Days 4 and 5 - Birds of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge - XXX rated post ;)

No RV miles.  Whew

Driving around Malheur 

The Refuge we are visiting.

What an amazing place at this time of the year.  Thousands of visitors come here, especially over Memorial Day weekend. We stayed at the Narrows RV park just a few miles from park HQ.

We spent 2 mornings with our friends Bob and Bettina, and also toured the south end Central Patrol Road down by Frenchglen where we saw a Trumpeter Swan family with chicks.  This is where i get out the big super telephoto lens.

Trumpeter Swan Family

A new bird was the Bobolink.  Very rare in west, they do breed in this section of the Malheur.  Late May and early June are the times to see the males in their plumage so we were here at the right time.

Bobolink

Another treat was to witness a pair of mating Avocets.  As we were watching other birds in same area, I noticed this one avocet with its head down for the longest time.  If finally dawned on me that they were courting.  Suddenly the courtship got real serious and he jumped on top of her, then they danced and parted.  Here is a short series of this scene.

Hey Good Lookin!  Wanna Dance?

Yahoo!

Oh, yes.  That was just great! 

Is this a lifetime commitment?

Let's try the Polka

You can view these photos and many others in high resolution over at the Birds of Malheur Refuge as a slide show over on my photo website and some on flickr too.

We pressed our luck one evening when we drove out west on a dirt road looking for Burrowing owls. We had been told they were out on this road but we drove almost 20 miles in one direction before giving up and turning around.  On way back we had to negotiate with a herd of horses and mules blocking the road.  Sweethearts all.

Is there a toll here?  no sugar.

All in all, it was a real fun time.  We are heading out and hope to be back someday.

Days 3 - DUST, DUST, DUST Hart Mountain to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon

Todays Miles - RV- 84; Jeep 64

Total Miles - RV - 444; Jeep 64

Departed - Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge

Arrived - Malheur National Wildlife Refuge


You might say we are, ahem, "Refugee's".....

The Route

Our route takes us across a 40 mile gravel road.  Recently we drove 20 miles over gravel to Chaco Canyon so we weren't worried.  It was good road and the views were incredible. We did see some antelope too.  Too far away for photos tho.

The Long, Long Gravel Road (40 miles)

We made the blacktop north towards Frenchglen which is south end of Malheur.  Just before Frenchglen we faced a 3 mile, 14% downhill grade.  Thankful for towhaul feature which downshifts to lower gears thereby saving our brakes.

Down a 14% grade  Yikes

We then drove 30 miles north to Narrows where we find an RV park. We thought to stay only 3 days but the price for 4 days was significanly cheaper so we are staying 4 nights.  You know who, the birder, is pleased.

This 70 miles of gravel road was rather dusty

The bad news is we discovered dust in all compartments and coating the whole RV.  Inside and outside the jeep.  We drive into Burns (30 miles north) to buy some fresh produce pick up a package at the Post Office (see bottom) and also to wash, vacuum and clean the jeep inside and out.  We took everything out of the jeep. As we cleaned, a major thunderstorm approached blowing all the little stuff everywhere.  Yikes.

First things first,  we wash and clean Mr. Toad

We managed to clean the jeep despite blowing gusts up to 40 mph. Later in the evening back at the RV we witnessed a wonderful sunset then the rain started.  after about an hour, before it was totally dark, we put on our rain jackets, went outside, and wiped down CharLi the RV.  Woo Hoo.  Clean and saved $40 cleaning fees.

Sunset before the rain at Malheur

This is an amazing place. Major stopover for the Pacific Flyway.  It is amazing the number of bird species we are seeing here.  Have seen Trumperter Swans, mating Avocets, Terns, small birds and many more. I have over 20 good photos already at my photo site kentwilliamsphotography.com and will post some shots on flickr.

"BIRD!!!"

We initially came here to meet our new birding freinds, Turtle and Hawk (aka "Point and Shoot").  They are full timers recently retired who sold their home in Ashland and now travel around volunteering to help on various bird surveys.

Intriguing bicycle.  Love the Faux Fur!

We drove back down to Frenchglen then back up the Central Patrol Road.

Bensen Lake where Trumpeter Swans are

Next post will be about some of these birds.

Our morning coffee system

Oh, yes,  We just received some incredible coffee from Peets, via General Delivery. We have discovered that, while traveling, we can have packages shipped to General Delivery Post Office Zip Code.  They will hold for 30 days.  We get things from Amazon, mail shipped from Ananda Village and Ananda Laurelwood and also Peets Coffee which we received at Burns P.O.  A special roast, we tried yesterday and today.  Yum.  We are ordering more.  It makes the mornings so great!

