Night treasures at Lake Mead, Boulder Beach campground!

Went for a night hike last night here at Boulder Beach. I hoping to find some of the same creatures as at Pahranagat but alas none of those were found! What I did find was this fellow!

He was all curled up under a prickly shrub so I rescued him and placed him safely in my nice snug billfold! I turned him loose today at Walmart to continue his travels! If I am lucky, I may find he has friends out there that need rescuing too!

Halloween Spiders!

In my blog, a couple days ago, I mentioned going on night hikes. Last night I tried to capture a few pics of spiders that showed their glowing eyes. Out of dozens of pics I gout a few that are not too bad!

These spiders are only a couple inches across but even the littlest ones eyes shine bright. You can spot them up to 15 feet away but the only thing that you see are the eyes! I used the flash to lighted these enough to show they were spiders. Sometimes they are peeking out from under a leaf or a rock! Creepy and cool at that same time!

Pahranagat Moths and Butterflies

Those of you who follow my blog know that birds, although my main focus, are not the only creatures I enjoy! There are a number of insects here and I have been able to get pics of a few. First is a Red Admiral butterfly.

This next one is a Painted Lady butterfly.

This next one is a Monarch butterfly.

Finally is a cluster of Great Oak Dagger moths. They are not much to look at from the top but the underside of their wings is a dark orange!

I have seen other butterflies but getting pics is a challenge. Hopefully I will capture more to share in the coming days.

Night Hiking at Pahranagat NWR

Dawn and Rich have introduced me to night hiking! They supplied me with a bright LED headlamp and out we went. We saw a Great Horned Owl, a Northern Saw-whet Owl and a Common Poorwill. Taking night pics is a challenge but I did get a great Poorwill one!

As you can see it really blends well with its surroundings! The poorwill and the saw-whet owl were life birds for me bringing the total of life birds seen at this location to 4 as during the day time I saw Pectoral Sandpipers and a Lapland Larkspur.

We also saw a skunk, kangaroo rats, an unknown small dark weasel like creature and lots of spiders! The spiders eyes shine like blue diamonds! Their eyes give away even the smallest ones.

More from Pahranagat NWR

Great birding and nature walks here at Pahranagat. Captured a beautiful Moonset this morning. The full moon really stood out as the sun rose on the opposite horizon!

Besides birds, I have seen White-tailed deer,

Western Pipistrelli bats and carp and catfish swimming in the lake!

I was lucky enough to be able to watch this bat land after flying over the lake! I am here with my friends Dawn and Rich. Last night we sat watching the sun set and noticed a Prairie Falcon chasing bats. It caught one and landed in a tree above us to consume it! To see my latest bird list with a number of pics, click here: Pahranagat ebird list

Pahranagat NWR - Alamo, NV

I have arrived at Pahranagat NWR after leaving Sisters, Oregon three days and 800 miles ago. Since the stops between here and Sisters were ones I have visited on several trips I did not take time to blog about them. I basically drove, ate and slept for those 3 days. Pahranagat NWR borders the Pahranagat River, It is about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

It is a beautiful oasis in a desert expanse. Just a short distance from the river is sage brush and the occasional Joshua Tree!

I arrived with time to take a 2 hour birding hike and got back to camp in time to see this colorful sunset!

I identified 32 bird species on my walk. To see the complete list and some bird pics, click here: Pahranagat bird list

Creekside Campground - Sisters, OR

At the recommendation of Jim and Jeanette Scott, I am at Creekside Campground on the southeast side of Sisters! It is a beautiful well kept campground with showers, flush toilets and potable water. There is a waste water dump for $10. An RV site w/o hookups is $20 and full hookups are $40 and $45 depending on electrical needs of your RV. There is a $5 discount for seniors.

There is a rustic covered bridge

 that spans a creek that divides the park between the campground and the picnic area.

The main street area starts just 2 blocks away so there is quick and easy access to shops and restaurants! I think I will check out the Bar and Grill that offers pizza at this end of town!

Back on the Oregon coast

After a month of travel, I have arrived back at the coast! It was still too hot for me to go South after my Lakeview stop so here I am in Lagoon campground near Florence. I crabbed behind Mo's for 2 hours and only got 2 keepers! I surf fished yesterday and caught these in less than 2 hours!

Today I am at Winchester Bay. I hope to do better crabbing here!

Update: so did not get a single keeper at Winchester Bay!