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Thursday, June 10th Red Rock Canyon – continued
Left the park and looked up to see a Golden Eagle. I drove towards the nearby town of Blue Diamond where I intended to refresh myself with some Gatorade but stopped when I saw some more of the "wild" burros. Evidently, they are quite common in the area.
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Got my quart of Gatorade and finished it in no time at all. It was still fairly early and I felt renewed, so I decided to go through the park a second time. As I reentered the park, I paid more attention to the individual rocks than I had the first time through. The sizes and shapes were quite impressive. Then I looked to the other side at the deserty type stuff and was even more impressed. As I drove along, I saw a Loggerhead Shrike sitting on a Joshua Tree.
I returned to the Willow Creek Picnic Area and was almost alone. Quite a difference from before. Watched a Chukar drinking from the puddles of the spring. Took photos of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird perched in the trees. Then the Chukar was joined by two others. Sat and watched them for a while.
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I went to another little pool and watched some very pretty, bright blue butterflies and Western Scrub-Jays. I listened to the constant drone of bees in nearby bushes. These were unusual, their bodies were almost all black. I was now going on the theory that if you can't find the birds, you should wait long enough and they will come to you. The number of Chukars increased to four, five, and eventually the covey reached at least eight at once. Hummingbirds filled the air – Broad-taileds and Anna's. I could easily see the red caps on the male Anna's. They glistened in the late afternoon sun. Saw several female Bullock's Orioles. The Juniper Titmouse made another appearance. This was fun. The hummers were zooming all over. I had never seen so many at once where there were no feeders. Saw some little flycatcher but could not be sure of its identity. Even enjoyed watching a bug at the water hole when the hummingbird activity died down. A few House Finch put in an appearance as did a lizard with a bright blue throat. A few of the hummers returned and I stayed a little longer.
I am not sure how long I stayed at Willow Creek that time, probably close to two hours. It was about 7 o'clock and I decided that I wanted to watch the colors as the sun went down so I drove on and did. Wonderful way to end the day.
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My adventures at Valley of Fire and Overton
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Copyright © 1999 Richard L. Becker
