White-crowned Sparrow

I spent the day yesterday helping my son and a team of dedicated and enthusiastic people donate 2 days of their time to make a movie for the 48 Hour Film Project. When I say spent the day, I mean the WHOLE day. I got up at 5:00 AM and didn't get home until after 1:00 AM Sunday morning. I provided the lighting for the shoot. It was a lot of fun, but between that and the lighting I did for Wilsonville High School's production of The Odd Couple, I haven't had a lot of time to bird.
I'm still working through all the pictures I took on my trip to Las Vegas. I didn't see a lot of Sparrows at the sites I visited and the one's I did see where mostly White-crowns like the one in the image above.

Clark's Grebe?

When I saw the Grebe above, I assumed a Western Grebe as it seems most I see are. Looking at these pictures again tonight, I've swayed myself into thinking that it is a Clark's Grebe. It's harder to tell them apart in the winter as the Western Grebe gets a little smudgy around the eye and the Clark's Grebe darkens above and to the sides of the eye, but I'm going mostly on field guide information than on experience.
Bill color is also an indicator, but isn't much help in this case, in my opinion, as the bill looks bright yellow in the sun and dark when it is shaded.
What's swayed me is the fact that the eye is only half covered with black, with some smudginess of the black around the eye. I may be wrong, I have been before, but that's my conclusion. As always, comments welcomed.

American Pipit

These American Pipets were the last of the 10 new life birds I saw on my trip to Las Vegas last month. They were difficult to shoot as they stayed between me and the low sun and would never let me get very close.
In the image above, two Pipits sit on top of water main similar to the one I walked atop to reach the White-faced Ibis earlier in the day.

Northern Pintail

A male and female Northern Pintail seen at Clark County Wetlands Park in Henderson, Nevada on January 31. The male is really showing off its long and elegant neck in the top image.

Cassin's Kingbird?

Here's another bird I saw on my Las Vegas trip that I am uncertain as to its identification. I can't decide if this is a Cassin's or a Western Kingbird. I tend to lean towards the Cassin's because of the defined white stripe on its throat and extending under its eye, even though there seemed to be a fairly large variation in this feature for both Cassin's and Westerns in pictures I found on the web. It's breast also seems to be a bit dark for a Western, but haven't seen a Western Kingbird since I was a kid.
Again, any feedback would be appreciated.

Crissal Thrasher?

Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of this bird as it was quite timid and quickly disappeared into some dense brush. It was positioned in a shadow when I took the picture so it was fairly underexposed. I was able to pull out a fair amount of detail with image editing, but with the angle being from the back, there is missing details that would help with its identification.
Based on what can be seen, I narrowed it down to three birds; a Crissal Thrasher, a California Thrasher or a Le Conte's Thrasher. These birds all have gray backs, rufous or buffy undertail coverts and a large, curved bill.
I eliminated the California Thrasher pretty quickly as Las Vegas is out of range and Sibley states that the two rarely overlap. That leaves the Crissal and Le Conte's Thrasher. Of the two, I have to give the nod to a Crissal Thrasher because of its apparent darker gray coloration and darker rufous undertail coverts.
Please feel free to comment one way or the other on my conclusion.

Snowy Egret

I've seen Snowy Egrets once before on the Rio Grande river in Albuquerque, NM last summer. They were standing out on sandbars in the middle of the river, so I didn't get very close looks. I did get pretty close to this Snowy Egret last Monday at Clark County Wetlands Park in Henderson, NV. Having seen Great Egrets many time here in Oregon, I was surprised that the Snowy's were quite a bit smaller. Sybley states that Great Egrets stand almost 40" while Snowy Egrets stand at only 24".
While these images don't reveal the black legs and bright yellow feet of the Snowy Egret, I did get some mediocre pictures of it flying away that did reveal this trait. That was the thing that struck me the most the first time I saw them. It kind of looks like they are wearing yellow shoes.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

I saw two black-crowned Night-Herons while in Las Vegas. The first was at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve seen in the top image. It was quite a ways from me, so I wasn't sure what it was as it looked like a big white blob. It didn't help that it initially had its head tucked away.
On my last day, before heading to the airport, I saw my first juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron seen in the bottom two images. It came flying towards me from a bend in the stream I was following. I was hoping it was something a little more exotic, but I finally concluded that it was a juvenile Night-Heron. Still a nice find!

Black Phoebe

One of the Black Phoebes I saw at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve this past Friday.

