Here's my NEW bird sighting, maybe two

I saw this bird in a leafless tree while Katie and I were walking.  I was sure this was a Northern Cardinal - I've never seen one before, and I snapped and snapped his photo until he flew away.  As I was putting the photos into this post, I did a second search through my field guides, and - well - I guess I've still never seen a straight-on Cardinal.  I was so sure, but now I believe this bird is a Pyrrhuloxia Cardinalis sinuatus.  I think this is a male because the guide says the female has a buff belly, and this guy has red on his stomach. 

Later I noticed one out the kitchen window and have seen some around the campsite.  I don't know why I didn't see any Cardinals when I was here last year, but it's sure fun to spot and photograph a NEW bird.

The photos taken in the sunshine turned out pretty well, but some of them were taken in the shade, and I tried to manipulate the colors to bring out the details.  They aren't that great, but I still like them, so here they all are:

So, birders out there, am I right in my identification?  Pyrrhuloxia?  A type of Cardinal? They look pretty similar except for their beaks.   And is he a male?  He's still a new bird for me.

Next is another set of photos of another new bird.  I just found them in my guide, and they are Lark Buntings.  If I'm right, the black and white bird is an adult breeding male, and the multicolored bird is a female.   They are all over the place here, and fly in flocks low over the cactus. A bunch will land on a cactus and then all fly away at once.  In the mornings I see large flocks of 40 or 50 birds almost looking like they are swarming across the landscape. 

They all look different, but I'm thinking they are molting or changing their look due to being in their breeding season?  Are these all the same bird?  Lark Bunting?  They all flock together like they are the same kind of bird.

And look who else we found, he was snacking on the greens:

It's been really windy here, on and off during the day and night.  The best part of the day is right before dusk.  By that time the temps are warm and the wind is gone so that's when Katie and I take our longest walk of the day.  We've had some beautiful sunsets.  He's the sunset from Saturday with the sun trying to shine through the clouds of dust and sand:

This morning we woke to a gorgeous morning, no wind and lots of birds in our site. 

Next time I'm going to post more birds. I guess it's that season.  There are so many different kinds of birds here, they've been keeping me pretty busy.  Yesterday I saw a large squirrel in the site, too, but I didn't have my camera handy. 

I hope some of you will leave me comments of confirmation on my IDs of these birds.  Or if I'm wrong, hopefully you can tell me the correct names.

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

Rockhound State Park, New Mexico

After leaving Hot Springs on Sunday, we stopped 30 miles down the road toward Yuma - at Pilot Knob.  I've heard a lot about this LTVA, some good, some bad, and I wanted to check it out for myself.  It was sandy, large, and quiet, and there was lots of room to park away from other RVers.  There were many low bushes, but nothing tall to hang hummingbird feeders in.  Beautiful mountains nearby as you can see in the photo below.  I liked it.  There aren't really any campsite areas that I could see, but it worked for me - just drive until you're level and stop.  Put out a couple of chairs and you're "home."

Sunset at Pilot Knob our second night.

Katie and I left Pilot Knob on Tuesday morning on our way to New Mexico.  We stopped in Yuma to do some shopping at Wal-Mart.  Another stop was made at PetSmart to get some food for Katie and have her nails clipped.  Then on to Sam's Club.  I was not a member and wanted to check it out.  I belong to Costco, but I don't see many Costco stores when I'm on the road.  There are many more Sam's Clubs.  I decided to join Sam's and did a little shopping there and filled up the gas tank, too.

Then we took off toward New Mexico, and made it as far as Gila Bend, where I pulled over at a Love's gas station and parked in an end spot next to all the truckers.  I was too tired to drive further after walking around all the stores for hours.  Wednesday we hit the road again and drove for five hours, I think.  We passed the Continental Divide - I always like that, for some reason.

We finally arrived at Rockhound State Park in the afternoon.  I thought it was 3:30, but it was actually 4:30.  (All those time changes.)

There are only six dry camping sites, and just two were taken, so I had a good choice.  I decided on Site #4, which I haven't camped in before.

There was a BIG AWFUL THING that almost happened on Friday.  Super scary!  We had been here a couple of days and I wanted to get a different view and maybe get a little closer to level, so I moved The Palms.  I slowly turned The Palms and kept getting out and checking the corner of the shade structure that you can see in the photo.  I wanted to be parallel with that side, but didn't want to hit that corner.  As I was slowly driving forward I heard a scraping noise and got out and looked - the corner of the structure was right on the side of The Palms.

