Red Rocks NCA

After a delicious lunch, Cyndi's Dad drove east of Las Vegas, toward the mountains and took us to visit Red Rocks National Conservation Area. Hikers, horseback riders, and rock climbers all enjoy the sandstone formations and mountains beyond. You can see the hiking trails running up the ridge and also along the creek bed.

The Common Ravens enjoy the landscape, too!

The wildflowers here were stunning.

The Orange Globe Mallow grow in my yard. Who would imagine such color in a dry desert environment.

The cactus flowers, like this Beavertail Cactus were equally brilliant.

Cyndi used to spend time here as a youngster, so in addition to enjoying the beauty she enjoyed recollections of fun times spent in this area and told me stories of horseback rides and camping trips in these mountains. She was grinning the whole time. Mountains can do that for one's spirit, I've found.

Here in this wash an Ash-throated Flycatcher came very close to us. By now I was getting more familiar with this sort of flycatcher. Many of the flycatchers do look alike, but where they are found is a clue to their identity. The Ash-throated are more likely to be found in dry desert areas, while the Dusky-capped are more likely to be found in wooded areas.

This White-throated Swift went by and I was very lucky this time. Usually they're gone before I can raise the camera, but this one did a half-circle around me, staring down at the camera so I had time to focus and take one image before it rocketed off. The swifts are closely related to hummingbirds ... both types of bird have very little use for legs and feet and are aerial acrobats.

Cyndi pointed out this flower, Purple Sage. I had heard the word before, but had never seen these wonderful flowers on the sagebrush in the desert. What a colorful show!

Springs Preserve

Upon arrival in Las Vegas the first bird I saw was this Northern Mockingbird. It was gathering food and stuffing it into the mouth of a youngster who was tagging along, hungry but not yet motivated enough to forage for its own meals.

Cyndi's Dad treated us to a visit to Springs Preserve, a nature center and botanical garden and environmental education facility. I had a great time finding birds and enjoying the botanical exhibits.

This lizard ran across the gravel pathway.

I thought the Horsetails made a nice pattern. They remind me of bamboo.

And these yellow flowers caught my eye as well.

There were warblers in the bushes, like this MacGillivray's.

From above, the black cap of the Wilson's Warbler stands out.

We have Western Kingbird in Idaho, too ... and it was nice to recognize a familiar kingbird after trying to sort through so many kinds in Arizona. It is the white outer tail feathers that make it so recognizable.

There were Verdin here, too.

And, this Black-chinned Hummingbird posed perfectly against a blue sky. If the light is just right the black gorget will shine a deep dark purple color.

Driving to Las Vegas

Our next destination was Las Vegas, where we would stay with Cyndi's Dad and second Mom. It was a long drive through the desert, but we stopped a couple of times to enjoy the environment.

The scenery changed from Saguaro to these Joshua Trees.

Here's an overview.

And, closer up, you can see many kinds of desert plants grow here.

Many of the cacti were in bloom, and Cyndi took a lot of photos!

Here are some of my pictures of the cactus blooms.

This next plant is Bladder Pod, and I later learned that the plant stores carbon dioxide in the pods on the stem, so they can use it whenever they need it.

There were many kinds of wildflowers along the way.

Most exciting for me, though, was noticing this bird ... one I had never seen before, the Harris's Hawk. We stopped and tried to walk back to get a better view of it, but it would have none of that and flew off as we walked along the road.