Elephant Butte State Park

We arrived here at Elephant Butte late morning yesterday. First we had to get gas, propane, do laundry - five loads - put it all away, shop at Walmart, put everything away, and drive here.  At that point I was exhausted - and I still needed to put the comforter in it's duvet and make the bed with the clean sheets.  That task never bothered me with a regular bed, but up in the overhead on a hot day, it was a daunting task.  I don't know why I like to do everything on the same day - usually a travel day - but it always completely wears me out.

We came through the Park Office/Entry Gate and drove a little way to the dry camping developed spots, but they were up high over the lake and I wanted to be closer to the water.  So, using the camping area map the Ranger gave me, we drove back out and turned right - heading toward North and South Monticello Points.  I didn't know the area and kept thinking I had passed them.  I finally just took a road toward the lake to one of the posted coves.  I talked to a man there who told me exactly how to get where I wanted to go.

I ended up at South Monticello Point, but it appeared to be electric only sites.  From the end of the sites, though, I could look down and see tons of water birds next to the dry boat launch, and I wanted to get there.  After a couple of wrong turns, I finally made it.  I hadn't even had my coffee at that point and I was starved, so we parked next to the boat ramp and I made a turkey and cheese sandwich with Ruffles on the side and drank tons of water.  When I was done, I didn't feel like walking out closer to the birds, so just snapped what I could of the birds that were closest.  They looked like Great Blue Herons, Pelicans, Coots, Ducks, and some birds that looked like really big white ducks.

Unless these are juvenile Great Blue Herons in front, the white birds must be huge. Some kind of duck or goose? (Ross Goose - white phase juvenile and Little Blue Herons, thank you, Hazel!)

There were many Great Blue Herons - this was the closest.

Are these Pelicans?  (White Pelicans, per Hazel)

And this little lizard (Zebratail lizard per Hazel) was on the rocks by The Palms

There was a birder with a tri-pod and camera down by the water taking photos, and as he was driving to another area I walked down to ask him if he knew of a good place to dry camp that had water nearby.  He suggested Paseo Del Rio Campground, which was the other way, a little past the main Park Office/Visitor Center.  So we took off and ended up in a little campground along the Rio Grande, which was very picturesque.

The Rio Grand along the Paseo Del Rio Campground

Our Campsite

This was a beautiful place to camp, but unfortunately there was very slight cell and Internet, nowhere near enough for me to enjoy my stay.  So, Katie and I had a nice quiet night and left first thing this morning.

We came back to the main campground, went through the Park Office/Visitor Center entrance again, and drove down the road to see which dry camping sites were still available.  I picked one out, got settled, made coffee and cereal with fresh strawberries and looked out the window to see a Roadrunner actually crossing the road.  It felt like a sign - this is where we are supposed to be.

It was very hot yesterday, really hot - up to 96 degrees in The Palms, but today, since we are up higher and above the lake, we are getting the benefit of the breezes and low winds blowing through our open windows.  Also, good wi-fi and cell reception and TV antenna reception here. Elephant Butte State Park is supposed to have free wi-fi, but it is not very strong where I am, and I ended up using my own.  It's not speeding fast here, but more than adequate. 

This is the view out my dinette window - Elephant Butte Lake with the Marina on the right.

When we were driving over here from Paseo Del Rio Campground, we passed a large pond full of birds roosting.  There was a place to pull off the road, so I parked and walked over with my camera.  These are some of the birds I saw there - I think lots of Cormorants and maybe a Green Heron.

 Double Crested Cormorant per Hazel

It's days like this when I want a new camera with a better zoom lens.  My 16x zoom is really good, much better than my older camera, but now that I'm into getting good clear closeups of birds, sometimes it just isn't good enough. If you know what these birds are, help me out?  ( Hazel sent me an e-mail with the names of the birds - I didn't know there was a Little Blue Heron - but there he was in my guide.  Thanks for all the information, Hazel! :)  )

Today I did a lot of moving things around from one cupboard to another. Now that the weather is getting so hot, it was time.  While doing that I found things I haven't ever used, but don't want to get rid of, so I put them in the back of cupboards which freed up space in some other cupboards.  While moving the vacuum to a more available space, I vacuumed, too.  I'm feeling pretty organized and rested again.  I never did make coffee yesterday and had a bad headache last night.  Too late to have a cup of coffee for a fix, so a couple of Ibuprofen helped a bit.  First thing this morning - coffee!

At this point, I'm planning to spend the whole 14 days here.  The weather will be 80's and low 90s until then  - on the four days after we leave, the forecast is 97, 99, 101 and 100 degrees, so I'm heading north at a good time.

From Me and Dog, have a great Tuesday night, everyone!  :)

It's our last night at Percha Dam

I'd like to stay here for the duration, but I'm running out of milk, bread and propane, so tomorrow morning we'll move on. 

Katie has turned out to be the best bird dog, not because she finds and retrieves the birds, but because she will sit, very quietly without moving, when I signal her to sit/stay.  When I start walking slowly and quietly, whispering to her (trying to sneak up on the birds at the river), she slows down and walks slowly right behind me until I signal her to sit/stay. Then I lay her leash handle on the ground.  With her leash and tags quiet, I can slowly sneak up to the bank and scan right and left to see if anything looks interesting.  If anyone saw me, they would think I was a batty old woman, for sure. 

