Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve - Summary Page

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This page last updated on 03/08/2017

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Directions: The Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve is located on the southeast edge of the Las Vegas Valley, about 15 minutes from downtown, in the town of Henderson. The preserve is located at 350 E. Galleria Dr., near the intersection of Galleria Drive and Boulder Highway (look for signs in the medians). Refer to (Fig. 02) below.

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Description: It is located within the Kurt R. Segler Water Reclamation Facility and encompasses nearly 100 acres of basins, lagoons and ponds that offer a superb environment for birding. The Preserve is home to thousands of migratory waterfowl as well as numerous resident desert birds. There are nine ponds available for birding, surrounded by both paved and soft dirt surfaces. The paved path is approximately 3/4 of a mile long and is accessible by wheelchair. The soft surfaces are mostly level and allow for easy walking. The walkways run on dikes that divide the area into eight brush and tree lined ponds and provide many vantage points, benches for sitting and several “blinds” for picture taking. There is even an elevated platform that provides good views over much of the area.

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03/16/2017 Visit Notes: On today's visit, I chose this location for our morning hike. It was a beautiful sunny morning in the mid 80's. By arriving early, before the most people even get up, we were able to spot a wide variety of birds and waterfowl. It was still a little too early in the season to get any pictures of blossoming trees or plants. Click the following link for pictures of today's hike ... Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve - 03/16/2017 Trip Notes                                 05/23/2015 Visit Notes: On today's visit, Blake Smith and I chose this location for our morning hike. It was a beautiful sunny morning in the mid 60's. By arriving early, before the most people even get up, we were able to spot a wide variety of birds and waterfowl. One of these days I'm going to try and get here in the late afternoon, just before sunset to see how the late day light affects picture taking. Click the following link for pictures of today's hike ... Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve.                                                       10/23/2014 Visit Notes: This past week I visited this area with my cousin that was in town visiting us from New York, before heading to New Mexico for his “Wintering”. This was only my second visit here, the last being nearly seven years ago. I must say that I was amazed at how much the area had improved. In addition to the trees, shrubs and grasses being much more mature (Figs. 01 & 03), they have created some “roosting” islands, added dozens of viewing benches, some photography blinds and a viewing platform. Unfortunately, I foolishly forgot to bring my tripod and only ended up with just a couple of relatively clear images *Figs. 04 thru 08). Because we are approaching the winter season, many of the flowering trees and shrubs were pretty much gone bye. In spite of this I did capture a couple of pictures of the few remaining blossoms (Figs. 09-11). Except for dragonflies, damselflies, and the occasional lizard, the only other wildlife we observed were a fairly good number of desert cottontail rabbits ( Figs. 12 & 13). Hopefully I can get back here soon with my tripod, spend some more time and try and get some better pictures.

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Pages Uploaded in October 2014

October 2014 Posts:
Daytrip - Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
UPDATE/Cold Creek - Bonanza Trailhead at Cold Creek
Daytrip/Cold Creek - Cold Creek Trip Notes for 10/22/2014
UPDATE/Death Valley - Daytrip - Dante's View - Death Valley
Death Valley -  Death Valley Trip Notes for 10/21/2014.
Las Vegas Places of Interest - Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
My Books - Nevada Rock Art - Petroglyph Sites in & Around Clark County
UPDATE/Las Vegas Places of Interest - Las Vegas Springs Preserve
Butterflies - Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides)
Butterflies - Butterfly Habitat at Springs Preserve
UPDATE Bridge Canyon Wilderness Area - Bridge Canyon Wilderness Area
Daytrip/Bridge Canyon Wilderness Area - Trip Notes for 10162014 (Sacatone Canyon)
Daytrip/Cold Creek - Daytrip - Cold Creek Nevada
UPDATE/Crescent Peak Mine - Crescent Peak Mine

Cold Creek Trip Notes for 10/01/2014

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This page last updated on 04/12/2018

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10/01/2014 Trip Notes: Always a great place to take visitors, I took Jim Herring and his friend Ray Osborne to Cold Creek to find some of the wild horses at Cold Creek. This was my second visit here in two weeks (Cold Creek Trip Notes for 09/16/2014). In addition to seeing three groups with 8-10 horses in each group, we spotted nearly two dozen more in smaller groupings (Fig 01). It was probably the most sightings I've ever seen in any one day visit. Rather than provide individual pictures for this visit, I decided to create a collage of some of the better captures (Fig 01).

