Miscellaneous Items

This is an Abert’s Towhee. They have a very limited range mainly in Arizona. They are considered a Sparrow albeit a large one being about 9 inches in length, long tail included. They have all brown coloration with black markings around the face.

This shows one of the trailers that belongs to a seasonal renter who will be here five months during the winter. The fellow is out there watering and caring for his lawn almost daily. He says he has an agreement with the burros, he waters it during the day and they mow it at night. There are not many other trailers in the park that have lawns.

This little bird is a Ruby-crowned kinglet. We see them in the Mesquite tree that shades the back of our trailer. They are constantly in motion and I probably took 237 pictures of tree branches, foliage, and blurred bird images before getting this half decent image. They feed on small insects they find in the tree. They do not show the ruby colored feathers on the crown of their head, for which they are named, very often.

We had mentioned the golf course in a previous post. This is a picture looking down the 9th fairway from the green towards the tee box. The burros are munching away, mowing the fairway as it were. And some golf course owners and users believe that Canada Geese are a nuisance and big problem.

Speaking of golf, the golf balls on this table were found out on the course. When you start play you mark your golf ball with an identifier so you know it's yours. If it gets lost on the course and a person finds, it they return it here and you can look for your once lost ball to see if anyone returned it. Seems a decent thing to do.

In a previous post we mentioned the Phainopepla and showed a black, somewhat shiny male Phainopepla. This picture shows a female Phainopepla, overall grayer in color though fairly identical in structure and appearance to the male. She appears to be scratching, maybe she has fleas or other bugs. Fun picture.

This is a more standard pose for a female Phainopepla so you can better see what she looks like. According to "All About Birds" on the Internet - The Phainopepla is particularly notable for its enigmatic pattern of breeding twice each year, in two different habitats.

These folks in the park are big Seahawks fans, as are many people throughout the park. They have this elaborate set up for watching the games. Be sure and note the sign “In Dog Beers I’ve only had Two”. Cute.

This is a view from the other side of the “Hawks Nest”. You can see the big screen TV just to the left of the word Seahawks. During the Monday night Seahawks game there were a lot of people hooting and hollering as the game went on. Everyone is invited to attend. The folks who own this set up have NFL Ticket and have both College and NFL Games on frequently.

We had mentioned “Don’t Drink the Water”. Here is a triple filter. The first filter is a sediment filter and stops the big chunks. The second filter is finer filtration and removes other particles and the third filter is a carbon filter and removes the rest of the bad stuff, hopefully. You change the filters out as they get used up. The sediment filter most frequently.

This is an Anna’s Hummingbird. There are a lot of hummers around here though not many different species. Many people have feeders hanging out and still our goes down rather quickly from all the activity. We will see different species of hummingbirds as we get further south. Fascinating birds to watch.

Here is your "How to Cook a Turkey" lesson. For Thanksgiving many people deep fry their turkey. The fellow who owned this equipment was getting ready to cook the bird. What you can't see in this image is that he was quite a ways from his RV in case there was a flare up or an accident with the hot oil.
He said he used the whole box of peanut oil that you see in the picture, heated it to 350 degrees, put the turkey on a metal rod device that went through the turkey and had a handle on the end for placing the turkey in the heated oil and for taking it out. He said it takes 3 minutes a pound so a 15 pound bird takes only 45 minutes. There is no stuffing in the turkey. That's how he cooked it and has been doing so for 15 years. Has anyone used this or a similar technique for cooking their Turkey?

Some Bird Images

This bright red fellow is a Vermilion Flycatcher. They spend their time perched on a twig or atop a bush watching for bugs or insects that fly by and can be caught and eaten. They range from the southern parts of the United States down into central and South America. Many are resident year round in southern Arizona.

This lighter looking bird is also a Vermilion Flycatcher but a juvenile or younger bird. They will develop the bright red plumage you see above in the next year.

