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:

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Main entrance with the large/nice visitor’s center building in the background right:

Parking lot & vegetation:

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Also a great (!) site for Greater Roadrunner:

Here’s a medley of more warbler & quail:

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Really bad shot of a Common Gallinule:

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Wide/paved trails w/ view of surrounding desert:

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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.)

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Coming up soon, more Clark Wetlands Park!

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[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.]

“Captain, recommend transmitting another volley of duck pictures!”

“Make it so, Number 1!”

What better way to start off another Las Vegas-related post than w/ bad, non-sensical Star Trek pun/blather? Here, it’s Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) at the Flamingo bird habitat. (See yesterday’s post for American Flamingo photos @ flamingo habitat @ Las Vegas Flamingo.) This diving duck species native to southern Europe and central Asia.

Turns out the Cinnamon Teals of yesterday’s post were spotted at the rather meta flamingo habitat at Flamingo Las Vegas. Apparently, the habitat is unenclosed and accessible by wild species like Great-tailed Grackle, Mallard, and House Sparrow. As such, unclear if the Cinnamon Teal were wild or captive, but either way, here’s some ‘zoological garden’ content of fun-to-see, mostly exotic birds @ the Flamingo habitat:

Above & below: great to see American Flamingos, even if it’s not a “real sighting in the wild.” Fun fact: “flamingos” and “flamingoes” are both acceptable plurals.

Here’s beautiful Radjah Shelduck (Radjah radjah), a native of Australia and New Guinea:

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Next up, Ringed Teal (Callonetta leucophrys) from South America:

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Here’s White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata), native to South America & sub-Saharan Africa:

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Next time, a polemic on the evils of Las Vegas! more Vegas birds! #more_bird

To the extent post-Vegas communications have been received from the BirdingPI.com photo editing team, it’s rather terse and incoherent. Perhaps too much diet Coke or second-hand smoke? Here, it was something about Cinnamon Teal on ‘The Strip,’ & a passing flatbed truck advertising “Ducks Direct to You! … Ducks That Want to Meet You.” Hopefully a joke, but these do appear to be the species in question…

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Coming up soon, more content from Las Vegas?

Great sighting last Sunday afternoon of four juvenile/immature Black-bellied Plovers at Presque Isle State Park, specifically Beach No. 11. Nice to see these birds relatively close up vs. typical sightings at Gull Point.

These recent shots from Presque Isle State Park showed up mysteriously overnight in the BirdingPI.com editing in-box, so looks like at least part of the editorial staff made it back from Las Vegas, Nevada. No word yet on forthcoming content, but ‘fingers crossed.’

Even more Tucson-area birds!

Still waiting on the BirdingPI.com photo editing team to return from Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the old, “doesn’t matter if it makes it back alive” camera kits looks missing, so perhaps high desert content is forthcoming. Meanwhile, the ongoing series of ‘Tucson suburban desert‘ birds continues with part 4:

Following yellow-headed bird(s) are all Verdin:

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Finally, a series of White-winged Dove landing on cactus:

An ‘extra-large’ post of more amazing birds from outside the BIRDS field station in the Tucson metro area. All hummingbirds are Purple Shooting Star a.k.a. Costa’s:

Finally back to part II of July/August photographs taken outside the BirdingPI.com Regional Desert Southwest (BIRDS) field station, in Casas Adobes, AZ, with a medley of juvenile Verdin & other birds as noted:

Not sure how they’ll re-name Gambel’s Quail, but based on its primary range in the desert SW, we’re going with “Desert Quail” for now:

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Coming up tomorrow, more BIRDS!