nest site.
6.Northern Shoveler's spinning around on the ponds.
7.Red-shouldered Hawk sitting in nest.
8.Anna's Hummingbirds
9.House Finch
10.House Sparrow's
11.Black Phoebe's
12.Say's Phoebe
13.Lesser Goldfinch
14.Ladder-backed Woodpecker
15.Western Bluebirds
16.Cooper's Hawk
17.American Kestrel
18.Yellow-rumped Warbler's
19.Common Raven's
20.Rock Dove's
21.Northern Pintail (female) with male Mallard (think she may be a hybrid
between Northern Pintail and Mallard)
22.Gambel's Quail (1) swaying on a tumbleweed bush trying to stay upright
with the wind blowing.
23.Red-winged Blackbird's
24.Brewer's Blackbird (1)
25.Great-tailed Grackle's
26.American Wigeon's
27.Mallard's
28.Eurasian-collared Dove's calling
29.Western Meadowlarks, on a fence trying to withstand the wind.
30.Pied-billed Grebe's

Submitted by
Darlene Feener
Pahrump, Nevada

Monday, March 14, 2011

Birding 3-13-2011 Willow Creek: Pahrump: Nye County

The following birds were seen on March 13, 2011 at Willow Creek which is a inactive golf course at this time in Pahrump,Nevada.

The Peregrine Falcon, came zooming between me and a Rock Pigeon. I turned around and he was at the top of a very tall tree. I took two quick shots, of the tail and when it moved to another branch a full body shot. For the first time ever, I used my camera instead of my binos. I ifted my bino's and before I could identify it accurately it flew off. It was cold this morning so I moved on to the other birds I saw moving ahead of me thinking about the speed of the bird that I had just seen. When I downloaded the pictures to the computer this evening I was delighted that it was a Peregrine Falcon. The ponds have more duck's on them and there are more Rock Pigeon's present so maybe I will see the Peregrine Falcon more often.

I saw a total of 181 Brown-headed Cowbirds, which did not make me happy at all. They were mixed in with Red-wing Blackbird's and Brewer's Blackbird's. I usually see only 1-10 Brown-headed Cowbird's a year in Pahrump at Willow Creek. As I was watching them eat, I realized how many Cowbird's there were so I started counting. There were 48 males and 133 females.

The following birds listed below were seen today.

Peregrine Falcon
Rock Pigeon's
Mallard's
American Coot's
House Finch
Common Raven's
House Sparrow's
Great-blue Heron
Yellow-rumped Warbler's
Orange-crowned Warbler
Mourning Dove's
Eurasian Collared Dove's
Northern Pintail
Great-tailed Grackle's
Gambel's Quail
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Flicker
Brewer's Blackbird's
Red-winged Blackbird's
Brown-headed Cowbird's
Say's Phoebe
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Anna's Hummingbird
Western Meadowlark's
Verdin's
White-crowned Sparrow's
Black Phoebe
Pied-billed Grebe's
Red-shouldered Hawk's
Northern Shoveler's
Ring-necked-Duck's
Lesser Goldfinch
Ruddy Duck

Submitted by
Darlene Feener