(Fig. 02) This area is part of the Wheeler Pass Herd  Management Area (HMA). Covering 273,260 acres, it is actually divided into two separate sections by the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area (SMNRA), the green area in the center of the map (Fig. 02). It has an estimated wild horse population of greater than 80 individuals. When the term “Wild Horses” is mentioned, most people envision running herds of wild mustang. However, most of the horses you see in the HMA are feral horses, horses living in the wild, but descended from from domesticated individuals. They generally appear to be calm, docile, and even tame as they forage for food and water in this wild and extreme desert environment. Probably the biggest attraction for the horses in this eastern section of the HMA are the three ponds, one of which is shown below in (Figs. 03 & 04), that lie just south of town and are fed by a year-round spring in the mountains just west of the town. Most of these horses are colored as pintos, blacks, cremellos, palominos, bays, browns, and sorrels.  Visitors to these areas need to remember that it is illegal to feed, water, pet, or otherwise harass a wild horse or burro and that any individuals found doing so can be subject to a minimum fine of $500.00.

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Trip Notes for 10/16/2014 (Sacatone Canyon)

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10/16/2014 Trip Notes: Because I have made several trips to Grapevine Canyon and the surrounding area, I am always looking for some place new to hike. On 01/31/2013 Harvey and I hiked up the canyon wash (route in yellow in Fig. 2). Having been told on a previous visit that there were some petroglyphs in the hills south of the wash, we hiked west, headed to the top of the visible ridgeline (just left of center in (Fig. 04) in the hopes of finding them. Though it seemed steep at times, the elevation gain from the bottom of the wash was only about 250 feet. Near the top of the ridge is a granite outcrop that looks like “snoopy” lying on his back (head to the right) as seen in (Figs. 05 & 06). After reaching this spot we turned south and hiked the top of the ridge all the way back to Grapevine Canyon where the rest of our group had been hiking. Refer to the green line in (Fig. 02). (Fig. 03) Even though we were unable to locate any petroglyphs on this hike we enjoyed some interesting geology and some beautiful views (Figs. 07 & 08). At one point we came across the remains of a barrel cactus that appeared as though someone had sliced it with a sword (Fig. 03). We also found a large, and quite healthy chola cactus (Fig. 09) near the top of one of the ridges. In total, this hike ended up being about two miles by the time we reached Grapevine Canyon Wash. It was just a perfect day for hiking, mid 80’s, sunny with a slight breeze.

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Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides)

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Picture Notes: This absolutely gorgeous butterfly was the “star attraction” at the newly opened Butterfly Habitat inside the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. Though I had to patiently wait considerable time to get this guy to spread his wings, the pictures here are evidence that it was    worth the wait. Notice in (Figs. 01 and 04) that the wings are so thin, that you can actually see the many “eyespots” on the underneath side of the wings.

Description: As its common name implies, the blue morpho butterfly’s wings are a bright blue, edged with black. The blue morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches. Their vivid, iridescent blue coloring is a result of the microscopic scales on the backs of their wings, which reflect light. The underside of the morpho’s wings, on the other hand, is a dull brown color with many eyespots, providing camouflage against predators such as birds and insects when its wings are closed. When the blue morpho flies, the contrasting bright blue and dull brown colors flash, making it look like the morpho is appearing and disappearing. The males’ wings are broader than those of the females and appear to be brighter in color. Blue morphos, like other butterflies, also have two clubbed antennas, two fore wings and two hind wings, six legs and three body segments -- the head, thorax and abdomen. Blue morphos live in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia and spend most of their time on the forest floor and in the lower shrubs and trees of the understory with their wings folded. The blue morpho’s entire lifespan lasts only 115 days, which means most of their time is spent eating and reproducing. Their diet changes throughout each stage of its lifecycle. As a caterpillar, it chews leaves of many varieties, but prefers to dine on plants in the pea family. When it becomes a butterfly it can no longer chew, but drinks its food instead. Adults use a long, protruding mouthpart called a proboscis as a drinking straw to sip the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi and wet mud. Blue morphos taste fruit with sensors on their legs, and they "taste-smell" the air with their antennae, which serve as a combined tongue and nose.