I has been a very long time since I was “birded out”. After three solid weeks of birding through the southeast, I have to admit I’m probably there. I’ve walked nearly a third of the miles I usually run in a month and that is saying A LOT. Was it worth it…well, I was sitting at 240 for the Average Year when we embarked on the migration trek and thanks to some unexpected good fortune before we even made it to Dauphin Island, the count now sits at 292. For those that have been following along, yes, that is a mere 8 little birdies away from the initial goal – and only 4 months in. Unfortunately, The Beast developed a glitch and my rotator on my previously repaired shoulder feels like a knife stab on every training run stride.
Gear can be fixed and pain eventually subsides, you’re really here to see the incredible feathered feature of the day!
Eh, to be honest, this one is not that incredible and thanks to an unexpected surprise, it isn’t even a new bird to the blog. At least it has a cute crest. Could be worse, there were a few little brown jobbers in the queue ha.
The intent was to focus on the background for this rather drab looking birdy per the norm with new checks on the life list. Processed all the pics, added them to the new post, went to add the tags and “what is this..the Juniper Titmouse tag is already in my history” Sure enough, Juni made its appearance back in August 2014 (from a trip back in Nov 2012) – link here.
Hit the jump to see more of this bird that will NEVER make it into Linda’s tin. She has a strict policy of only tinning the colorful ones.
I really need to keep better tabs on my bird tracker. Double checked and there it was, found at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area located in Las Vegas, NV. Not even that far from where this series was taken. Admittedly, better execution this time.
Maybe 10 minutes further out on NV-159 is a place called Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. Technically in Blue Diamond. Yes, this happens to be the exact same place and the exact same visit we finally found the Acorn Woodpecker (link here). Now that was an incredible bird, but it does NOT have a cute fluffy crest.
Spring Mountain Ranch SP is a fun place to bird. There is a “screw the out-of-towner” entrance fee that puts pressure on me to get something worthwhile in the tin. Goal is to keep my per-bird check costs under 5 bucks. There are allowances, of course, for seeing some new behavior, offspring or interesting sightings sans feathers. At $15 for out of state plates (only $10 for locals) that would put a target count of at least 3. Per my Acorn post you are probably asking yourself, doesn’t the repeat visit mean you are $30 invested…sigh, yes.
The Acorn was worth a solid 2 tins due to the rarity and I did catch a few additional birds beyond Tits here. I’m not ready to ruin the surprise on those others yet (stay tuned), but the final tally for this monochrome bird comes in ~$7. Did I mention it has a very cute crest…Let’s give the readers a peek or should that be a peak ..thank you, here all week.
For the record, with the local variety, Tufted (link here), and the Black-Crested (link here), I am now only missing the Oak species. That will be on the list if we ever make it to California unless I can get Jet to mail me one (link here). In case you are wondering, the rear isn’t any more interesting – grey layered on grey complete with grey highlights and a nice splash of grey to round out the grey. Have I mentioned it has a cute crest!?!
Will leave you with some quick comments on Spring Mountain Ranch. This was once a working ranch and an elite resort once owned by Howard Hughes and some German actress name Vera Krupp. Did some intense research (as in a quick DuckDuckGo search) and found out she was the victim of a famous theft back in 1959 (link here). There are several buildings preserved for viewing with volunteers ready to answer any questions you might have… as long as it has nothing to do with birds in which case the answer you get back is “I like birds”. I looked at Linda to see if I missed something in translation…nope, we just nodded and moved on. There is a large picnic area complete with grills and several walking trails. The northern trails takes you past a small pond, a large fenced off lake due to the endangered Pahrump Poolfish (link here) and then up to a nice viewing area. I did wonder how the flock of Ducks and Coots on the lake were enjoying their Pahrump delicacies. The southern trail takes you through the grove of Ash trees and the spring that led to the name – that particular hike was covered in the Acorn Woodpecker post.
We enjoyed our time there although we could have done without the chilly 70mph wind gusts coming out of the mountains. Definitely gave some extra height to the Juniper’s cute crest…wait, did I mention the crest ha.
Brad is currently out on assignment so you’ll be with me at least until he gets back. Promise I’ll find a more “colorful” bird for the next one.
Life Intrigued 