My first day off has come and gone. After some consideration, I decided to hang around the study site (Cibola National Wildlife Refuge) and do some exploring. Especially of interest to me was the supposed presence of Burrowing Owls, though I was not to see any on this particular day. However, an early-morning jaunt to Cibola Lake did provide two species I've long wanted to see: Clark's and Western Grebe. I was lucky enough to see them doing their synchronized mating runs, though not quick enough to catch it with the camera. I did, however, take many pictures.
Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii)
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
After this I decided it was finally time to chase down some of the tiny lizards that are ever-present at the banding site, and with some difficulty I was eventually able to get a shot of one:
Common Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana)
All in all, not a bad day. At the same time, my housemate went to a different location nearby and got both Desert Tortoise and Desert Iguana, so I am looking forward to checking that out as well. Till next time...
Kyle
pretty similar looking to me -BUT I looked the grebes up in my new peterson field guide(the ultimtate source, of course) and it confirms your sightings - your gift has now been used a number of times D
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