Shingle Spring for birdwatching

Caliente Field Office BLM

Location: Shingle Spring and corral

I decided to head over to Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area, which my Ely District recreation opportunities map indicated had wildlife viewing, but was less optimistic about hiking. The wildlife viewing is primarily the birds that come to rest on the reservoirs, but also the birds that come to the other environments near the reservoirs because water is nearby. Well, I had a reservoir in miniature right where I was in the form of Shingle Spring. I would "practice birdwatching". I actually spent most of the day writing, but I popped over at a few times to see who was flying by.

00: brown bird with a black head — The dark-eyed Junco is by far the most common bird. This one is male. I think.

01: lighter brown birds with lighter heads — There's plenty of lighter female dark-eyed Juncos, too.

The first birds back to the spring after I scared them off are the really common ones that I'm sure have been scooting around all the juniper trees. Ward Mountain was particularly full of them. Well, I think they were the ones. I really should make a bigger effort to get some of these little birds in pictures.

02: bird looking out from a juniper tree — The Townsend's solitaire stopped and watched in the juniper first.

03: bird in water with water around its raised beak — Then it stopped for a drink of the spring water.

The spring itself has been turned into a waterer for cows, but the area evidence for cows is all quite old. The pool is a large concrete pad with a tall metal rim. A dribbling pipe supplies the water very slowly. It's so slow that I'm not sure if the low water level is due to leaking or evaporation. Probably leaking since it is more than a drip. A large juniper spreads over maybe a quarter of the area adding its organic matter to the basin. Pond scum and mud fill in much of the rest. It's not a pretty sight, but it still holds that most precious desert substance: water. That makes it extra pretty to the birds.

04: sort of glinting blue — Western bluebirds sit uncertain at the top of a nearby tree. They'll look better when the cloud passes.

05: blurry grey ball — The tiny grey fluff of a bushtit that I only managed to catch in this single photo.

06: little brown birds with dark eyes — And back to some more dark-eyed Juncos.

I started trying to catch the birds in flight, with varying results. Take enough pictures and one might come out nice! It's only electrons you're wasting! (And they come off a solar collector that doesn't know what to do with most its electrons.)

07: junco took to wing — A dark-eyed Junco takes flight.

09: very blue bird — The western bluebirds finally decided to come down for a drink with the sun out.

10: birds looking this way — The western bluebirds look inquisitive. They're the ones that supposedly don't come to the Great Basin! And why not, little birds?

11: bluebirds with wings spread — I managed to catch the western bluebirds in flight, too.

12: bird landing — The best landing picture is, unfortunately, focused on the metal side.

I managed to stick around for half an hour on the first round in the middle of morning. I wandered back over in the middle of the afternoon to see what might have come around.

13: tiny yellow crowned bird — Another one unexpected in the vicinity, a golden-crowned kinglet.

14: little bird bigger than a junco — A white-crowned sparrow, which is lesser seen (probably due to lesser lookers) but quite expected in the area. Behind the smaller dark-eyed Junco.

15: browner topped bird than before — The sparrow stuck around a little.

16: tiny grey cardinal shaped thing — A juniper titmouse came by, it's like a tiny grey cardinal.

That was another 10 minutes at the pool, which was about all I had in me. It would probably be better if I knew the birds better. It's hard to keep track of if one has gotten photographed when it's sparrow #1, sparrow #2 probably house, not a sparrow... (not that any of them were house sparrows and most not sparrows at all.) Was I ready for photographing mounds of ducks on reservoirs for getting a few little birds at the spring? Probably not.

If you click a bird name, it'll go to the iNaturalist page where it is identified. From there, much information on that sort of bird is available. Hover over the link for the scientific name.

*photo album*