A Loggerhead Shrike can kill and carry an animal as massive as itself. It transports large prey in its feet and smaller victims in its beak. They will also catch a prey like a grasshopper and skewer it onto a thorn of a nearby plant where it will then eat it from where it is attached.

This is an American Kestrel. It is a male as identified by the bluish coloration on it's shoulder. They are the smallest falcon and found commonly throughout North America and major parts of South America. The oldest American Kestrel was a male and at least 14 years, 8 months old when he was found in Utah in 2001. He had been banded in the same state in 1987.

Northern Mockingbirds continue to add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their lives. A male may learn around 200 songs throughout its life. According to the published range maps they are found throughout the United States, Mexico, The Carribean, and parts of southern Canada. Here in Arizona they are very common.

This picture is called "here's looking at you". It is just a fun picture of the Northern Mockingbird.

There are three different Grackle species found within the United States. Common Grackle, occuring further to east than here, Boat-tailed Grackle, occuring predominantly along the southern gulf coast, and the Great-tailed Grackle that you see here. The Great-tailed is very common in this part of Arizona. This image shows a male Great-tailed Grackle, the females are about half the size of males with long, slender tails, and are browner in coloration.

This is a male Phainopepla. Here in the southwest, Phainopeplas and mistletoe rely on each other. Phainopeplas feed heavily on berries of this parasitic plant; after the berries pass through the bird's digestive tract, the seeds often stick to branches of mesquite or other trees, where they can sprout new mistletoe clumps. The female Phainopepla are overall a grayish coloration not the shiny black you see here.

This is a Ladder-backed Woodpecker of the southwestern deserts and Mexico. They often nest in cactus and can be heard foraging for grubs under the bark of the Mesquite trees or other woody plants that occur in their area.

Bill Williams NWR

Just a short ways north of where we are staying is Bill Williams NWR. The Bill Williams River for which the refuge is named, extends a short 40 miles to the east and empties into the Colorado River at Lake Havasu. A portion of the river and its unique habitat are protected within the Refuge and offers a glimpse into what this landscape looked like hundreds of years ago.

There is a great deal of information on the Internet regarding Bill Williams NWR. This blog post is intended to picque your interest and prod you into further research and a visit. There is also a fascinating dirt/gravel road that is across the highway from the visitor center and follows the river eastward. It is a completely different perspective on the refuge. Great place.

The Bill Williams River empties into Lake Havasu in the upper left corner of this image crossing under the highway bridge that you can see in the distance. Lake Havasu opens to the left side of this picture and there were many boats on the water with people fishing.

You can see the vegetation that is on the jetty. It provides a great habitat for birds and other critters. There are a lot of small placards identifying the different plants that are along the trail.

Here is a Clarks Grebe. It is distinguished, partially, from a Western Grebe by the black line being above the eye while the Western has the black line through or below the eye. In talking with folks at the refuge in the past it seems that the majority of the Grebes here in the winter are Clark's.

This is a view along the concrete pathway that runs part of the way out the rock jetty. The first part of the pathway is smooth as you see in this image. Out a ways it turns to gravel and is gravel to the end of the rock jetty. It is a really well done walkway and provides excellent views along the way.

As you walk along the path there are various informative signs that provide information about the refuge and the flora and fauna you can find here. They are very well done.

Here is one of the fishing access points that are found along the trail. In the past we had spoken with a couple of people fishing and they claimed the fishing was great in the spring. The solar panels are used to provide light for fishing in the evening.

The three birds in this picture are called Goldeneye. The bird on the left is a male Common Goldeneye while the bird on the right is a male Barrows Goldeneye distinguished by different markings on the side and the crescent on the face as opposed to the round mark on the Common Goldeneye. The third bird in upper right is a female Common Goldeneye.

Be sure and stop by the visitor information center when you are there. They have a lot of great information and very helpful staff.