White-faced Ibis

While walking around the ponds at Clark County Wetlands Park in Henderson, NV, I saw some Double-crested Cormorants. The night before, I had been updating my list for Nevada and noticed that Double-crested Cormorants are common in the area, so I was happy to have seen some so I could check them off.
Not long after, I saw one flying towards me. As I was taking pictures of it approaching and it got closer, I got a better look at its bill and realized this was not a Double-crested Cormorant.
As I watched it fly past I hoped that it would land nearby so I could get a better look. Good luck was with me as it set down in some reeds not far from where I was.
As I approached the area I saw it come down, I noticed an entry into the reeds that had been formed when some sort of vehicle had driven through (There is a fair amount of improvements being done in the park). One thing I discovered about birding in the desert, is that most vegetation you might step on is most likely bone dry and will make quite a loud crunch, so I tried to be as quite as possible so I wouldn't scare it away it it did turn out to be up ahead.
Luck continued to be on my side as the path turned towards a small muddy pond where the bird was scavenging for food. Unfortunately, this is where my luck turned towards the worse. The angle was awful as the bright sun was behind the bird. None-the-less, I took some pictures, if for no other reason than to help identify the bird later.
But then I realized that if I turned back and proceeded further down the main trail, I could approach from the other side and have the sun front light the bird. I had to walk atop a large irrigation pipe to reach the pond and was able to do so without flushing the bird. The top two pictures are the result of this effort.
Once I got back to my room and looked in my field guide, I discovered that this was a non-breeding White-faced Ibis. This is the first Ibis of any type I have seen. It was quite an interesting bird.

Abert's Towhee

I had business meetings today at 10:30 and at noon and since my flight back to Portland didn't leave until 8:30 PM, I took advantage and spent about two and half hours at Clark County Wetlands Park in Henderson, Nevada. The folks at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve had recommended it.
It turned out to be a great birding area and I ended up seeing four new life birds. The first new bird and first bird I saw was this Abert's Towhee. I didn't even know this bird existed, but It seems clear that this is the correct identification as even though the California and Canyon Towhees are possibilities, Sibley points out that these Towhees typically do not overlap ranges. The black face is also unique to the Abert's.

Verdin

The last time I birded in Las Vegas, I saw my first Verdin. I got some good looks, but the only way to get a look at the bird was with the sun at its back, so the images didn't turn out as well as I would have liked.
I saw this Verdin at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve on Friday and while I had trouble getting unobstructed views, the sun was at my back this time.
This was not the only Verdin I saw on that day and I also saw a nest that was very reminiscent of the Verdin nest I saw at Corn Creek. While I didn't see a Verdin actually go in the nest like I did at Corn Creek, there was one near by.

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Early on while walking the trails at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, I started seeing these small blue-gray birds. They hung out in the heavy brush, but came out in the open regularly and stayed reasonably still for small birds.
The preserve helped out with their identification, as many do, by providing a checklist of birds seen, both regularly and rarely. I had a hunch that they were Gnatcatchers, but I had never seen any and the preserve listed two varieties as resident; the Blue-gray and the Black-tailed. There is not a lot of difference between them, especially in the winter.
One field mark that appears to be a sure thing is the amount of white under its tail. It you look closely at the white spots under the tail of Gnatchatcher in the bottom image, you can see that this Gnatcatcher is a Black-tailed. The Blue-gray's are almost entirely white. While most of these were seen together in a limited area, I assume they were all Black-taileds.

Say's Phoebe

I've only seen a Say's Phoebe twice before and each time was a single sighting. Yesterday at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve I saw several. They were fly-catching throughout the Preserve.
At one point, the Phoebe above sat long enough on a post for me to inch my way in and get some pretty close pictures.

Gambel's Quail

I'm in Las Vegas on business and had the morning free today, so I decided to visit Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve as it has great reviews on the internet. It's similar to Fernhill Wetlands except it's in the desert.
The place was loaded with ducks and grebes, most of which I'm used to seeing in the Portland area. Especially this time of year.
The more interesting birds were the passeriformes I saw. They include Verdins, Say's and Black Phoebes, Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, a Crissal Thrasher and a possible Cassin's Kingbird. I'll be posting them as I work through the images, but I want to start with the Gambel's Quail I saw.
They were the first birds I saw. They greeted me on the road leading to the parking lot in front of the visitor's center. I only got mediocre pictures of them at that point, including some of them in a tree. It seemed odd to see Quail in a tree. I'm not sure if that is typical for other Quail.
I ran across more of the Quail as I walked the many trails around the ponds of water. They are hard to get good shots of as they run along the ground and hide in any brush they can find. I did manage to get a good shot of the one above as my day was coming to an end. It was perched in a tree, which seemed to be about the only thing that would keep them still.