Shoshone - On the Way South

On the way down south we stopped in a small palce called Shoshone, CA. We were running ahead of the snow, had put in a couple of hard driving days for us, and wanted to stop for a night or two. The town, it is not much, is on highway 127 in California north of Baker. We came south out of Beatty. The highway is one of the main access roads to Death Valley. Pick the time of year you visit here very carefully, the campground host said it was 129 degrees in the summer of 2013. That's hot.

Here we are parked in the RV site. You can see the puddles in the picture. The first night we were there it poured rain almost the entire night. The park manager the next day said they had never seen it rain that much, we are in a desert you know.

In the south west one of the common but undesirable trees is the salt cedar. They drink up huge amounts on water and are an introduced species originally intended to help with soil erosion. the pruning that was done on this tree will only slow the growth. It will grown out full, soon.

Just behind the RV Park is this swimming pool. It is fed from a warm water spring in the rock mountain behind the park. It is a constant 89 degrees. It is a great respite from the cold, rainy weather.

One of the famous landmarks in the area is the Crowbar. It is a bar cafe. We had lunch there one day and for being the only option in town the food was great. Well prepared and huge quantity. The name comes from the Crows in the area so a more descriptive moniker might be "Crows Bar". Great place and excellent service.

There are not a lot of businesses visible in Shoshone. Here is the market, not related to the cartoon character but an old time immigrant in the area. Be sure and fill up with gasoline before you get to this area, it was $3.959 a gallon when we passed through. The store had some real basic food stuff, don't look for organic or healthy options, just stuff to survive on. It is only about 35 miles to the larger town of Parhump, NV from here.

There is a neatly done small park in town. The rock benches and tables appear to be almost new. Some one put in a lot of effort in the design and construction of this small respite from the surrounding desert.

Here in the park is this sign with colored arrows pointing in various directions. Nicely done

Also located in the park are various old relics from the earlier mining days. Not exactly sure what this was used for but it could have been part of a still what the guages and all. Those miners did like to drink a bit.

Here we have a collection of some of the original recreational vehicle tires. They got good mileage off these but did not go very fast.

Bill Williams NWR

Hello All

Here is where the Bill Williams River comes into Lake Havasu. It is a beautiful wetland area. The sky was crystal blue and the winds were calm. It is a really good lake for striped bass in certain months.

This section of land is on the very south end of the Lake Havasu along the California/Arizona Border. The spit goes out into the lake and has a walking trail along it. The first part of the trail is concrete in excellent condition and the last part is cinder. It is really well done with lots of plants identified and informative signs. Neat place.

Along the trail we found this Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. There were several of them in with a mixed flock of Ruby Crowned Kinglets. They were difficult to photograph as they want to flit about constantly. Out in the lake you can see a wide variety of water fowl. There are lots of Western and Clark's grebes, Common Goldeneye, and of course coots.

As you walk out along the trail you will see several fishing access points. They have done a great job providing public access along the rock arm that protrudes out into the lake. They all seem to have handicap access off the paved trail.

Fairly close into the spit of land and the walking trail you will see the Common Goldeneye mentioned above. In the past we had seen Barrow's Goldeneye here as well as Surf Scoter and Black Scoter. Some unusual birds so far inland. Of all the Wester/Clark's grebes, of which there are many, the majority are Clark's. We chatted with some folks in the past and they claimed that over 80 percent of them are Clark's.

The Blue Bird Trail - Anatone

On Saturday May 14th Tom Scribner and myself took a day run over to Anatone, WA which is south of Clarkston on a high plateau above the Snake River Canyon.This is a view across the plains of Anatone. There was a lot of agricultural areas with wheat and other crops. Lots of beautiful open fields and territory for the birds.

We put up 24 Blue Bird boxes at various locations, repaired a few others and cleaned out some. At every stop, and there were many, we saw and heard Western Meadowlarks. They were very common and it was wonderful to hear their singing.

This was not one of Tom's boxes. There were many other Blue Bird Boxes in the area of various designs. You can see the damage to the front of the box. There was a female Western Bluebird sitting on eggs in this nest. We will probably go back to the area in the late fall and clean and or repair and or replace various Blue Bird boxes. We chose not to disturb the occupants at this time.

We did see a variety of sparrows and other birds as we traveled about. This is a most striking Lark Sparrow. Beautifully marked bird.

You can see grasses and pine needles sticking out from the opening of this supposed Blue Bird box. It had been taken over and stuffed full by a house wren. This box was affixed to a large Ponderosa Pine tree and the House Wrens seem to like that habitat. They don't seem to bother the nest boxes that are out in the open grasslands.

As mentioned earlier there were many other boxes in the area. This design, and there were many boxes just like this one, did not have any way to clean the box other than taking the box down and emptying the contents. Additionally the box was very narrow in construction and seemed to be really cramped for Blue Birds. They were however very well made and had metal hinges and a metal clasp to keep the top closed. Most boxes have either the front or the side that opens allowing access for cleaning.

This is a striking example as to why the boxes should be cleaned either at the end of the season or early in the spring before the Blue Birds arrive. This is probably 5 or 6 years of nesting material that has been built up. You can also see some old eggs, most likely from last season, that are buried in the nesting material. There was a female Western Blue Bird sitting on top of this pile. We left her alone.

Yes we did see lots of Blue Birds. This is a female Western Blue Bird. We saw both Western and Mountain Blue Birds though the Western was the most common. There were at least 4 occasions where Tom opened the box to check the contents only to find a female sitting on eggs. They did not fly off but chose to sit there and keep the eggs warm. Interesting flight or fight phenomena.

This was just an interesting perspective of the Blue Bird Eggs. Tom has the side of the nest box open and the light is coming in. There were 6 eggs in this nest box. A typical clutch is 5-6 eggs. They are, as can be seen, a light blue in color.

This is an image of a cooperative Male American Kestrel. He allowed us to get some decent pictures of him. He is in bright breeding plumage and most colorful. He sat on the post just across from our vehicle and posed in various positions. He even flew up the road a few posts, we followed, and he posed some more. Beautiful bird.

Several of the boxes had been taken over by Tree Swallows. They eat lots of bugs also. Neat bluish colored birds.

Swallow eggs are totally white in color as compared to the bluish tinged Blue Bird Eggs.

This is a Grasshopper Sparrow. It has a really flat head and proportionately large bill or beak. They are somewhat secretive sparrows of the Grasslands. They not only eat grasshoppers in their diet but their song is unusual in that it is similar to grasshopper's buzzing.

Along one road over near the canyon of the Snake River we found this wild Turkey. We did not expect to see this species. It was close to a wooded canyon that led down into the Snake River.

Many of the fields were blanketed with wildflowers. Yellow and blues and various other colors. Quite striking to see.

Overall a very enjoyable and productive day. Thanks Tom