This is an Ash-throated Flycatcher. It was seen along the pathway. Like many other desert animals such as the kangaroo rat, Ash-throated Flycatchers don’t need to drink water. Instead they get it all from the food they eat. In the past a Nutting's flycatcher has been seen on the refuge, up river from the visitor center. That is a rare species for the United States and demonstrates how much of an attractant this environment can be. It is really worth a stop and visit at Bill Williams NWR.

River Lodge Resort

We are staying for about a month at River Lodge Resort along the Colorado River that separates Arizona and California. We are on the California side but we use Arizona Time, which is an hour earlier, since the AZ side of the river has all the businesses and shopping. The facilities in this place are a little dated in that many of the amenities are old but functional however the price as we will discuss is reasonable. We are still looking for the bar and grill as mentioned in this sign but we have only been here a few days and that part of the facility maybe hiding. The Colorado River runs right by the Resort. The RVs and other structures we will discuss stretch along the river for about a mile. This is a large resort or RV park.

In general terms the longer you stay in your RV at a given place the cheaper the price per night becomes. That is true for private parks but the state parks do not offer any weekly or monthly rates. At state parks it is per night and per night only with typically a 14 day maximum stay and in Arizona a typically nightly rate is $30-$40 a night. Here at River Lodge it costs $50 to stay one night, $250 to stay a week ($35.71 a night) and $330 a month (31 days equals $10.65 per night) for the site we are in. Quite a difference in prices the longer you stay. The monthly folks pay .18 cents a KWH for electricity while it is included in the other rates.

We have chatted with many people who are staying here. There are lots of folks that have been coming here every year for the past 15-17 years. That is a long time to be coming back to the same place. Many are Canadians as well as many from Montana, Wyoming, Washington and other northern climates. The longer term visitors typically get here Nov 01 and depart April 1st staying here for 5 months. In front of the RV you see here is the Colorado River so this is a prime spot and commands a higher price than we described. However we were surprised when we found out that they only pay $370 month. These spaces also have a waiting list of 5-6 years or longer. People keep them for a long time.

The Water - Don't drink the water. The water in this part of the desert is terrible. Very high in mineral content, very hard and basically undrinkable. People will either use a water softener, as seen in this image, (if you are staying of several months you just rent one of these from the Culligan Man), buy bottled water for drinking, or buy water from the water station which is a reverse osmosis machine and it produces decent water. The water from the machine costs $1 for 5 gallons and many use it for coffee or drinking. You need to use about twice the amount of shampoo when washing your hair because of the hardness of the water. You just don't get the suds.

What you see in this image is called a tiny home. They are basically park model homes that you can buy. There are many of them here at River Lodge and more going in. The model with a loft cost about $70,000 all set up and ready to go. Once you buy the unit you pay $415 a month to River Lodge for rent and then .18 cents a KWH for electricity. Since this is really BLM land you never own the land but lease it for a long, long time. Most of the Tiny Homes are right along the river and have direct access to the water. You can see the personal water craft and other items they keep here. This person may come over for the warm summer months or has not arrived yet for the winter season.

Before you get out your checkbook keep in mind that this is hot desert country in the summer. It will commonly get to a 110 degrees and stay there for several days and the people who live here said it got to 129 one day this summer. That is hot. However when you talk to folks that live around here they shrug off the hot weather as if it is no big deal. Heat is here and you just live with it.

As mentioned this is BLM land and the wild burros that walk around here are protected. You cannot harrass them and you are asked not to feed them. In this image the golf course folks have trimmed the palm trees and the burros are eating the green fronds. We made a mistake the first night we were here and left the garbage bag hanging outside. One of the burros came right up to our door and stuck his nose in the bag looking for something to eat. So far they appear to be fairly docile and will just wander off. Not much bothers them. They do however leave their droppings, the processed palm fronds as it were, everywhere. Some piles have been cleaned up but it is not clear if that is park staff doing the cleanup or folk who are staying here visitors.