Next Place - Patagonia, Arizona, a 78 mile drive

A few last photos from Buenos Aires, Arivaca and we are off to Patagonia, Arizona.

Our morning Walk north of Buenos Aires campsite.  Good driving road

We prefer to travel 100-150 or less miles in a day which means under 3 hours drive time, less gas used per day, and less wear and tear on everyone and everything.  We are meandering with no fixed agenda. We only have 3 fixed dates on rest of 2014 calendar so in between we can wander.

Our route from Arivaca to Patagonia

This trip is 78 miles according to the Google GPS on my iPhone and the photo above.  Our route takes us east through rolling hills to Amado and I-19, then south on i-19 to Nogales then NE back up highway 82 to Patagonia.  Before we depart, we go power walking 4 miles.

Our morning walk route north of Campsite in Buenos Aires NWR

We break camp, heading east to Arivaca for Saturday market where we purchase fresh eggs, a squash, and a chocolate chip cookie.  Then breakfast at an outdoor cafe.  Chile Rellenos.  Fresh grilled on mesquite open fire, then dipped in sauce.  Virginia, the owner seats us on a picnic bench while she prepares the food.  We were lucky as today she only had 12 chiles and we ate 4 of them.  Yum

Enjoying a Chile Relleno Breakfast in Arivaca

We drove the winding road over hill and dale.  Just as we turn to go onto the interstate I spot this bar and grill in Amado.  Have to take the shot.

An interesting entrance to a bar in Amado.  

The GPS wants us to turn off the interstate just north of Nogales.  Our benchmark map says this is a dirt road which we are not interested in taking so we choose an alternate route which takes through part of Nogales.  Hmm.  Nothing to shake a stick at, and one of the lanes was closed off due to a bike race so the speed was pretty slow.  Eventually we made it to highway 82 which took us east 16 miles to Patagonia.  There is no place around Patagonia to dry camp and we need to dump waste and replenish supplies so we headed to the local RV park which turned out to be a quiet little place off the beaten path.

Patagonia RV Park  Good WIFI

We signed up for 2 nights, set up camp and headed over to Paton's bird yard where I was able to get a couple decent photos of birds.

Paton's 

Lots of birds here and birders show up all the time as it is quite famous birding place with several seed feeders, oranges, hummingbird feeders.  The place used to be owned by someone named Paton who passed away.  Last year the Tucson Audobon society purchased the grounds in order to preserve the birding mecca.  Thousands of birders pass through here each season.  We stopped by last year.  Must see place.

Above is a low res photo of a Broad billed Hummingbird I photographed at Paton's.  It is slightly simplified.  I posted a much better one over on my flickr account if you want to see it but I don't want Google to have the better one. (Sometimes Google doesn't play well). 

That's all for now.  Stay tuned tomorrow.

Arivaca Cienega

Anticipating high winds today, we ventured out early this morning to walk around one of the better birding places in area just west of beautiful downtown Arivaca.

Looking west through Arivaca to the Bobquivari Mountains from the Cienega

Anticipating we would see some little birds, I decided to try out the big 200-400mm zoom lens and camera. S had returned from Oregon with it's strap and assembled on the lens which weighs 8 pounds (11 with camera). I was excited to head out in search of prey to shoot (with my camera of course). I shot most of these at 560mm fully zoomed in with 1.4 extender enabled. Most were 1/1000 or more, ISO 1000 or so. F5.6.

Note: that these photos were all jpg's processed on my iPad so they aren't as rich as usual. Check my flickr page for some better ones.

As we began our walk we spotted a couple Kestrals high up in the cottonwood tree, their backs to us. As we cautiously approached they looked around, the finally the male Kestral darted over to the female and before I could raise up the camera to shoot, the mating season was over. He flew off to have drink wiht his mates no doubt, while she put her herself back together and adjusted her makeup before flying off in search of a nest.

{Photo of kestral to go here.}

Further along the path we heard the melodious sounds of a Bewick's Wren. He darted all around us, eventually landing in a high snag where I finally shot him singing merrily away. S remarked with wonder as to how so much joy and beautiful song could be sustainably emanating from such a little tiny creature tinier than a housefinch.

Bewick's Wren singing in a high branch

My mistake was not taking the monopod because, upon viewing some of the photos, I immediately saw they were not as sharp as I could have liked. As we strolled, ever so slowly, around the trails of this refuge, we saw at least 15 different species.

Bewick's Wren singing in a high branch

Song Sparrow

Photographing little birds is difficult. They hide in the thickets and behind trees. ID through binoculars easier but catching them in open to photograph takes patience. I was hunting a green tailed Towhee for 20 minutes and finally spotted him out in open (see shot below) where is flitted for a bout 4 seconds. Just enough time to raise up the camera and photograph into the darkened woods.

