It’s not a plane. It’s not Superman. It’s … those beautiful winged creatures

Kimberley McGee

Thursday, April 13, 2000 | 9:17 a.m.

They have moved in on unsuspecting homeowners and have squatters rights in most neighborhoods, and most people don't even notice.

But some with a keen eye do pay attention -- a lot of attention -- to the more than 200 species of birds populating the Las Vegas valley, building homes, raising babies and hanging out in fast food restaurant parking lots.

So put down that morning bagel! Throw open the curtains! Take a look around!

You don't have to look far to catch a glimpse of a Gambled Quail or Hooded Oriole and other birds that call Las Vegas home. And local bird watchers are enjoying their spring arrival to the Entertainment Capital of the World.

Rita Schlaeger, telephone information operator for the local chapter of the Red Rock Audubon Society, started "birding" -- as professional bird watchers, or "birders," call it -- when she signed up for a bird class at UNLV 15 years ago. Learning about the migration, different species and habits of local birds fueled her interest.

"It's a different thing to everyone, each person has their own feeling about why they watch birds," Schlaeger said.

What's so captivating about bird watching?

"I don't know. Why is it a thrill to jump out of an airplane?" Schlaeger said. "It's extremely individual. Actually, it's a thing that would drive some people absolutely berserk. You have to stand still for hours and just watch. They may like a whole lot of action and there is no action other than the birds."

The birds have taught Schlaeger a thing or two about the city.

"I thought I knew everything about Las Vegas, I've lived here 40 years (but you) don't stop learning," she said. "Besides learning what (the bird) looks like, you have to learn the world around you. You learn about plants and trees and waterways and mountains and the weather, how it is all interrelated."

She enjoys the sport of birding -- yes, it's considered a sport -- and filling in her field guide books with information about the various birds and their habitats that she has encountered.

"You start looking at them and their colors, and song and style," she said. "It's a real thrill when you can identify a bird by song without seeing it."

There are many interesting birds in the valley, she said, and birders have their favorites. Schlaeger particularly appreciates the Verdin, a small, gray bird with a yellow face and head, with unique mating habits.

"It builds an amazing, little, completely round nest made out of two- to three-inch-long twigs and the entry hole is from the bottom," she said. "Males build several nests and the female picks out the one she likes best. Isn't that cute!"

During the harsh winter months (if Las Vegas winters can be termed as such), Verdin couples gather in one large nest to roost and keep warm.

"You could walk right past it," Schlaeger said. "Once you see it you say, 'Oh my God, it is hanging right there!' "

But you don't have to root through the trees lining most neighborhood streets. Many Verdins and other small nest builders can be observed at the Las Vegas Valley Water District's Demonstration Gardens.

Lucy's Warbler, a tiny gray bird with rusty-colored spots on its head and back, is popping up around the valley, Schlaeger said. One of the more vocal birds, the little warbler's singing is a sign that spring has arrived.

The bird is unique because it nests in cavities of trees or cactus or abandoned Verdin nests. But they won't rest in birdhouses built by human hands, lest their babies become breakfast.

"They know if they do, their eggs will be hard-boiled," Schlaeger said.

How can they know which nests are safe? "If you can find your way 7,000 miles without knowing where you are going, you can know these things," Schlaeger said. "It is something that they know genetically."

Lucy's Warbler makes a quick exit, heading south at the end of July before the scorching month of August.

Right in your back yard

Many of the birds in the valley come back every year, as do their offspring, and usually come to nest in the same place. Schlaeger has had a feathered friend, who is short one leg, return to her yard repeatedly.

"That bird successfully nested two years in a row," Schlaeger said. "It could have been here before, but I just started noticing it because it only had one leg."

Mockingbirds -- medium-sized dark-gray birds with white outer tail feathers -- nest throughout the valley. (They are the ones causing all that racket with their chirping.)

"They sing all night long in the summertime," Schlaeger said. "They are singing like crazy right now."

Birds from all over the world vacation in Las Vegas. They either blow in from storms, dictated by the weather, or migrate from Central America, where they spend their winters. Many birds migrate through Nevada on their way to a cool summer in Alaska.

"It's like a mini-oasis," said Chris Tomlinson, nongame wildlife biologist for the Nevada Division of Wildlife. "They eat a little bit, catch their energy and move on, but some stay and breed here."

Most of Las Vegas' older parks -- such as Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, Lorenzi Park, Floyd Lamb State Park and Sunset Park -- have good habitats for birds with older trees and thick, protective brush.

