Dacey and Adams-McGill Reservoirs

Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area

(map link)

The Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area boasts numerous habitats, each attracting a different collection of birds and animals. The open water of the reservoirs both deep and shallow, tule choked waters, periodically flooded lands, shoreline, and surrounding scrub can all have their adherents depending on the season. Some pass through and some nest. I set out to test again if there was really no hiking (as indicated by the Ely District Recreation Opportunity Guide that Ely District BLM prints, but does not seem to make available in electronic form) in the Kirch WMA with a planned triangle of large reservoir visits. Again, I simply started in the campground. The tall cottonwoods planted there don't seem to be mentioned as a habitat, but they do attract their own set of birds.

00: noisy black bird — Starting today's birdwatching at "home" with a singular and noisy great-tailed grackle.

I headed out of the campground and down the road. Habitat: scrub brush. Little birds flitter along through it, pausing at the tops, and then continuing on their way.

01: striped head bird — White-crowned sparrows are doing the flitting today.

02: heavy clouds and a road — The coming weather hangs heavily over the basin of the White River Valley with its white hills.

03: parking and rules and reservoir — Parking area with a unpaved boat launch at the edge of Dacey Reservoir.

I was surprised to find water flowing under the road and through a ditch. It comes in from Hot Creek and produces a bit of a marshy area north of the parking west of Dacey Dam. It made travel along that side unattractive.

05: water in grass — Hot water coming in via ditch from Hot Creek over by the background Hot Creek Butte.

I came upon the Dacey Reservoir and came upon a whole lot of American coot. Habitat: open water. The brochure indicates which areas are shallow and deep for the different birds those attract. The coot got to scooting away as fast as they can, quickly deciding to turn the water into a runway instead of a glideway. They were not happy at all to see a human.

06: scrambling birds taking wing — The American coot can't get away fast enough.

07: black spots at the end of the reservoir — And they're far off.

With all the birds clustering to the far edges of the reservoir, I turned my attention to the noises in the sky. Clumps of birds pass by, presumably continuing on their way to their overwintering spots. Or they just want a different water for now.

08: long wings — American wigeon in flight.

Gradually the birds came back, but not very quickly. Knowing that they couldn't all be coots, I tried to pick out the birds that didn't match.

09: brown and actually a duck — Definitely different, but still far away for identification. Pied-billed grebe?

10: bird stares right at the camera — The loggerhead shrike is certainly a different sort of bird.

I turned away and continued along the dam. The east side of the reservoir is a bit more attractive for walking, but it was occupied by weed spraying this day. I turned to cross over to the Adams-McGill Reservoir. There's a gated road, locked up tight, but with a little V to slide through off to the left if you are on foot. I slid through and headed south with a heron flying overhead. The first birds I saw at the next reservoir were new.

11: little road — One road, closed to the public vehicle but quite covered in footprints.

13: big billed duck — A northern shoveler makes itself scarce.

14: layered slopes — Shingle Peak from the Adams-McGill Reservoir.

15: great blue-grey wings — The great blue heron comes in to land.

16: birds take off — Some northern pintails take off fast.

There's a tiny hill that I climbed for a little more view of the reservoir, not that it got me much.

17: lots of water — Adams-McGill Reservoir, the largest. It vanishes into the grasses.

18: grassy islands — Great tufts of grass could be islands or just shallow water.

22: distant waters — It's still reservoir way over there.

There's old road heading north and south along the edge of the reservoir, but it doesn't get used very far except by walkers. I headed north shortly.

25: black and white birds — There's still plenty of American coots on Adams-McGill.

26: variety of wings — And they take flight with the rest of the water fowl.

No one wants to be seen! Admittedly, there was a small boat wandering around the water downstream making these loud noises from time to time. Maybe they had good reason to stay out of sight. I turned to follow the road toward the dam instead.

27: no ducks or coots — Nearer water level view.

29: ducks with red heads — Redheads glide by as far away as possible.

The route stays high on a dike between the reservoir and the Lower Dacey Slough, part of a marshy area between the two reservoirs. The "slough" is full of cattails and a few hiding birds.

30: dried and brown and fluff making — Broad-leaved cattails in the flooded Lower Dacey Slough.

33: water at a distance — There's a while to walk along the reservoir.

The old road gets more distant as it goes, which doesn't help with getting the photographs.

35: dots on water — Taking in a larger view.

37: unused but clear — Pretty clear bit of old road for trail.

38: black and white differently — There's a bufflehead among the coots. The closer one in front.

A gate and a sign prevent anyone from using that road now even though it is marked as road on the map in the area brochure. Well, the gate does. The hunters were parked in the middle of the boat launch with no regard for the sign saying they should leave it clear for others to use. I rounded the bathroom and launch and parking and continued along the dam.

40: lots of water — The Adams-McGill Reservoir is too big to see it all from the end.

41: channel through the weeds — The river course on the far side of the dam as it continues to the last three reservoirs.

It was along the dam that I finally saw a shore bird. A very swift little shore bird. Unfortunately for it, I really wanted a picture and paced that dam to try to get one. It really wanted to zoom away.