Song Sparrow

Green Tailed Towhee in thicket

We saw Red Tail hawks, Cooper's Hawk, Grey Hawk. We saw several little birds in thickets.
Even a pair of Coyotes hunting the tall grass for breakfast. We happened onto this pair out in the tall grass. Heard them yipping and digging and scurrying around. They didn't see us at first but when I popped off 4 shots in quick succession, the noise made by the high speed camera clicking alerted them we were present and they bounded off. This shot below was the only decent one I got and then some tall grass blurred its face a little.

Coyotes hunting in tall grass

We saw these really cool butterflies, too. Can't you tell I don't know butterfly names? They fly fast and dart around in the Willow trees so it is hard to catch them. Finally one landed to feast all alone on the willows seeds and I was able to get a decent shot.

Cool looking Butterfly

A fun 2 hour walk. next time I bring my Monopod.

Posted with Blogsy

A Five Warbler Morning

The punch line:
Townsend's warbler, Virginia's warbler, Yellow Rumped Warbler, Painter Red Start, Black Throated Grey Warbler. Plus 15 other species. Whew!

The April storm came through overnight. Yesterday winds around 25-30 wth gusts up to 55 mph were blowing everything around. Mid-afternoon, As l departed portal cafe after my 2 hour office visits through email and Skype, I looked east into the valley. Or at least tried because the winds had kicked up a dust storm in the valley below so I could barely see the mountains on the other side.

Fortunately we are in Cave Creek Canyon sheltered by high mountain cliffs which kept most, but not all, of the dust away. Back a t the campground we visited with our neighbors, all thankful we had solid roofs over our heads. Except one guy in a tent. I vaguely remember those days, in my youth where we would tent camp, backpack in and use bivvy sacks, reveling in the weather (most of the time).

Night approached and we settled into the evening quiet, enjoying the winds that rattled even our big motorhome. I looked out a couple times to see clouds coming in then later clear sky. The nights are so dark here and the sky is so clear. Clearer that home due to less light pollution. Down in the valley we had seen a cluster of homes, each with their own star observatories, so this must be quite the place for amateur astronomers. We had seen the NASA space station zoom across the night before. Crystal clear.

We heard rain during the night, one good hard rain and a couple little sprinkles. Waking up we saw clouds and the temp had dropped to low 40's. We began to se some hail and even a little bit of snow. We sat in the front seats of the RV, drinking our morning beverages, and began to watch the birds.
Colder mornings bring out the best in these avian wonders. The trees seems to fill. The trees birds of different sorts. The hummingbird feeder was, well humming with business.

The best times it seems to watch the birds right now is 7:30-9:00 AM. Air traffic was thick in the air. I don't have any good overall shots of this but got some good pix of individual birds.

Here are some photos from this morning

Bridled Titmouse in tree.  Moves fast.  hard to catch

Townsend's Warbler (fuzzy because through front window)

Scott's Oriole

Cassen's Kingbird

And best of all, Rufous Hummingbird

Location:Portal, AZ

The Elegant Trogon

The Elegant Trogon spends most of its time in Mexico and migrates up to Southern Arizona to breed in the mountain islands near Nogales, and Patagonia, Arizona. Only easy place to spot it is around here at this time of year. It is about the size of a parrot and weights about 2 pounds. Hard bird to find but I really "lucked out" this morning about 1.5 mile from campground.  Had to wade across some shallow muddy streams, however it was worth it to get this photo. Filled my zoom lens easily and we watched it for 10 minutes. Sraddha is really happy to see this bird for her life list.

Latest Picasa web album with all our 2013 Southwest photos here

Mr & Mrs Bufflehead visit the Duck Pond at Ananda Village

Spent some time Friday and Saturday photographing our little buddies the Buffleheads.  They are about 6 inches long and are constantly diving into the depths of the pond seeking out food on the bottom. From the road you only see this white speck,  So I got out the big lens combo and when I zoom in with my big lens at 700mm the crop it down you get some good pix. 

 Thought you might enjoy. (click on pix to enlarge then right arrow to scroll through, then escape to back out of photos if you want).  Have fun. I did.

Enjoying a quiet moment before the Goose invasion

searching for next dive spot

Raise up to dive

Dive  this whole motion in less than a second

Just came up from dive

Got an itch?  scratch it

Dancing Cranes.

Dramatic sunset last night. Got some great pix. Stay tuned. Her is what it looked like.


This morning's sunrise very different from yesterday


Yesterday we saw some cranes landing that looked almost like they were water dancing

Tickling the water surface

Is it too cold?

This morning we observed several cranes in the mating ritual

You pick your right foot up!

Hi There!

Catch me if you can