March 12 and 13 -- Recovery From the Creeping Crud *cough cough* Continues, And More Birds

I've had this cold now for nearly at week and while I can say I'm definitely on the mend, the cough  just doesn't want to go away...But lots of people I know have it and say that the cough lingers for awhile, so while I'm not going to do any marathon, all-day hikes for now, neither will I shut myself up in Discovery, especially when there are migratory birds to be counted at the Overton Wildlife Management Area. :o) But first, an important announcement "from our sponsor"; there is a new restaurant here in Overton, which already has 3 including MacDonald's. Can over saturation of the market be far behind? It's a pizza place called Carley's, and replaces a restaurant that closed a year or so ago due to (so the urban legend goes) the chef dying of a heart attack. Reading the front-page writeup in the "Moapa Valley Progress", the free local rag ("Your Hometown Newspaper Since 1987"),  the new owner has recently moved to the valley from Washington state, where he had owned and operated a pizza establishment there. I had suggested to Gaye, Lee and OP that we have a Last Dinner there, and we all agreed that it was some of the best pizza we've ever had. The place was bustling for a weekday, with people coming in to pick up takeout orders, so I think it will fill a needed niche in the Moapa Valley restaurant market.

Though I've spent most of the past week dealing with the cold, we all had a great time with what little time we spent together (and the incessant windy days contributed to limiting that) and I'll really be sorry to seen them go. But I'm not known as Lone Wolfe for nothing, so I'll take up where I left off, doing solo explorations of this endlessly-fascinating part of SE Nevada. And that leads back to...another trip to the Overton Wildlife Management Area, natch! WHY do I go there so often, you ask? Well, the place is so huge you get the feeling that you can come across virtually ANYthing bird- or animal-wise there, and with migration starting that feeling is reinforced. Also, birding by truck is a nice change from hiking with the 500 f/4, especially when recuperating from a cold. So on the mornings of the 12th and 13th I was out in the wildlife area, doing bird counts and kicking up dust on the dirt roads there. Here are some scenics to give you a feel for the place; these were taken on the 13th, a partly-cloudy day where the skies added to its allure --

Looking west to the Valley of Fire

Nesting tree for Red-tailed Hawks

The dam at the Muddy River

The dam and road crossing looking southwest (fun to cross!)

Honeybee Pond and Valley of Fire in the distance

One of the ponds soon to turn into mudflats

Looking southwest to Valley of Fire

And now, on to the birds once again...I ended up with a total of 56 species yesterday during the 4 hours I was out in the morning. Daylight Savings Time has meant the sun is lower at 7am, so the light has been spectacular for wildlife pond shots. 

American Avocets in early-morning light

A flock of Lesser Sandpipers zoom around the pond

And there is a resident "dark morph" Red-tailed Hawk that liked to cause a little excitement among the "peeps" at the pond --

I'd hate to be on the receiving end of this stare...

A classic Red-tail pose

While leaving the wildlife area around noon yesterday I met Tim Wood, the "habitat manager" at the wildlife area, and informed him that I would in all likelihood be volunteering at OWMA next winter, possibly doing bird walks and bird photography workshops. Tim said the wildlife area receives $30 a day for folks doing volunteer work and that the volunteer hours can be "backdated" to when I started taking photos there -- a good deal for them! The afternoon was spent doing low-key R & R around the RV park -- and now I'm ready for another outing today at the wildlife area, this time accompanied by my birding buddy Norm from Canada...