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!  :)

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.  :)