March 6 and 7 -- Return To Henderson Bird Preserve, And Valley Of Fire With Gaye Horn

Thursday,  March 6 saw my friend OP and I heading  back to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve that I had visit 2 days previously. Its chief attraction for me is that you can see birds, especially ducks, up close, which you really can't do at the Overton Wildlife Management Area since it's so huge -- and the ducks in particular are still easily spooked though it's been about a month since hunting season ended. We first stopped to photograph the nesting Costa's Hummingbird female in a palo verde tree at the preserve's entrance, then were able to get a peek at the other Costa's female sitting on a nest, this time in a pine tree, where she built the nest on top of a pine cone --

And yes, that's a piece of aluminum foil that she used for nesting material...There was a lot of springtime activity at the preserve; Marsh Wrens carrying bits of twigs for nests, Yellow-rumped Warblers flycatching, Black-tailed Gnatcatchers on nearby trees --

Eared Grebes in breeding plumage --

Right now it's a fantastic time to be at Henderson's Bird Viewing Preserve...Though when OP and I came back to the visitor center a staffer asked, "Anybody lose a camera?" I quickly realized I had; I left my landscape camera that was around my neck somewhere on a path, and didn't realize it. Whew!  I probably would have walked out without it... OP and I then went to Panda Express for an excellent Chinese lunch, followed by chasing nesting Harris's Hawks that had reportedly returned to a residential area of Boulder City, about 10 miles up the main highway from Henderson. But try as we did, we were skunked once again, so after getting groceries at Albertson's we headed back home along the scenic Northshore Road,  OP going to Footloose at her boondocking site, and me back to Discovery at Robbins Nest. When I got back I had a phone message from Gaye Horn saying that she and her husband Lee had arrived in Overton and were staying at the RV park in the north of town, so I met them at the local MacDonald's to discuss plans for upcoming day trips in the area. The first outing will be a morning tour of the Valley of Fire...

Yesterday, Friday the 7th, I headed over to Lee and Gaye's RV spot and picked Gaye up at 6am, then drove over to the Valley of Fire. Gaye had said she'd take me to 2 spots I had yet to see, "Windsong Arch" and "The Swoosh"...It was breezy and would stay that way throughout the entire day, but that made for perfect "out and about" conditions, with the temperature reaching the mid-70s."Windsong Arch" is famous among photographers, and I wasn't disappointed, though the lighting conditions can be a challenge; this was taken shortly after 2pm --

The preferred lighting is ambient, with a cloudy day perhaps being best, but it's a beautiful piece of rock art no matter what conditions you see it in. Here's a closeup of the openings in the "back" --

The lighting here is more "natural" so the rock has a nice, warm glow to it.  The area around "Windsong Arch" is also very picturesque --

Then Gaye and I drove to the White Domes Scenic Byway, where we photographed some of the remaining pockets in the rock that still had water from last week's rain -- 

Here's Gaye in relax mode at a waterpocket --

And then she took me to "The Swoosh". So THAT's what it is -- the Nike symbol in stone...

The rock in this area is probably the most colorful in the Valley of Fire, being magenta, rust brown, yellow and other shades.  Here we met a fellow photographer who showed us other fascinating patterns in the rock to photograph -- 

Gaye and I then had lunch back at "The Inside Scoop", after which I dropped her off at her RV dubbed "The Big Horn Inn" and following a short nap I went back out to the Valley of Fire for some afternoon shots. The morning was cloudless but now they were back, at least for a little while --

I met the fellow photographer again and he told me of a place on the east side of the road that was filled with multi-hued rock and spectacular during sunset, so I hiked out to that area and found out he was right --

The setting sun lit the tops of the rocks --

And as I was leaving I took a last look at the area I walked to, with the last rays of sun along with the lengthening shadows --

It was a fitting end to another great day here in SE Nevada.