One of the niftier pictures I took was while walking around near the river. I kept hearing this chirp above me and when I looked up, there was the brown-headed cowbird that would make a single chirp and completely fluff up his body and spread out his wings and tail. I have no idea what or why this display, but he looked cool!

Part of the ACDSee program I use is it maps out all the locations when photos have geodata. I like how it just shows I wandered all over kingdom come today.

#LahontanValley #LahontanReservoir #DiversionDam #CarsonLakeAndPastureWMA SLineReservoir #HarmonReservoir #IndianLakes #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #BrownHeadedCowbird #GoogleMap #Geotagging

This weekend is the Spring Wings Festival, annual celebration of the migrating birds that make the stop at the Lahontan Valley. There's several activities one can do, like a scavenger hunt or a Big Day or, if you're a kid, a passport book that gets you an airboat ride across one of the reservoirs in the refuge.

Last year, my Big Day was 50 species recorded. This year, I tried to keep better track and ended up with 55 species!

I already updated my eBird and iNaturalist profiles with a majority of the pictures I took (really, you aren't missing out on some of those barely focused snaps) but wanted to share the pictures I like the best.

Super fancy Ruddy Duck.
Protective Canada Goose
Frazzled White-Faced Ibis.
Wind-blown Black-crowned Night-Heron

#LahontanValley #SLineReservoir #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #RuddyDuck #CanadaGoose #WhiteFacedIbis #BlackCrowedNightHeron

At the north end of Upper Foxtail Lake, there is a pull off with a restroom and covered picnic area. The cliff swallows like using the canopy to build their mud nests in and by the time the season is over, it's covered in little mud caves. Once you walk past the picnic spot, there's a boardwalk leading out to two areas that extend out into the lake. One build onto a solid foundation while the other is left to float as the water raises and lowers. Several benches are along the water, allowing you to sit and see the smaller birds.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #MarshWren #YellowHeadedBlackbird

I got some really nice shots while out on the short loop through Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge. Didn't have a whole lot of time to explore deeper into the Refuge, so just took the Auto Tour around Upper Foxtail Lake.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #Lizards #SnowyEgret #YellowBackedSpinyLizard #TurkeyVulture #BarnSwallow

Whoo hoo! They finally updated the website!

Lahontan Audubon's newsletter "The Pelican" announced:

Spring Wings Bird Festival will be held May 20 & 21 in Fallon, NV. Join in the fun by going on a bird scavenger hunt, taking a child on a self guided passport tour, or by recording the most bird species observed in a 24 hour period. Check the website springwingsbirdfest.org for more information.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #ChurchillCounty #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #BirdFestival

I'm going to try to not duplicate birds I've already posted. Today, I took pictures of over 40 species and saw gobs more while driving around Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, Carson Lake and Pasture, and out on Seven Mile Flat.

There were SO MANY Pelicans! So Many! SO SO SO Many. LOL

I always check a strand of trees on my way into the refuge because the Turkey Vultures roost there at certain times of the year. Sure enough, there were 13 hanging out in the trees this morning.

Once I got to the Stillwater Point Reservoir, I was swarmed by a bunch of Tree and Cliff Swallows. I watched both for awhile and kept seeing the Cliff Swallows dive down to a shallow area on the shore of the reservoir. Carefully moved to see them and watched as they gathered beakfuls of mud. Nest building time, I suppose.

Also wading along the shore was several Black-necked Stilts and Long-billed Dowitchers. Enjoyed watching both until a Killdeer thought I was too close (he was way on the other side of the parking area!), raised the alarm, and flew along the shore causing everyone else to fly away. Stupid Killdeer.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #TurkeyVulture #CliffSwallow #BlackNeckedStilt #LongBilledDowitcher

The wind was blowing so hard it made watching those brave enough to take flight entertaining. A Turkey Vulture was using its large wings to glide and a red-tailed hawk somehow managed to hover after being blow off the branch it was perched on.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #TurkeyVulture #RedTailedHawk #Killdeer #LoggerheadShrike

This seems to be the winter that never ends and another winter storm was soon to roll in, but there are a few migrant birds starting to make an appearance. Here are some locals and visitors I spotted over the day.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Birds #Birding #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #NorthernMockingbird #AmericanKestrel #RedwingBlackbird #WhitefacedIbis

While driving around, the snow covered Stillwater Mountain range was crisp against the blue sky. Camera doesn't do the view justice. I was so pretty seeing those mountains just dominate the eastern sky.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #FoxPeak #Footprints #Fenceline

(Apologies Twitter friends for the repeat, it's easier to write Alt Text there and paste it here.)

Last weekend was beautiful. A warm (though very windy) 60 degrees and sunny with clear blue skies for most of the day. Opted to take a trip out to Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and to Lockwood to see the sights and find whatever birds I could.

First, the drive out to Stillwater was gorgeous so I stopped alongside Harmon Reservoir to have lunch.

#LahontanValley #StillwaterNWR #Nevada #Footprints #OffRoading