Joe H
Well-known member
This post was lost a few months ago. I found a copy so decided to re-post in the off chance that the information might be of value to others planning a trip to Las Vegas.
New Year in Las Vegas
My wife and I decided to escape the snow and cold temperatures of Alaska during the Christmas school break. We headed for Las Vegas as neither one of us had ever seen the place, we could get fairly inexpensive tickets, and I have a sister-in-law who would let us stay with her on New Years Eve (on 31 December, hotel prices shoot up like the fireworks above the Strip). So we packed our trusty binoculars and headed South.
If anyone is planning to spend a week birding around Las Vegas during the winter, consider taking a few minutes on the internet to look over the following web-sites:
http://www.nvwf.org/web/nevada/places/pl_dnwr.htm This will give you good information on Corn Creek Field Station (a site already written up on this forum), Headquarters for the Desert National Wildlife Range. The area was set aside to protect Desert Bighorn Sheep. In doing so, they also protected the old homestead at Corn Creek, which has a series of ponds and streams and acts as a bird magnet in the middle of otherwise arid desert.
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/Parks/Wetlands/Wetland's_Homepage.htm This will take you to the Wetlands Park just Southeast of the Las Vegas. The place is excellent for birding and only a few minutes from the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, another place well worth a visit.
http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/BIRDS.htm This will take you to the Red Rocks Canyon just West of town. I highly recommend the Willow Springs trail, but there are many. There is a $5.00 parking/entry fee. They have a very nice visitor center and gift shop.
http://ndow.org/wild/bird/snvbird.pdf This is a checklist of birds in Southern Nevada. It gives seasonal abundance rates but not likely habitat (there is a link to another cheklist in the Red Rocks site that does include likely habitat).
I’m not sure that it helped, but I highlighted all of the birds that were common to abundant in Winter in Southern Nevada. Once these were identified, I eliminated from that list those we‘d already seen elsewhere. Then we looked at the remaining list to identify the appropriate habitat that would help us see as many new birds as possible in the shortest amount of time.
I won’t bore you with a list of species as the check list mentioned above will provide a better idea of what is available. A few highlights are appropriate though. We did see the local specialty, the Greater Roadrunner, supposedly common, but we found only two at a camp site near Lake Meade on our last day of looking. We saw our first Ladder-backed Woodpecker at Corn Creek along with a Crissal Thrasher and Phainopepla, which our guide book said is rarely heard, but serenaded us extensively. Unexpected sightings included an Anna’s Hummingbird, Northern Waterthrush, and the Common Grackle, all of which were listed in our guides as not being present during Winter.
Local experts will tell you Spring and Fall are the best seasons for birding in the area, and while there was more than enough Winter bird life to keep us happy, we also visited a couple of shows. The highlight being a very impressive show-girl number called Jubilee at the MGM Casino. It features tasteful but topless costumes and I can highly recommend it. At one point I pointed out to my wife a feathered headpiece that looked strikingly similar to the plume feathers of a Gambel’s Quail - a species we wanted to (and finally did) see during the visit. With comments like that coming from me, no wonder my wife thought I spotted a Parus Major on stage, but it was just a complimentary remark on my part. About the time I started musing on the intricacies of genus Sula, I was hushed by my wife and all future birds watched that night were parading about in four inch heels.
We only gambled one dollar during the entire stay and I’m sure the local chamber of commerce was not sad to see us leave. For our part, it was a great trip during which we saw at least 66 species of birds, 35 being totally new to us. The Strip is an impressive monument to hedonism but can be escaped by a few minutes drive into the desert. Not a bad place to hide from the Alaskan winter for a few days.
Joe H
New Year in Las Vegas
My wife and I decided to escape the snow and cold temperatures of Alaska during the Christmas school break. We headed for Las Vegas as neither one of us had ever seen the place, we could get fairly inexpensive tickets, and I have a sister-in-law who would let us stay with her on New Years Eve (on 31 December, hotel prices shoot up like the fireworks above the Strip). So we packed our trusty binoculars and headed South.
If anyone is planning to spend a week birding around Las Vegas during the winter, consider taking a few minutes on the internet to look over the following web-sites:
http://www.nvwf.org/web/nevada/places/pl_dnwr.htm This will give you good information on Corn Creek Field Station (a site already written up on this forum), Headquarters for the Desert National Wildlife Range. The area was set aside to protect Desert Bighorn Sheep. In doing so, they also protected the old homestead at Corn Creek, which has a series of ponds and streams and acts as a bird magnet in the middle of otherwise arid desert.
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/Parks/Wetlands/Wetland's_Homepage.htm This will take you to the Wetlands Park just Southeast of the Las Vegas. The place is excellent for birding and only a few minutes from the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, another place well worth a visit.
http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/BIRDS.htm This will take you to the Red Rocks Canyon just West of town. I highly recommend the Willow Springs trail, but there are many. There is a $5.00 parking/entry fee. They have a very nice visitor center and gift shop.
http://ndow.org/wild/bird/snvbird.pdf This is a checklist of birds in Southern Nevada. It gives seasonal abundance rates but not likely habitat (there is a link to another cheklist in the Red Rocks site that does include likely habitat).
I’m not sure that it helped, but I highlighted all of the birds that were common to abundant in Winter in Southern Nevada. Once these were identified, I eliminated from that list those we‘d already seen elsewhere. Then we looked at the remaining list to identify the appropriate habitat that would help us see as many new birds as possible in the shortest amount of time.
I won’t bore you with a list of species as the check list mentioned above will provide a better idea of what is available. A few highlights are appropriate though. We did see the local specialty, the Greater Roadrunner, supposedly common, but we found only two at a camp site near Lake Meade on our last day of looking. We saw our first Ladder-backed Woodpecker at Corn Creek along with a Crissal Thrasher and Phainopepla, which our guide book said is rarely heard, but serenaded us extensively. Unexpected sightings included an Anna’s Hummingbird, Northern Waterthrush, and the Common Grackle, all of which were listed in our guides as not being present during Winter.
Local experts will tell you Spring and Fall are the best seasons for birding in the area, and while there was more than enough Winter bird life to keep us happy, we also visited a couple of shows. The highlight being a very impressive show-girl number called Jubilee at the MGM Casino. It features tasteful but topless costumes and I can highly recommend it. At one point I pointed out to my wife a feathered headpiece that looked strikingly similar to the plume feathers of a Gambel’s Quail - a species we wanted to (and finally did) see during the visit. With comments like that coming from me, no wonder my wife thought I spotted a Parus Major on stage, but it was just a complimentary remark on my part. About the time I started musing on the intricacies of genus Sula, I was hushed by my wife and all future birds watched that night were parading about in four inch heels.
We only gambled one dollar during the entire stay and I’m sure the local chamber of commerce was not sad to see us leave. For our part, it was a great trip during which we saw at least 66 species of birds, 35 being totally new to us. The Strip is an impressive monument to hedonism but can be escaped by a few minutes drive into the desert. Not a bad place to hide from the Alaskan winter for a few days.
Joe H
