USA 2023 - Death Valley - Flowers, Birds and a Coyote

 9-11 April 2023

At first sight, California's Death Valley seems an unlikely place to look for birds. Or any wildlife for that matter. But, as ever, if you look properly there are things to find. While the Mesquite Flat sand dunes (above) provide one of the valley's enduring images, this harsh environment is not typical of the wider area. The alluvial fans a short distance to the south, on the road from Furnace Creek to Stovepipe Wells, were dotted with colour after the recent rainfall. Plants in flower included Desert Gold (or Hairy Desertsunflower) Geraea canescens, Browneyes Chylismia claviformis and the ubiquitous Creosote Bushes Larrea tridentata (all pictured below).

Desert Gold Geraea canescens - Death Valley CA

Browneyes Chylismia claviformis - Death Valley CA

Creosote Bush (detail) Larrea tridentata - Death Valley CA

It's worth mentioning a few useful plant identification websites that came to my assistance here - notably wildflowersearch.org, which allows you to specify the search area (which could be 'Death Valley National Park' or a trail like Mosaic Canyon), southwestdesertflora.com and calscape.org (the Californian Native Plant Society). 

On arrival the previous afternoon, our first stop had been the National Park Visitor Centre at Furnace Creek. This is worth a look, if only to fill up your water bottles, pay the park entrance fee and visit the loo. Outside, a flycatcher was zipping in and out of the centre’s covered area, presumably feeding young in a nest.  It was Say’s Phoebe (below), the key identification feature being the light orange (Sibley says ‘dull cinnamon’) vent and belly, an open country species of the western USA and Mexico. 

Say's Phoebe - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

Our first day's hike was up Mosaic Canyon, with an early start to avoid the full heat of the day (which rose to the mid-30s Celsius or mid-90s Farenheit). It's a great walk; the canyon narrows down to single file sections where you have to scramble over the smoothly polished marble. The steep canyon walls kept it shady and cool in the lower sections, although things got hotter and sunnier as it widened out. 

Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley CA

The birdlife was enjoying the shade as well. Just past the first narrow section I heard a loud chirpy whistle coming from the canyon wall. “Probably a Canyon Wren”, advised a passing hiker. By this point on the trip I had learned to be cautious about other people's identification skills - and with good reason. Although the bird was plainly in a canyon, it was a Rock Wren (below), looking far more like the image of that species in Sibley than the one that I’d seen at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada (see earlier blog post here). For the record, Canyon Wrens have a deeper, rufous colour, with a white throat and breast. 

  

Rock Wren - Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley CA

Further up, where the canyon widened out, a loud chirping led me to a nice family scene: a male House Finch was feeding his young (below). They had bred early here, probably to escape the extreme heat of the summer. House Finches are attractive birds; it's a pity that some people discount common species, no matter how colourful they may be.  

Feeding time! House Finches in Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley CA

Our base in the National Park was The Ranch at Furnace Creek, which I would recommend as a place to stay - although, in fairness, there aren't many other local options. The campsite at Furnace Creek looked almost full, although it can't have been comfortable camping in the heat (and this was only April!). This campsite actually closes in the summer. 

For birdwatching, Furnace Creek is a bit of a magnet - for what I would argue are all of the wrong reasons. Breathtakingly, somebody decided that this would be the ideal place for a golf course. So the desert gives way to a complex of well-watered lawns, clumps of trees and a couple of decent-sized lakes. Naturally, all of this water acts as an avian magnet.

I had an evening walk around part of the golf course - a bit nervously, as I wasn't sure how birders would be received here. As it turned out, there were no problems. It might have helped that nobody was playing. In fact, apart from a few greenkeepers, who paid me no attention, there was no-one out on the course for the two days that we stayed at Furnace Creek. I wondered why they had bothered creating it.

My walk took me to the smaller pond, which contained couple of Cinnamon Teal and three Ruddy Ducks. Five American Coots (one pictured below) were stalking around on the fairway nearby. At first sight, these are very like the UK's Common Coot, but note the dark patch (actually red) at the top of the frontal shield. Clearly, none of these birds would normally be found here.

