We are still at Riverside Campground

The weather has been so nice, we don't need anything, and our 14 days isn't up until tomorrow morning, so I decided to stay the full 14 days.

My generator started smoking Monday morning.  I brewed my coffee and turned it off.  The other day the red light was flashing in a three flash sequence, which means Service Required.  I have the name and phone number of an Onan repair/service shop in Albuquerque, which was going to be my next stop after Elephant Butte. One of the women came over and we were talking and the smoking generator came up.  Later her husband came over, asked me some questions, got his tools and oil, and changed my oil and cleaned up my oil filter.  I couldn't believe his generosity of time and supplies to do this for me. They were getting ready to leave and put off their departure until he finished and my generator was again good to go.  He said I won't need to go to Albuquerque for service on the generator.  It should be fine for a while, with a new filter the next time around. Having the generator taken care of took some pressure off me to leave this area.

I'm thinking I might go back to Percha Dam State Park, one of the premier birding sites in New Mexico, and stay for a bit.  I was standing above the river watching some birds at dusk last night, and two birders with binoculars were there and we started talking.  They were telling me about a great trail at Percha Dam, if you walk it at dusk there are some unusual birds to see, and I think I might do that.

Suddenly a huge flock of Ibis flew overhead.  I couldn't focus my zoom lens in time to get a photo, but it was something to see.  A huge, wide line in a kind of flat V shape.  The birders were so excited.  It was a beautiful evening - there were night hawks flying overhead, the killdeer was back in the river, as well as Spotted Sandpipers and another little flock of  birds swimming around and diving for food.

Here are the latest and greatest birds:

According to my field guide, the Black-necked Stilt may have the longest legs in the bird world in proportion to the body.  Such unusual looking birds, I enjoyed watching them wading in the water.

Yesterday Katie and I stalked a Great Blue Heron up the river.  It wouldn't let us get very close, but it was fun to watch him and see how close he would let us get.

Bullock's Oriole taking a bath in the river:

Coming out all wet - he was kept company by a little male House Finch on the right:

Here's a clearer shot of the Killdeer:

Northern Shoveler and Blue-winged Teal:

Red-winged Blackbird:

Spotted Sandpiper:

Tern - it was hard to get any closer - he just kept flying back and forth down the river and then back up.  He never stopped flying, just dove into the water a couple of times and kept going:

Here are a couple of birds I couldn't find in my guides, but I thought they were interesting looking:

House Sparrow (Thanks, Judy!)

Wilson's Phalarope (Thanks again, Judy!)

These birds were always in a group, swimming around and bobbing constantly for food under the water.

If you know what they are, please let me know. (And Judy left a message with both names, thank you!  I'd bet the House Sparrow is pretty common, but I've sure never seen the Wilson's Phalarope before.  They are very different looking, I wasn't sure if they are a duck or some other type of bird.)

I've had a visitor peeking in my windows - he scared the heck out of me, and Katie, too. I have a ladder covered with a large plastic bag attached to my motor home ladder.  He climbed up and perched on top of the plastic bag.  Katie started barking, looking at the kitchen, so I got up and went back.  I didn't see anything, then looked out the window at the same time the squirrel saw me and we both scared each other to high heaven.  He jumped down and I went outside and chased him away.  Yesterday he tried it again, but I heard him climbing up and went outside and around the back.  We again scared each other half to death.  He ran and I screamed.  Jeez, he and I have to stop meeting like this:

And finally - one last sunset from Riverside Campground - this shot is the southern sky, the sunset itself was gorgeous, but I don't have a clear view of it from my area.

And that's it from this campground.  I know I'm posting a lot of photos, but I probably have thousands that are in the "didn't post" file.  There are so many birds here to take pictures of, but I'm kind of into birds right now, so I wanted to post the best of the shots I've taken.

A big Welcome to our latest Follower, One Texans Travels!   Chris has a new blog, and says he doesn't get to travel much for pleasure, so the blog will only be updated occasionally, but it looks like it will be interesting when he does!  Thanks for following along with me and Katie, Chris, we are happy to have you aboard!  

From me and Katie - have a great Thursday tomorrow.  Next post will be from a different campground.  :)