Many area birds prefer to nest in the rugged Mesquite tree. Unfortunately the native Mesquite groves are plowed under by Cats -- those big yellow Caterpillar construction vehicles that are ever-present in the growing valley.

John Hiatt, conservation chairman for the Red Rock Audubon, said that local growth, as well as climate changes in other parts of the world, affect the Las Vegas area bird population. "Some species are down because their habitats are disappearing," Hiatt said, referring to examples such as horned larks, sparrows and sage sparrows.

"Some of those populations just disappear and go someplace else" he said. On the other hand, "if that area is populized, those birds will just perish, their breeding location will be lost to them."

Some birds adapt while others do not.

For instance, the Lesser Nighthawks, insect-eating nocturnal birds, lay eggs on the desert floor. Although open to predators, the chances of their survival is significantly lower because of domesticated animals finding and destroying the eggs.

"As we chew up the desert with housing, there is no place for them," Hiatt said. "They will choose not to populate this area (but) there isn't any easy way to preserve their habitat."

A "Multi-Species Conservation Plan" for Clark County is in the works to help protect area wildlife, especially birds. The plan is funded by land developers paying a $550 fee, per acre developed.

"What people are concerned with here are populations rather than individual animals lost," Hiatt said.

What is seen locally more than anything are mockingbirds, morning doves and hummingbirds -- lots of hummingbirds.

"There are more hummingbirds now than ever because there is food put out for them all the time," Hiatt said, referring to the commercially produced plastic containers filled with red sugar water. "We've never had numbers like this originally."

Other species of hummingbirds, such as the Black-Chinned and Costa's Hummingbirds, are making Las Vegas a permanent home year-'round because of the abundance of food and shelter.

Another transplant, American Kestrel, the smallest falcon of North America, has made a permanent move to Las Vegas.

Kestrels rest in tree cavities, and there are a lot more trees than before. Hiatt recently found a content Kestrel nestled in the branches of a tall Italian Cypress tree.

"The birds you see in town are different birds than the ones that existed before it developed," he said.

Feathered fun

Joan Clarke, a Las Vegas resident for 22 years, started birding two years ago when she came across a little nest of baby hummingbirds and their very devoted winged mother in her front yard.

"They were so delicate, I just became attached to them," Clarke said. "The mother attending her babies, that's what really got me."

She then went online to find out more about the habits and needs of her new charges, and yet stay out of their way. By then she was hooked on the intricate world happening right outside her door and explored habits of other birds that might have been roosting 'round her neighborhood.

"It's a whole different concept of the world around you," Clarke said. "It gives you a whole different aspect of life."

She contacted the Red Rock Audubon Society and went on a field trip to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park in September 1998. The quiet beauty of the ancient Red Rocks and finding birds in their natural habitat really touched Clarke.

"It distills everything down to how we are all interconnected and we should respect these things, treasure them," Clarke said. Being informed, she added, gives perspective and respect to the unseen world.

"You never know what your going to see," Clarke said. "There is always something new about it, it never gets old."

As a docent at the Memphis Zoological Park 25 years ago, Las Vegan Je Anne Strott started to notice the birds that were attracted to the free food and shelter a zoo provides. As an animal expert, she could rattle off facts about the zoo's many mammals, but not so much about the flighty friends that were a constant around her.

"I started to notice the birds and it became interesting, a challenge," she said.

The shelter of the thick trees in the eastern United States kept many birds, as well as Strott's hobby, hidden. "I (wasn't) an avid birder until I moved out here and got involved with Audubon," she said.

It's easier to see and identify birds in the desert because of the scarce cover. Also, there are more birds to discover because the desert offers a wide variety of habitats such as lakes, mountains, open spaces and cities.

A Las Vegas resident for 11 years, Strott has more than 800 birds listed in her field guides, and more memories than can fill her many journals.

"I keep a record of the date and where I saw it in a field book and then have a few (journals with) more detail," she said. "It's fun because I can go back through my bird books and say 'Oh wow! I was here on such and such a day and saw this bird and remember what I did at that moment.' "

Strott has birded in all 50 states, Costa Rica, the Mexican Riviera and Panama. She has logged 580 of the 800 known North American bird species.

As field trip chairman for the Red Rock Audubon Society, Strott expects to meet her goal of 600 birds by the time she turns 60, which leaves her a little more than a year to log 20 more North American birds.

"What's nice about this area is that it has such diverse habitats and different species of birds in each one of these areas," she said. "We're lucky."

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