Las Vegas - Day 2: Desert National Wildlife Range (12/26)

Tuesday was our first real vacation day in Nevada and we got a early start. We had picked the Desert National Wildlife Range as our first destination primarily on the recommendation of a local, Jim Boone. We stumbled across Jim's web site while researching for our trip and it really was an invaluable resource. Jim has published several guides to the area (hiking, rock art, etc.) but we were especially interested in his suggestions for birding areas. We read thru Jim's material and picked several places that sounded good. And we weren't disappointed. Even if you're not planning a trip to the Las Vegas area any time soon, these pages are still a great read for anyone who's interested in nature.

One of the sites that Jim highly recommended was a place called Corn Creek. This area is a small portion of the Desert National Wildlife Range, a federal park which was set aside to protect habitat for the Desert Bighorn Sheep. While most of the park is definitely desert, Corn Creek is a natural oasis due to the springs that flow thru it. The water, and the plants that live off it, attract all sorts of wildlife. While winter is not necessarily the best time to visit the park, we still found it a great choice.

We got up early and were treated to a great sunrise over the city as we traveled out to the park. As we pulled off the main highway and onto the dirt access road, the sun was just peaking over the horizon. It was amazing to see the desert surrounded by mountains as far as you could see. The vegetation was sparse on the rocky ground but there were large Joshua Trees every so often.

Our first major sighting of the day came just before the park's visitor's center. A Ferruginous Hawk flew low over the ranch near Corn Creek. This is a raptor that I hadn't ever seen before and it took us a long time to properly identify it. Soon another raptor joined the first hawk. We think that it was probably a dark morph Red-Tailed Hawk. This bird was so different from the Red-tails that we have in New England I almost think of it as a separate species. While looking at the photos that I got of it, I thought that it may have been a Golden Eagle due to the sheen to the neck feathers. But I also got a nice shot of the bird landing on a tower and we think that it definitely looks like a Red-tail.

These birds were just the start to a great morning. We finally left them, parked over at the visitor's center, and started our hike through Corn Creek. It was a chilly desert morning but the area was still filled with activity. Several Desert Cottontails hopped along the trail browsing on the grasses and an unseen Pie-billed Grebe called from the reeds on a small pond. A Bewick's Wren and a Northern Mockingbird sang from the vegetation along the banks of the creek.

We walked along the 3/4 mile loop and spotted dozens of other birds. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet and several Dark-eyed "Oregon" Juncos foraged in the leaf litter under the cottonwood trees. We even spotted a Green Heron near the water's edge.

The trail continued down to the edge of the ranch. In the fields we spotted both Mountain and Western Bluebirds as well as White-crowned Sparrows and Pipits. The entire flock spooked as a Northern Harrier swooped down over them.

It was getting to be late morning when we turned back. The trail brought us through a tangle of vegetation and trees where we found several Crissal Thrashers, a pair of Phainopepla, and a Red-shafted Flicker.

Just as we were about to leave the park we came across some other visitors. One of them was a local and she gave us some great tips for other rarities that had been reported in the Las Vegas area. After sharing sightings for a couple of minutes we parted ways. Only a few seconds later, the young man ran up to us and motioned for us to follow him. They had found a Long-eared Owl in the bushes and we all got great looks at the bird.

At this point we finally decided to head back to town. But, on the way home we got one last reward. A Merlin was perched on a fence pole by the side of the road. We were able to inch the car far forward enough for me to get a great shot of it before it flew away. It was the perfect way to end the outing.