Worst Photo, Best Sighting

Sometimes the worst photo you take can be one of the best birds you see. On our trip to Las Vegas a few weeks ago, the last place I expected any good birding was from the window of our 23rd floor room at The Mirage. Yet one afternoon, after a busy morning out in wilder spaces, my husband asked me what bird was outside the window - anticipating one of the ever-present grackles, I took an indulgent look, but was startled to see not a blackbird, but a raptor.

On the sign across from our volcano-view room, two raptors were calmly watching the street scene below. Through a dirty window and from that distance, I couldn't get a clear view, but the thick malar stripes, dark upperparts, and barred underparts made identification almost too easy - peregrine falcons. On close inspection, the "bloomer" leg feathers and hooked bill were also noticeable, and when one of the birds launched into flight, the sharply pointed wings were one final clue.

These raptors are one of the most successful stories of urban nesting in the world. Natural cliff dwellers, they have adapted well to the urban cliffs of skyscrapers, and the ready availability of pigeons, rats, and other urban wildlife make for easy hunting. Truth be told, I've never had an easier sighting of one of these marvelous raptors than from the air-conditioned comfort of a hotel room!

At Least a Lifer

On our trip to Las Vegas last month - a getaway we typically take in winter - I was able to get in some good birding, including discovering a new park to explore. At one of my favorite hotspots - the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve - I hit a jackpot of lifers, including one that seemed least of all but turned out to be a great sighting, a least sandpiper.

A short boardwalk at the preserve leads out into a shallow pond, and along the muddy shore a single peep was busy peeping his way through every crevice and cranny, searching for the next tidbit. I was able to get quite close to the bird, which was fortunate, for it was tiny! That alone is a good field mark for this species; the least sandpiper is the smallest shorebird in North America. The buff feathers with dark cores, the bright yellow legs, and the dark, slightly decurved bill were all additional clues, and a new lifer was added to my list.

It wasn't the only bird I saw for the first time on this trip; the black-tailed gnatcatcher and orange-crowned warbler also joined my life list in Vegas, and also at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve - what a winning streak of birding! I'm always amazed at the incredible diversity of birds in Las Vegas, and I have never yet failed to get a lifer when visiting that fabulous city. I can't wait to go back!

Vegas Sunset

Sunset Park is one of my very favorite birding spots in Las Vegas, and after this last trip, it is even more impressive. Previously, the park has consisted of an extensive area of playgrounds and ball fields that aren't very enticing to birds, and the highlight has been Sunset Lake - the artificial pond that hosts many different types of waterfowl. Around the lake is a wide stretch of open ground and trees where songbirds can be found, and beyond that was undeveloped scrub desert where the most adventurous birders might find dry-loving species.

In the past year, however, that scrub desert has been beautifully renovated and preserved, and a small area of natural spring marsh is now able to be accessed. Wide, accessible walking trails stroll through the extensive area, and information stations offer tidbits about local ecology, climate, habitats, and wildlife, including birds. The area has been leveled a bit to give clear, unobstructed views, but the native vegetation is thriving, and so are the birds. In just that area, I spotted...

• Say's phoebe
• House finch
• Verdin
• Costa's hummingbird
• White-crowned sparrow
• Song sparrow
• House sparrow
• Phainopepla
• Gambel's quail
• Bewick's wren
• Yellow-rumped warbler
• Northern mockingbird

Mind you, this was before migration has really begun and later in the morning, but still the birding was exquisite. Both the Costa's hummingbird and the Bewick's wren were unexpected lifers - unexpected because I've been to Sunset Park several times, and I'd not anticipated any new birds. The Costa's hummingbird was displaying in his dizzying courtship flights, and the Bewick's wren was singing greetings to all passersby.

This park is always a Vegas jackpot for birding, and I highly recommend it - it's not a gamble to get great birding here!

Getting Lucky

Every birder knows that the more they visit one location, the less likely they are to see new birds. Of course, the occasional rarity or vagrant is always possible, but still uncommon.

With that in mind, I didn't have high hopes for our recent trip to Las Vegas, and my return to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve and Sunset Park. When I'd visited these same areas last year, birding extensively, I hit the jackpot with 15 new species to add to my life list, and while I'm always hoping for a new lifer, I didn't think I'd see anything extraordinary on this visit.

During several hours of birding at the two sites combined, I identified 44 species, including an astonishing five new lifers:

• Gadwall: I'm fairly certain I've seen these dabblers before, but never clearly enough for a positive identification.
• Lesser Scaup: Finally I was able to clearly identify one of these diving ducks, adding it to my life list next to its near twin, the greater scaup, which I saw for the first time in Vegas last year.
• Great Egret: Beautifully poised on the island at Sunset Park, this is a stunning bird to behold.
• Crissal Thrasher: It took a half hour of wandering through sand dunes and desert brush before I got a clear look at this bird; then go figure after I'd identified it, it kept coming closer and into better light.
• Muscovy Duck: This was an exciting find, a pair of these rare ducks. While they may be escapees, they didn't have the white plumage you'd often find on domestics. Neither the male nor female will win beauty contests, but their coloration is extraordinary.

Of course, just seeing new lifers is only part of the fun of birding in a new - or infrequent - place. It was a joy to see many other species I don't get at home, including verdins, common moorhens, and great-tailed grackles. Other popular species at the two sites included yellow rumped warblers, ruby crowned kinglets, marsh wrens, and many species of ducks such as northern pintails, northern shovelers, pied billed grebes, and ruddy ducks.

Seeing different bird behavior is also a treat. Shovelers pinwheeling, grackles staring up like grackles do, warblers warbling - it's all a pleasure, and reminds me that even if you don't see new species, you're always lucky to be seeing birds.

Jackpot

There are times when a birder ventures to a new location in the hopes of getting lucky and finding a new species for their life list. I hit the birders' jackpot on a trip to Las Vegas in the past few days, where I was fortunate to visit the City of Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve as well as Sunset Park. Between several hours at those two locations, I managed to add 15 new species to my life list...

• Greater White Fronted Goose (pictured, bottom)
• Ross's Goose
• Cinnamon Teal
• Redhead
• Ring Necked Duck
• Greater Scaup (pictured, top)
• Bufflehead
• Gambel's Quail
• Eared Grebe
• Double Crested Cormorant
• Common Moorhen
• Northern Rough Winged Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Verdin
• Northern Mockingbird

In addition to these new-to-me birds, I also spotted Canada geese, mallards, an entire flock of northern shovelers, ruddy ducks, many American coots, one shy Wilson's snipe, many color variations of rock pigeons, several mourning doves, a pompous greater roadrunner, yellow rumped warblers, one yellow headed blackbird in a flock of Brewer's blackbirds and brown headed cowbirds, the ubiquitous house sparrows, and a great number of great tailed grackles. There were also at least two species of hummingbirds, a type of egret or heron, several other swallows, a largeish hawk, and other ducks and songbirds that I was unable to identify.

Frankly, I cannot recommend these two birding locations strongly enough. Easy and free to access, they are just a few miles from McCarran International Airport and an easy drive from the Las Vegas Strip. The Bird Viewing Preserve was wonderfully unpopulated - in fact, my husband and I were the only two in spacious facility for most of our visit - and while nearby Sunset Park is more crowded, the birds are also more accustomed to human presence and don't mind eager birders getting closer. I'm already planning a return trip in different seasons so I may see what other visitors are present. I'm also planning a full review of the Bird Viewing Preserve on About.com, so stay tuned for tips on hitting your own birding jackpot!