Dateline: 11 October 2024, Henderson, Nevada
The Las Vegas metro area seemed rather desolate for birds/nature, so it was time to take a Lyft/Uber approximately 14.5 km east to eBird ‘hotspot’ Clark Wetlands Park in Henderson. Somewhat similar to Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, but much larger. A relief to be in nature again & away from crowds/’giant LED billboards’/ smoke.
Nice mix of high desert shrub/scrubland, marshy ponds (mostly fed with tertiary-treated wastewater), & willow/cottonwood habitat. Great spot for seeing Desert Quail like this beautiful male perched on a stone bench:
[Editor’s note: While waiting on ‘official’ re-naming, “Desert Quail” = Gambel’s Quail.] Also, plenty of warbler activity like this juvenile Yellow-rumped Warbler:
Main entrance with the large/nice visitor’s center building in the background right:
Parking lot & vegetation:
Also a great (!) site for Greater Roadrunner:
Here’s a medley of more warbler & quail:
Really bad shot of a Common Gallinule:
Wide/paved trails w/ view of surrounding desert:
Lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler activity at this location. Great to see a male of the Audubon’s sub-species:
(In Erie, PA/NE US, mostly have the Myrtle sub-species of Yellow-rumped Warbler.)
Coming up soon, more Clark Wetlands Park!
[Editor’s note: Las Vegas bird photography taken w/ Nikon D7500 APS-C DSLR & 500mm f5.6 PF lens. Not a camera/kit regular used on BirdingPI.com, but works well enough for relatively close birds in open cover, + lightweight.]
Tsk tsk. How can anyone take such poor pictures with a Brownie Hawkey? Oh well, have to settle for what’s in the camera bag!
Nikon D7500 is a fine camera, but suffers at a distance due to lower resolution + underperforms for fast moving shots or fast focusing where there’s bird(s) + branches/vegetation.