An Update from Beginning Birders. Pahranagat NWR

Dec 4-5, 2021

Mainly this post is about birds, but first I’d like to ask you a question:

How many directions are there?

If you’re like me, you probably answered Four.

The Nuwuvi (Paiute) people identify 10 directions. In addition to the 4 cardinal directions, there are the 3 components of time “past, present and future,” plus the fairly obvious “up and down”. Most interesting to me is the direction which comes last in the list: “myself.”

If you’re like me, you might want to pause and ponder this single, interior direction.

(If you’re not like me, well, that means you’re pretty normal, so no worries.)

We encountered this information in a display at the Visitor Center for Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge. The ten directions delighted me. The whole place delighted me! There is much more here than you might expect.

Why We Chose to Stop

We are not familiar with Southern Nevada. We study the map and notice a National Wildlife Refuge just west of Route 93, less than 100 miles north of Valley of Fire SP, where we spent a night. A hundred miles suits our schedule. Our ideal driving day is somewhere between 2 and 3 hours. We are in no hurry.

(FYI There’s another NWR in the area which protects a species of small fish called the Moapa dace.)

A Desert Oasis Along the Pacific Flyway

On this Saturday we head north in the afternoon. We had spent the morning exploring Valley of Fire SP and hiking the White Domes trail.

Today’s drive is mainly through rolling desert mesa, dotted with Joshua trees. As we approach the refuge, that barrenness gives way to more vegetation — first some dried grasses, then actual trees, mainly cottonwood. Even though it’s December, the cottonwood trees still retain a bit of yellow, most welcome. Where there are cottonwoods, there’s bound to be water. Sure enough, we soon glimpse two lakes (helpfully named “Lower Lake” and “Upper Lake”).

Pahranagat NWR is part of the Pacific Flyway — a desert oasis made up of two spring-fed lakes, streams, and lots of greenery.

The Visitor Center and Film

We arrive at the Visitor Center around 3:30; it closes at 4:00. We have just enough time to view a short film and meet three energetic young women. They tell us that this NWR was created in 1963 with the help of the Paiute people (who prefer to call themselves the Nuwuvi). The partnership sounds productive and intriguing. I hope it continues to be fruitful.

This NWR is a primary rest stop for migrating ducks and waterfowl. The film describes the five different habitats protected here (meadows, marshes, lakes, streams, and desert). The diversity is amazing, especially when you consider the aridness of southern Nevada.

For weeks we’d been saturated by sagebrush. Now, in the space of a few minutes drive, we’d entered a riparian habitat. In just a few more minutes we would pass out of it again. Meanwhile, here we are, in a ribbon of green that forms a border between water and land. This border is made of sedges, grasses, and trees, and is home to all sorts of life.

The film showcases the waterfowl we might hope to see — canvasback ducks with their rather beady red eyes, majestic tundra swans and bald eagles, the ordinary but regal flocks of mallards and black diving ducks, and of course egrets and great blue herons. All of these are familiar to us — from the Atlantic coast and the shores of the Great Lakes.

The film also features the willow flycatcher, a small bird that originates in South America and migrates along the Pacific Flyway. Neither one of us had heard of this bird before. Like most novice birders, we go for the easy findings, the big showy birds!

Camping at Pahranagat NWR

We close down the Visitor Center at 4:00 and go in search of a campsite. It’s already getting dark. Of the 15 campsites, maybe 3 are open. The campsites are strung out along the shore, each with plenty of space and waterline.

I took this photo the next morning so you could appreciate the gorgeous camping:

As we drive along, we’re excited to see a number of large birds. Rafts of swans and ducks float at the north end of the lake. A bald eagle flaps from one tree to another. Herons fly low over the water, no doubt fishing for their supper. 

We pull into a campsite, amazed that such beauty is here for the taking.

As we set up, the campground host comes by in a pickup truck. Marion (according to her name tag) is a woman in her 60s who clearly loves her volunteer job. She duly records our license plate number and says we can stay for free up to 14 days. She also asks if we have dogs in order to warn us that they shouldn’t drink the lake water.

When Marion asks if we are hunters or fisher people, we say we are birders. She exclaims happily. She rattles off the list of birds that have been spotted in the past few days — including tundra swans, sandhill cranes, egrets, snow geese, and white pelicans. These are mixed together in the rafts of “white birds” at the north end of the lake.

She is especially thrilled that some bald eagles showed up the previous day. Apparently a small number of parents and juveniles have arrived to take up residence in their winter home.

Marion pulls out her phone to show us photos she’d taken early that morning. A mature bald eagle had posed for her on a tree branch. She is still giddy.

As she climbs into her truck, Marion says, “You can tell there’s a lot of excitement around here right now.”

Sunday, December 5

The next morning we break camp earlier than usual to see some birds. The large rafts of white birds at the north end of the lake are exciting to see, but also frustrating. They are simply too far away for our binoculars to manage.

The photo below is from my phone. It’s pretty indicative of what we could see.

We decide to get closer to the water, if possible. The map seems to indicate a walking trail around the north end of the lake. So we park and get out to walk, hoping to come across a trail. Hopefully it will wind through the marsh and bring us closer to the white birds.

In hindsight I suppose we were following some kind of access road. It didn’t lead us to the water’s edge.

For a while we walk along a fence line. We spot jack rabbits and sparrows, nothing exciting. Except it is exciting. It’s the dazzling beauty of an ordinary winter day.

The land on the other side of the fence was obviously used for grazing cattle. Near a burn pile, we spy the bloated carcass of a longhorn. I’m always puzzled by the waste of something so valuable. Someone must have dragged it. I have so many questions.

“And where are the vultures?” It’s a question we’ve asked each other many times out West.

The trail brings us close enough to the water to tantalize us. But it stops at an irrigation canal. After that the ground turns to marsh.

We don’t mean to trample through protected land.

Here are the cottonwoods, still yellow in December.

In Pursuit of a Willow Flycatcher

We aren’t quite ready to give up on birds, so we return to a short nature trail near the Visitor Center. This trail features the willow flycatcher and follows the streams those small birds prefer. They have a green breast and white bars on their dark wings. 

Signage describes how volunteers planted hundreds of willow trees to provide habitat for the flycatchers. Truly a labor of love. I am grateful.

Sure enough, once we stop and study the little stream, we spot a flycatcher. And then another and another. This is how it works. Then you realize the place is alive with flitting bits of green.

They are social birds, fun to watch. They are too small for me to photograph — but believe me, there are lots of birds in the photo below.