More bird photos in the garden at Flamingo Hotel

These are the last of the photos I took in the garden at the Flamingo Hotel. Again, I have no idea of what this bird is called. I figured it was some kind of hen. Any guesses anyone? Such a plump body. I wonder what it would taste like; I wonder if it would have a similar taste to our domestic chickens. Then again, maybe it isn't a game bird at all.

The activity of the day seemed to be preening. Almost every bird I caught a picture of was preening itself.

OK, now I'm ready for you to take my picture. Don't you like my coppery colored feathers? How about that little touch of white on my rump? And how about my colorful legs and bill? Don't you think I'm one of the prettiest ducks around here?

Oh, hello again. Here you go; take a picture of me and my sweetie.

And this is Sylvia, again, the African crowned crane. Is she having a bad hair day?

And here is another shot of a few more flamingos. You know, it's amazing that I got to see so many exotic birds, and I didn't have to leave the country. And I didn't have to go to Florida to see flamingos. Cool.

More birds at the Flamingo Hotel

For those of you who have seen my previous post you will notice that some of the birds were difficult to identfy. Here are two more "ducks" that I could not ID, but they were certainly photogenic.

And here is (I think) an immature Trumpeter Swan. I was standing on the "bridge" looking down at the swan.

This photo is showing one of the koi and a hooded merganser paddling away. This merganser was the toughest bird to capture. He paddled too darn fast for me to get a good shot of him. Oh well. Maybe another time I might get a better shot elsewhere.

Again, I was on the bridge looking down, and I took a shot of this unusual looking duck. Most likely not native to North America. This duck is also pictured in the first photo above.

OK, can someone tell me if this is a Redhead? This is the other bird/duck pictured in the first photo. It's just looking at it from a different angle.

And this is a Black Swan. Again, not native to North America? This swan came to the edge where there was a drop of about 2 feet. It was fun watching to see what the swan was going to do. It just slid on down without any concern, probably used to doing it several times a day. It was funny though to watch a couple of birds/ducks that stayed away from the drop. One of them was the hooded merganser.

In the garden of the Flamingo Hotel

Staying at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas had one highlight that I found attractive. I was even asked if I wanted my room overlooking the Strip or the Garden. I chose the garden even though I had no idea what the difference would be. First of all, I was on the 18th floor and I didn't expect to see much below me, yet I was able to see a garden with flamingos in it. So a friend of mine and I took a mid-morning break from the events on Friday (mostly presentations) and chose to check out the garden. I was pleasantly surprised that there was more than flamingos in the garden. Here is one of my photos I took of a few flamingos.

And this gorgeous bird is Sylvia, an African crowned crane. I could tell she was used to getting her picture taken. I was able to take several shots of her from different angles. And she stood there as if she were posing, and asking folks "How's this angle?" Or "This is my better side."
This unique looking bird is called a sacred ibis. I forget which country where it can be found. I think it is from Asia somewhere.

And this is a black-necked swan. Again, from another country outside of North America.

Here are a couple of ducks, I think a little more "locally" known.

And here is a turtle sunning itself on the rocks.

Festival of the Cranes, Thursday, Nov 15, 2007

As mentioned in a previous post, our first event for Thursday was the Raptors presentation held at the Refuge. This was a Power Point slide presentation along with several live education birds. These birds have been brought to The Wildlife Center for rehabilitation and it had been found that they could not be released back into the wild. So they are used for educational purposes. It was so exciting to see so many raptors "up close and personal." After the presentation and showing of the captive birds, along with time for questions and answers, we were then grouped to go over to the Refuge's observation decks. This is the field trip where Jeff Bouton and Julie Zickefoose accompanied the group and added so much more to the day's event. This is also where the Peregrine Falcon was released, and where Jeff Bouton found a Harlan's red-tailed hawk flying over us.

This event went from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Our next event we had signed up for was for 1:30 p.m. at the Macey Center (another 20-25 minutes away). So we hustled to get to our next event which was about Cave Swallows. It was presented by Steve West who is a cave swallow bird bander, and does much of his banding at Carlsbad Caverns. My husband and I were there to watch the bats at Carlsbad about ten years ago. That's another exciting thing to watch how the bats exit the caves enmasse. After the presentation we went over to the pond behind the Macey Center to see what birds (mostly ducks, etc) were there. Here are a few photos of what I saw there. So many of these species of ducks seem to interbreed, thus many strange looking hybrid mallards.

These are one of my favorites - the American Wigeon. They actually sound more like a passerine than a duck. I enjoy hearing and listening to them.

The photo above shows a female mallard behind a ?domestic goose?

Here is a male mallard.

And a female mallard.

And maybe someone can identify this bird. My husband and I think it is a "domesticated" type of goose. Is it? There are so many of these guys waddling or swimming around the pond.

And is this also a goose? Or is it some form of duck? A white form of a mallard? A hybrid duck/goose?