American Coot - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

An American Robin (below) perched nicely for me on a sawn-off log.  

American Robin - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

And a Turkey Vulture (below) floated over, missing the tips of some of its primaries. At least this was a 'proper' Death Valley resident.

Turkey Vulture - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

The following morning I was out of our room at dawn (just after 6am). My plan was to walk an anticlockwise circuit of Furnace Creek, heading up to the main road, along to the visitor centre and campsite, then down the airstrip road to the larger golf course pond, which I hadn’t found on my previous walk, then returning across the golf course.

There was very little bird activity in the hotel grounds, the first two species being both non-native - House Sparrow and Collared Dove. More movement (both avian and human) was apparent over at the campsite, where a mobile flock of around twenty Brewer’s Blackbirds (female pictured below) and a smaller number of Great-tailed Grackles were poking around the picnic tables. Brewer's Blackbirds (and indeed the grackles) are members of the Icterid (New World Blackbird) family, rather than thrushes. They are common in the western USA. The males are a bit smarter than the females: glossy black, with a white eye. 

Brewer's Blackbird female - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

I made my way across the campsite and joined the road that runs down to the airstrip. Two Canada Geese flew over (I would meet them later on), followed by a Wilson's Snipe. Death Valley is to the south of the snipe's year-round resident range, so this bird had likely either over-wintered here or was on passage to the north. I was very pleased to see it, even if only in flight. Further down the road, a small passerine in a tree turned out to be an Audubon’s Warbler: there were a few about.

The airstrip road took me near to the larger golf course pond. This was equipped with a wooden viewing platform (below), so it appeared that birders were being positively welcomed to this corner of the golf course.

Viewing platform - Furnace Creek gold course CA

The platform boasted a small notice celebrating the property's 'achievements in environmental sustainability'. I can't really comment on this, except to say that the presence of ponds, reed beds and well-watered fairways looked rather out of place in this arid desert landscape.

Audubon environmental sustainability notice

I wasn’t alone: another birder, who was from the east of the USA, so not completely familiar with the local birdlife, had beaten me to it. We had a brief chat and gazed across the pond, which contained a pair of Ruddy Ducks and three American Coots. Two more unusual birds then flew in. Most exciting for me was this beautiful male Yellow-headed Blackbird (below) - another icterid - which sat obligingly at the top of a Tamarisk tree.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (male) - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

This is a wetland species, so Death Valley wouldn’t be a natural place to find it. The same could be said about the Belted Kingfisher (below) which arrived next, looking almost green in the morning light. We’re out of range for Green Kingfisher here in any event, but the shaggy crest is a good identification feature for Belted (Green has a neater pointed crest). Belted Kingfishers are seen as far south as Colombia and Venezuela.  

Belted Kingfisher- Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

Canada Geese (below), are so familiar in the UK as a non-native species that it felt odd taking their photo. But here they are native, setting aside the artificial nature of this particular habitat in this particular location. Death Valley sits right at the southern end of their resident range, so it’s unclear whether these two were going to stay here and breed or fly north.  

Canada Geese - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

Time was moving on, so I walked back to the hotel taking a more direct route across the golf course. Near to the accommodation blocks I encountered the local Coyote (below) walking along the side of a fairway and across a green.

Coyote - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

Coyote (detail) - Furnace Creek, Death Valley CA

We had seen a Coyote crossing the fairway here the previous evening, so I guessed that this was the same individual on its usual round. In appearance, Coyotes sit somewhere between a fox and a wolf to my eyes. While the ones that I’ve come across elsewhere in the USA have looked pretty lean and hungry, this Furnace Creek resident appeared to be in fairly good condition. Although there are no livestock, and very few wild ungulates, in Death Valley, it is likely that the golf course’s substantial Desert Cottontail population is the main prey item. And I doubt that losing a few bunnies would upset the golf course managers.

It was time for our last Death Valley breakfast. By the time that car was packed, the thermometer was already showing a toasty 91 degrees Farenheit (33 degrees Celsius). We were heading back to the coast.

To be continued ...  

Reference:

Sibley, D. (2003) Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America. London: Christopher Helm.