WOW!  That would have been really bad if I hadn't been driving really slow and immediately stopped at the sound.  I got back in and drove slowly backwards, got out and checked for holes in the side of The Palms.  Nope, only a slight colored line from the paint on the shade structure.  Needless to say, I moved out a bit and decided I'd better be happy with the current view.  Whew, that was a close one.  Can you imagine if I had punctured the side of the motor home?  I would not have been a happy camper.  Even thought I have duct tape I could have used to cover the hole - Beverly Hillbillies, anyone?  LOL

Anyway, when we arrived on Wednesday I pulled in, opened the door and was immediately bombarded with the sound of birds singing and the sight of birds everywhere.  Sitting on the cactus, flying alone and in flocks, scratching in the dirt - it was so welcoming.  I had forgotten about the birds here.  Here are some of them - this bird is a Cactus Wren - they sing a lot and are very photogenic!


The bird below landed on the side mirror and startled Katie, who was sitting up front in her car seat.  She didn't bark, but got very alert and watched the bird until it few away.  We've had a few land on the hood of the truck and come up around the windshield wipers and hang out.  They also land on the roof and sit on our antenna.

We also have Curved-bill thrashers:

and White-winged Doves with their "small black dash under their cheeks... bright red eyes and vivid blue eye rings," from my field guide. I don't remember noticing the blue eye-ring on these guys last year, isn't he beautiful?

And here's our beautiful sunset our first night here at Rockhound State Park:

It's always such a satisfying end to the day when we have a nice sunset. And guess what?  I saw another "first" bird - I'll post his photos next time.  I was pretty excited - and he's beautiful!

From me and Katie, have a great Monday, everybody!  :)

Final photos from Hot Springs LTVA in California

Last week we were in California on standard time and Saturday night we changed to daylight savings time. The next day we drove to Arizona and stayed there for two days - no daylight savings time there.  Thursday we landed in New Mexico - Mountain Time.  I still don't have all the clocks set, but I think all-in-all we are one hour ahead.  Thank goodness my cell phone keeps track of the time zones.  I use it to set all the others in The Palms when we change zones.

So...  here are the final photos taken while we were in the Hot Springs LTVA.

I saw these Gambel's Quail while we were walking, but I knew they were in the area.  They are such beautiful birds.

And this Hairy Woodpecker was seen on the same walk.  I think since the Canadians are here for the whole season and put out feeders, by the time Katie and I arrived, there were a lot of birds at their sites.  We had very few birds in our campsite, though.

I lightened the photo below to see his markings better.

Hey, Mom!  Throw the ball!

Katie's usual place when I'm doing laundry.  I take the bunk apart and put the down comforter on the couch in a pile and Katie is always there when I come back from the laundromat.  My old duvet, which I've had for 8 or 9 years finally bit the dust.  It came apart all across the top, right below the seam, a few months ago and I love this old duvet so I double stitched it.  Then it started ripping again right below my seams, definitely time to replace it.  While I was in San Diego, Trish and Kennedy and I went shopping and I found a super good deal on a new duvet at Home Goods, so it was washed and dried on this day and it's just as soft and comfortable as my old one.

This is the new duvet.  The old one was an off white color , and this one is grey and white, so I changed out the scarves I use to tuck under the mattress and then put down for a privacy screen at night.  This white scarf is perfect.

It replaces this one - remember?  I liked it, but it just didn't go with the new grey and white.

Katie and I walked down to the Hot Springs when we first got there and I went inside to talk to some of the people soaking.  Dogs aren't allowed so I left Katie outside the fence.  

She is still so good when I want to walk away and leave her.  When I put the leash handle down, she sits and stays.  She's very patient.

I finally got a photo of the Sea Level Elevation sign on the highway; I always notice it too late to snap a picture.  As we were driving home from the movie theater last Saturday, Tom noticed all the signs showing the elevation, which at times was more than 30 feet under sea level.
 

And here's our little friend, Round-tail Ground Squirrel.  One afternoon he ran to this bush, jumped up and landed on the branch.  I caught him mid-jump.

He got settled and had a meal.

And finally, our campsite with the warm, pink eastern skies at sunset before my family arrived:

Katie and I had a good time at  Hot Springs LTVA this year, especially because the kids came to visit.  While they packed up I did the same, and when they pulled out around 1 pm on Sunday, I was right behind them.  First I drove up the road to say goodbye to Bea and Peter and thank them again for their help pulling me out of the sand, and then a quick visit with Jimbo to say goodbye and check out his new floor in his Lazy Daze motor home that Peter laid down while he was here.  It looks great!  Peter has photos on his blog - click the link above to see the new floors.  :)

Then we drove out of the campground and headed east to Pilot Knob.  I've never been there and wanted to check it out.

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