February 11 -- A Discovery At The Wildlife Area, And Arches...

One of the reasons I repeatedly visit the Overton Wildlife Management Area just down the street from where I'm staying is that you never know what you might find...And the more you visit, the more likely you come upon that special find. Take yesterday (Tuesday), for instance. I entered the wildlife area at 7:15am, armed with the Canon 7D/500 f4 + 1.4xTC on the BushHawk, a small voice recorder (to record the species of birds I see, and how many) and an iPod Birdjam filled with bird songs so I can match up the songs I hear with the correct bird if I can't see them. I walked my usual 5-plus miles and ended up with 29 species after 4 hours (I put my sightings into an app, BirdsEye Birdlog, so other folks who use the app can see what's been seen and when; BirdsEye is a great tool for birders). Towards the end of my walk I sighted a small bird off to my left, screened by the inevitable branches. I trained my binoculars on it and could make out a bright color. Could it be...YES!

This photo was taken after the first sighting, when it had moved into an open area. It's a male Vermilion Flycatcher, and he's in "first winter" plumage; he's making his transition into the bright color of the adult Vermilion. I checked my National Geographic Guide to Birds when  got back to my truck, and read that the extreme southern area of Nevada can be its wintering grounds -- but it's still an uncommon sight to see here. Using the 500 f4 lens with the 1.4xTC on it means I can now go out to 700mm, but he was so close I had to back up for the lens to focus. But it's for the mere possibility of seeing something like this that I carry the heavy 500 f4 lens...So that was the highlight of the morning. After a quick lunch back at the trailer, I met OP and James Hager at the Valley of Fire State Park where we hiked into a small range of iconic redrock to photograph a

arches. Here are two, Pretzel (the closest) and Little Mosquito Arches --

And here are James and OP photographing the arches --

And a photo looking through Pretzel's arch opening to Little Mosquito --

We then hiked over to 2 other arches, Five Hole and Mosquito; here's Mosquito looking west --

What a great day it was -- birds, arches, and being in the company of friends.  A road trip is on today, agenda, but that will be a story for tomorrow's post...