March 17 -- Mrs. Costa's Feeds Her Nestlings at Henderson Bird Preserve

My birding buddy Norm met me here at the RV park at 7:30am and we set out for the drive to Henderson along Lake Mead's Northshore Road, always a spectacular way to begin the day. We arrived at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (click on this for the Preserve's website) shortly before 9 and talked with Jim Hulsey, one of the staffers, about what's been seen there lately (a female Canvasback at Pond 3, among other niceties), then headed first for the female Costa's hummingbird that has a nest on top of a pine cone in a pine tree right off a walkway. The nest is very hard to see as it's obscured by branches and pine needles, but I managed to sit cross-legged, lean back and watch her feeding her 2 nestlings and taking photos with the Canon 7D and 500 f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter attached --

The depth-of-field was shallow, so the camera focused more on the nest than on Mrs Costa's or the nestlings. And having that aluminum foil as part of the nesting material didn't help with the exposure, either.

My best photo, where you can see one of the nestlings

A little closer...

There is another Costa's nest, in a palo verde tree outside at the main entrance --

And here are photos of the Costa's hummingbird of the pine cone nest, away from her nestlings, trying to relax and stretch -- 

The bird preserve is a great place to see birds up close and personal, which you really can't do in the vastness of the Overton Wildlife Management Area. Here's a male Cinnamon Teal --

And an Eared Grebe in breeding plumage --

After spending the morning at the bird preserve Norm and I had lunch (this is a great way to bird -- spend the morning out in the field, then have a nice, relaxing, enjoyable lunch, then back out again) then, guided by my Garmin GPS, re-found the area in a residential section of the town of Boulder where Harris's Hawks have nested in the past. I had been skunked during a previous visit and wasn't really expecting to see them this time, but what the hey...We searched high and low but there was no trace of them, though we did come up with a nice Black-chinned Hummingbird in someone's desert garden front yard. As we had a little time left before heading back on the long road to Overton, we stopped on the way at Veteran's Park in Boulder, where two artificial ponds can give even closer views of birds than at Henderson's bird preserve. Here's a male Ring-necked Duck --

And a male Redhead --

We drove back along the shore of Lake Mead and arrived back in Overton just in time, as the wind picked up and howled for the rest of the day and night; weather.com reported 45mph gusts. Today the wind is supposed to continue, so I guess I'll play things by ear...