Las Vegas - Day 6: Floyd Lamb State Park (12/30)

We passed by Floyd Lamb State Park on our second day in Las Vegas. I was surprised to that I hadn't heard too much about the park. JeAnne told us that this was because the locals still refer to it as Tule Springs. It turns out that the Nevada state senator that the park was renamed for was a polarizing figure (to say the least). Apparently he was indicted on tax evasion charges and convicted in a bribery sting. This was in addition to his numerous fights with both man and beast (highlights include stabbing a man with a picket from a fence and punching a horse in the mouth). So, I guess I can understand why some are reluctant to honor him.

Suprisingly that's not the end of the strange tale of this park. As its original name suggests, the property is anchored by a natural spring. It was purchased by Prosper Jacob Goumond who converted it to a dude ranch which, oddly enough, specialized in divorces. In the 40's, Nevada some of the most lenient divorce laws of any state. The married couple only had to reside in the state for 6 weeks before a divorce could be carried out. So, the couple would spend there "residency" period vacationing at the ranch. The ranch closed its doors in the late 50's but most of the buildings are still standing.

History aside, we came to the park in hopes to see some Canvasbacks. There were reports of one or two of these ducks at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve but we couldn't locate them. JeAnne said that we should have no problem finding them at Tule Springs.

The park was actually very nice. It was a Saturday when we visited so it was pretty busy. Lots of people were fishing the ponds but I never saw anyone catch anything. Ducks on the water included Mallards, Pie-billed Grebes, Coot, and Redheads. Best of all we did locate four Canvasbacks. They were a bit skittish so I couldn't get close enough to get a great picture. But, the trip was certainly worth it.

In addition to the waterfowl, there were also some nice land birds. The water of the spring was enough to support a lot of good sized trees and these were bird magnets. I found some more Dark-eyed "Oregon" Juncos and a Say's Phoebe or two. But the bird of the site was a woodpecker that my Dad found. We watched it for a good 20 - 30 minutes but had a terrible time figuring out exactly what it was. It looked like a cross between a Red-naped Sapsucker and a Red-breasted Sapsucker. The bird had extensive red on its chest but it also had some black on the face. After some time reviewing the Sibley guide, we decided that it was a Red-breasted Sapsucker (a life bird for all of us).

But the strangest thing was the Peacocks. The park was packed with them. They roamed free foraging on the park grounds and getting handouts from visitors. I'm not entirely sure what the story was but it was cool to see these birds up close.