Las Vegas - Day 6: Red Rock Canyon (12/30)

Our last stop on Saturday was Red Rock Canyon. We had lunch at one of the picnic areas and relaxed while admiring the scenery. The picnic area had a short boardwalk trail near it so we decided to take a look. As we were starting for the trail my Mom noticed two large birds on the top of the bluff. We got the scope out and were able to determine that they were Golden Eagles. Our identification ws confirmed a few minutes later when a few kids hiking to the top of the bluff scared the birds off.

The boardwalk itself was pretty nice. There was a good deal of animal action even though there were lots of people exploring the area. We saw more Rock Wrens, Phainopeplas, and Western Bluebirds. Every so often a cottontail would peek out from the bushes. And along the trail were several piles of what looked like horse droppings (more on that later).

At the end of the boardwalk was a tiny spring. The sign stated that this was the habitat for a unique species of snail. It was amazing that this small amount of water could support anything bigger than a single cell animal.

As we were leaving the area we spotted one new bird species. Amongst some House Finches were a couple of Cassin's Finches.

At this point, we decided to head over to the visitor's center. It was pretty standard stuff but the exhibits were nicely done. They had some live animals, some stuffed specimens, a photo contest exhibit, and some dioramas on the Desert Tortoise.

We ended our day with a tour around the scenic drive. It was definitely worth the gas money. There were massive cliffs on either side of the road. Some of them were red but others were gray or tan. There were lots of people out climbing on the rocks but the daylight was waning so we just admired the scenery from the car. We did stop a couple of times though, to stetch our legs and see if we could turn up any birds. Unfortunately it appeared that the park had a massive fire in the last year or so and a good portion of the bushes and cactii were scorched (see foreground of this picture).

As we were making our way out of the park we came across 6 or 8 cars that had all pulled over to the side of the road. Soon we saw what all the fuss was about. Two wild Burros were browsing on the vegetation. They certainly drew a crowd. Some people even got close enough to pet the animals. I felt a little bad for them but they appeared to take it all in stride.