Gone for Labor Day Weekend

I am going to be gone over Labor Day weekend so do not expect to see any more postings of my New Mexico trip until next Tuesday or Wednesday. I would have posted on it today but I don't have the time right now. I did however put a Blue Grosbeak (my favorite bird) picture of mine on this post that I took on a birding trip in August, not far from my home to make up for it.

Ashfall Fossil Beds

Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historic Park near Royal, NE is an amazing place where you can view fossils of now extinct rhinos, camels, and horses and even elephants that once lived in North America. Many more species of animals have been found preserved here including the Saber-toothed Deer!

Perfectly preserved in ash from a volcanic eruption some 12 million years ago in present day Idaho. It dropped about 1 foot of ash which suffocated the animals when it got into their lungs. The area where they found the fossils was most likely a watering hole where all of these species came to drink. After many years the skeletons became perfectly preserved. The volcanic eruption that caused it all was much larger than the one at Mount Saint Helens (compare them on the map below).
Due to shifting of the earth's crust Yellowstone National Park is now sitting on top of the "hot spot" that formed the volcano which covered Nebraska in a foot of ash.

My mom, dad , and I went out there in mid August to see this place for ourselves. After stopping in at the visitor center we went down to the Hubbard Rhino Barn where most of the well preserved fossils are. Named for the numerous rhino fossils there were also deer and horse fossils as well. The paleontologists uncovered all of the fossils and left them right where they were found. In order to keep them safe they just put a building over it.

Here are some photos of the fossils. They had a number of complete rhino skeletons including the one below.

A rhino head (below)

A small horse skeleton

They also had a couple camels but I couldn't find a photo of a complete skeleton on my camera. Outside of the building they are still finding fossils, but not large skeletons, just bone fragments.

After finding so many fossils it seems that there would be no more, but the excavation continues. They are finding even more rhinos in the barn and they expect to come across many more in the future. Since this is a birding blog I figure I better mention some of the birds that they found there. Exotic birds such as Gray-crowned Cranes, Secretary Bird were found there although I didn't get to see the fossils. To learn more about this site and to see hours and get directions go to: http://ashfall.unl.edu/. Another fossil bed I personally recommend is the Mammoth Site in western South Dakota's Black Hills. It is an amazing place with numerous mammoth tusks and bones displayed in the same manor. It's website is http://www.mammothsite.com/.

New Mexico-July 19-Day 1

My mom, dad, and I got up early in the morning on July 19 to go to my friends house. This wasn't just any old visit, this visit was going to take me 15 hours away from home for three weeks. I loaded all of my stuff into their motorhome and I said goodbye to my parents. They watched as the motor home pulled out of my friends driveway and they tried to hold in their excitement that I was going to be gone for so long!

What was I doing for three weeks at over 15 hours away from my home? I was going all the way down to Albuquerque, NM in a motor home with my two best friends and the parents of one of them. For ten days of the trip I was was going to have my strength tested in the Sangre de Christo Mountains of northeast New Mexico at the Philmont Scout Ranch with eight other boys and two adults from across the country that I had never met before. For 75 long miles through the mountains I endured the heat, the cold, and of course the wildlife all on foot and with a 50 pound pack on my back. Little did I know while traveling across Nebraska on I-80 just how amazing an adventure was awaiting me in the mountains of the southwest. So here my adventure begins.

Traveling across Nebraska on I-80 is very boring. Field after field of corn and soybeans passed by for hours on end until 5:00 that night. Eventually the corn and soybean fields began to be replaced by pastures and the scenery was a bit more interesting. While at a rest stop I photographed a windmill that was out on one of the scenic pastures that covered the hills that rose up out of the Platte River Valley. Not long after taking that picture we headed south on I-76 and made it to Colorado, which was a new state for me.

At the state welcome center I saw more Western Kingbirds than I have ever seen. They seemed to be everywhere, with one (or more!) every way you looked. They nest in my area but not in such large numbers. I looked around the rest area for birds but, as I expected, there was nothing of particular interest just a lot of common birds that I see in my own backyard. After pulling away from the rest area we kept on heading west to Fort Morgan where we stayed for the night. As you can tell the first day was pretty uneventful.

Of course there are many more exciting things ro come so check in to read about the rest on my trip in the upcoming weeks. In tomorrow's post I will see the Rocky Mountains for the first time, travel through Denver, will find a few life birds, see Pike's Peak, and be in New Mexico for the first time.

Crop Duster

A few weeks back a crop duster came to my town to spray the crops with some sort of chemical.

My dad and I went and watched it buzz over the fields. It is amazing the amount of acrobatics it takes for them to do this. Sometimes they would come freakishly close to a house while spraying the chemicals, flying straight at it and at the last second turn skyward and do this over and over again until the field was covered. I got lots of pictures and a video of this one as the pilot was doing his job. The video is not working right now but hopefully I will be able to get it to work within the next couple days. This sure beats the heck out of air shows, plus it's free!

Early Fall Migrants

Before I get started on blogging about my New Mexico trip I thought I would post on a few birds I have seen in Iowa lately.

My mom and I went looking for Buff-breasted Sandpipers around the county late this afternoon without any luck. There weren't even any at a sod farm that had over 20 of them last year. Other shorebirds are on the move as evidenced by the nine species I saw. Although the Buff-breasted Sandpipers did not show up we did find nice and unexpected birds including a Least Tern and a White-faced Ibis. Both of these birds although regular in our area are hard to come by sometimes so it was nice to see them. The ibis was located at a place called Table Marsh. While looking at 20 Great Blue Herons, 5 Great Egrets, 1 Green Heron, a few Black Terns, and a couple Snow Geese a dark bird about heron size flew out of the weeds. It then landed and I quickly identified it as an ibis. The marsh has been one of the best place to look for waterbirds recently. All of these birds were joined by a lone SANDHILL CRANE back in July. I was the first to find the crane which one other birder was able to see.

This bird was a thrill to see as this species is rare in migration through our area not to mention mid summer. Fall migration has already begun for some birds so get out and enjoy it!

Bird Photo Quiz 4 Answer

Congratulations to Bill Bossman for correctly identifying the mystery bird. This Canyon Wren was hopping around the rocks at the bottom of a canyon at Philmont Scout Ranch. We had just descended 1,000 ft down the western side of the canyon and were resting in order to regain our strength to be able to climb up 400+ ft on the east side. Although not a very hard quiz bird I couldn't resist posting the photo as a quiz because it was just looked perfect for that.

Bird Photo Quiz 4

During my trip to New Mexico I got a couple nice quiz worthy photos. Here is the first one.
Post a comment to answer. All birds are on the ABA checklist which can be accessed by going to: http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf

I'm Back

After finding 26 life birds, hiking 75 miles through mountains in 10 days, climbing a 11,020 ft mountain, climbing up a 600ft tall sand dune at Great Sand Dunes NP, 4 bear sightings, and after treating someone for hypothermia I finally made it back home safely from my boyscout backpacking trip at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. As you can tell I have a lot to tell you about so check in from time to time to read all about my three week adventure!