This is a view of part of the golf course. Over the winter the burros have done some major damage to the course and it is in need of a lot of repair. If you are staying in the park, there is no charge to play the course. It is a short 9 hole par 3 course with two holes about 200 yards in length each and the rest much shorter. Many of the people staying for five months play golf daily. Certainly with no green fees that is a big draw. They ask for a donation of either money or time working on the course. It seems fairly loosely organized and we have been told that the owners don't play golf and don't care at all about the course or fixing it up or maintaining it.

This is a view looking west down the Colorado River. We are fairly close to the river and walked about 100 yards to get this view to the west. Nice sunset.

Valley of Fire - Nevada State Park

If you are ever near Las Vegas you should stop by the Valley of Fire State Park. It is about 50 miles north east of Las Vegas on the north side of Lake Mead and is about 46,000 acres in size with lots of fascinating things to see and many trails to hike. It is a beautiful area of red sandstone and other rocks formations jutting out of the desert.

This was the view out the front of our campsite. The sun is just coming up in this picture.

This is one view of the campground where we stayed for a couple of nights. You can see the RVs nestled among the rocks. There are two campgrounds in the park and we stayed at Atlatil Rock Campground. It was pretty much full the two nights we were there and the volunteer host said it had been full for several weeks. The snowbirds are coming.

Here is one of the rock structures in the campground. The winds of time have eroded parts of the structure. You can see the hole that is eroded and in later pictures we will see lots of evidence of this erosion.

This formation is called the "seven Sisters". There are seven individual rock formations. You can walk down among them and there are picnic tables and walking trails. As you can see they just jut up out of the desert.

This is a formation named Elephant Rock. You cannot clearly see the Elephant from this view as some tourists were climbing all over the rocks and taking selfies. They had to walk directly past the "Do not Climb On" sign to get to where they were. Guess the sign didn't mean them. Fascinating formation nonetheless.

There are a myriad of colors in the various rocks. This shows a blending of color. It is an interesting pattern.

Here we see the mountain blended with a variety of colors. Layers of different colors.

This looks like layers in the rock. The hole shows the erosion, the layers are all through the rock as can be seen in the back of the hole.

Some the fascination about the valley of fire is the scale of things to look at and experience. Some are small and some on a much larger scale. Fascinating views all of them.

While walking up to the visitor center we passed these holes in the rock. They kind of look like a face,maybe something of a contorted scream.

Be sure and spend some time in the visitor center. It is really well done and will give you a good perspective on the history of the park, the geology, animal and plant life that can be found here and the native people that lived here many years ago.

Earlier we had seen a larger hole in the rocks. Here we see a horizontal row of holes in the layers. The signs of erosion are everywhere.

The many holes on a larger scale.

Here parts of a rock were eroded away. Maybe once they were holes that collapsed in on each other. The wind and little rain and lots of time certainly make a lot of changes.

This is just another of the many examples of red rock formations that can be seen everywhere in the park.

A view from back a little gives you a different perspective of the rocks and how they just seem to rise up out of the desert environment.

Speaking of scale here we can see tracks in the sand. Small rodents, birds,lizards. The myriad of dwellers in the desert.

This sign was on the road to the visitor center in The Valley of Fire. We did not see a desert tortise but the signs warned us to be aware of their presence.

One day we took a short ride over towards Lake Mead which was close by. As we turned down into a place called Echo Bay we noticed these fences. You can see it in the center of the photo. They were on both sides of the road but only about 2 feet high. They are designed to keep the tortise off the highway. We thought they were a little short for livestock fencing but maybe the tortise is considered livestock.

I am convinced that this feeble attempt to show you the Valley of Fire has not succeeded very well. You really need to experience the place and immerse yourself among the beauty. Great place, be sure and visit if you are ever in the area. Also you can google Valley of Fire and look at Images. There are some great pictures out on the internet that show the wave and many other formations not mentioned here. We will go back.