This is Katie after I carried her back the other day because of the hot sand.  (I still can't figure out why it was so hot. I felt it, though, and it was burning hot. Yesterday and today we walked the same path around the same time, and I kept feeling the sand to be sure it wasn't too hot, and it was fine.  Anyway, she was happy to be carried home and then given a treat.  Big smile and ears both up.  :)

This is the area of the Rio Grande we've been walking above:



We walked down to the river yesterday and walked along as far as we could go, until we couldn't get around the trees without going into the water.  These huge tree roots were exposed and kind of artistic looking, I thought.

Following are more new birds snapped in the last couple of days. I saw the Green Heron again today and watched him for quite a while, but the photos weren't as good as the others I've posted. They were clearer, but the color wasn't as good - probably different light. 

First is the only new bird along the water, a Common Yellowthroat.  I had three photos of him jumping - there were two of them, and they moved around and jumped on and off the rocks constantly.

Common Yellowthroat

The rest were taken in my campsite or from the windows of The Palms.

Black-tailed Gnat-catcher - non-breeding male

Chipping Sparrow - Another Angry Bird

Two Chipping Sparrows - there were lots of these little guys on the ground, they'd sweep in and sweep out in a flock.

Grey-headed Dark-eyed Junco

Grey-headed Dark-eyed Junco

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - female I think - I don't see red on her head.

American Goldfinch - you can't miss him in the trees.

American Goldfinch

Vermilion Flycatchers - female with juveniles

Vermilion Flycatcher - female

Vermilion Flycatcher - Male

This is one of my Field Guides - anything look familiar?

Here's dainty Katie, in her bed - notice both ears are up again, a rare sight:

We've enjoyed our short stay at Percha Dam State Park.  If you happen to stop here and want to see the water in the river, take the path right past the playground. There's a fence there that you can go through.  Keep walking and the river will be below you on your left.  It's a nice level path all the way to the end where there are fields.  Not a long walk at all.

Our next post will be from Elephant Butte.  From me and Katie, have a nice Sunday night, everyone!  :)

I caught a couple of fish!

...on film.  :)

When Katie and I took our evening walk along the river last night, we went to where there was water and followed it a little way.  I started hearing all this splashing and saw a big fish jumping out of the water.  I saw a bunch of fish swimming along with their backs out of the water, too, because these are tall fish, backbone to stomach, and don't fit in the shallow water.  That's what the camp host at Riverside Campground told me and I saw it for myself.  The jumping was taking place in a deeper area, though, and I could see the fish through the clear water. Can you see them all?

First new bird for Thursday - I saw a Green Heron.  I sure wasn't expecting to see one of these!  I wish he wasn't in a tree with branches in front of him, it blurred the shots a little, but these aren't too bad.  It's so strange how they have such a long neck when they are alert, and then scrunch down into a short, fat bird when they are relaxed.  He flew down to the ground, ran around a little, then flew over the river to a tree.  He moved around a lot, stretching out his neck and looking to the left, then compacting back to a short thick neck and looking to the right.  Then turning around.  Then he flew away - I barely got him in flight, and he was gone. 

 

This is my second new bird for Thursday - a Vermilion Flycatcher.  Again, not so clear, but the only ones I could get before he flew away.

I wonder what I'll see today?  Well, not much. 

Around 1:30 this afternoon Katie and I took a walk back to the place I saw the Green Heron and suddenly she started yelling and screaming and falling down.  I checked her feet, and no stickers.  She seemed fine, stood up again and started walking and went through the whole thing again.  Geez!  I didn't know what to do.  She's never acted like this before.  I picked her up, and she clung to me, wagging her tail like mad.  I reached down and felt the sand that was on the path - hot Hot HOT!  Poor little Katie was getting four hot feet.  I felt so bad I almost cried. It was nice out, but not hot.  That sand must be a real heat conductor, because we've had no issues walking around the campground.  We were on that trail early evening yesterday, so I guess the sand had cooled down by that time.  Katie wagged her tail all the way back to The Palms.  :(   Now it's raining, YEAAAA!, and we are definitely in for the day. 

From me and Katie, have a great Friday, everyone!  :)

Back to Percha Dam State Park

We came the 1+ mile back to Percha Dam this morning. It really was a no brainer, about a one mile drive, what's to lose?  I'm happier with the park this time around for some reason. We don't have Fox or CBS on our antenna TV, which we got at Riverside/Cabello, but PBS comes through, and our Verizon phone and Internet are strong. 

We got a few drops of rain, and I think the weekend is supposed to be rainy, so I'm looking forward to that, and hope a little of it lands on the river. :)

A new bird sighting already!  This, I think, is a Summer Tanager.  I saw one the night we spent here before going to Caballo, but couldn't get a shot of it.  This morning I got tons of photos.  Here are two:

This morning we took a walk and there were some good clear animal prints along the path above the Rio Grande. The river is dry, but down a little way the water starts again.  It must be deeper there, so it hasn't dried up yet. The prints came up from the water and then along the path.  I think two of the prints are from a cat or canine type animal, one looks like a cloven hoof, and the other is a bird track.

Can you recognize the prints?  Any idea what animal made them?  Do I need to start taking my walking stick with us, just in case?  When I saw the cloven hoof type track, I was looking around for Javalinas - but I don't think they travel alone.  Are there coyotes here, bobcats?  I think I'll ask the camp host or ranger which animals are in the area.

This is also a new bird for me:

Orange-covered Jail Bird - male.  Three were spotted working in and around the restrooms.

Percha Dam looking up river.

Rio Grande looking downriver from the dam.

While in front of the dam looking through it, I wondered how I'd know if they released water. Then I saw this sign.

And this is the campground bird catcher:

 Pretty cat - I hope he's well fed at home.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

From me and Katie, have a good Thursday evening, everyone!  :)