Rich and I decided to take a spur of the moment drive to Ken’s Lake (a small-ish reservoir about 15 miles south of Moab) after dinner this evening. I just got a new camera last week, and have been dying to give it a few tests. I will talk more about the camera later.
As always, I wanted to take bird photos. Rich takes great photos no matter what his subject may be. Here we are at Ken’s Lake.
Here are a couple of photos from above the lake. It’s beautiful up there, too. Also, here’s a picture of the scenic errrhm….facilities.
I was envisioning lots of tree birds, but instead, there was a plethora of bird life on and around the water. We saw: several Killdeer, a Bufflehead duck (new to my lifelist), Green-Winged Teals, Mallards, a vibrantly rust-colored Cinnamon Teal, a really talkative Brown-Headed Cowbird, a Great Blue Heron, an Eared Grebe (which was the biggest surprise of the day), several Western Kingbirds, a Common Raven, American Coot, and an American Crow. I am sure I missed a few birds, but I was very interested in getting a GOOD photo of the Cinnamon Teal and the Eared Grebe.
Here’s a kind of panoramic photo. Left to right: Killdeer, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal.
Here’s my lovely Cinnamon teal, and 2 shots of the Eared Grebe.
American Coot and Bufflehead, Brown-headed Cowbird, Great Blue Heron
Green-Winged Teal, Killdeer, and another Plover – which vaguely resembles the Killdeer, but isn’t quite right for it.
I am very happy with my new camera so far, and I am ALWAYS happy to go somewhere with Rich, take photos, and see new birds!
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Thursday was beautiful, so we hopped in the Samurai for a drive to Ten-Mile Point, which is pretty far away from Moab, but has a bunch of beautiful overlooks of the Green River.
On the way, we drove up hwy 313 (the Dead Horse Point road), and took a short hike to the top of the head of Seven Mile Canyon, where there were rumored to be some ‘bridges’ (ladders) built by Glen Ruby in 1903. Last week, we hiked a LONG way down into and then upstream in Seven Mile Canyon, and didn’t go quite far enough. This time, we found them! In the first photo, you can see the lower ladder below and to the left of Rich and Mindy. The third photo is the remnants of the upper ladder, destroyed either by nature or stupid people.
We arrived at Ten-Mile Point, set up our chairs, and hung out for quite a long time. For those of you not acquainted with the area, it’s not like the national parks and scenic areas you’ve been to. It is at the end of a long, dusty four wheel drive road, and there are no facilities…no visitor center, no barbecue grills, no parking places. It’s amazingly primitive, and wonderfully quiet. I think you’d have to be there for weeks to see another human being. There WAS, however, a curious Pronghorn Antelope checking us out.
It was a great day. I like having a little ‘vacation’ every week with Rich.
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*Some of the photos this time were Rich’s*