Having heard about this for years, I finally had the opportunity to take my 4-H Birdwatchers group from Panaca, down to the lake on Monday, Dec. 29. Last summer, a few of us took the hour drive south to see the White Pelicans that had been occupying the lake as it was being drained down for repairs on the dam. We
 


missed seeing the pelicans by one day, and some of them were expecting a repeat of our misadventure. But as we approached the lake from the north, the kids got more and more excited to see masses of white birds on the water in the north marsh area. They spilled out of the car, running toward the newly-constructed viewing blind.  Although it was hard to keep their voices down, the swans and ducks didn’t seem to notice the noise. After about ten minutes, we piled back in the car and drove a little further, to walk a little closer to the birds. Again, we were not as close as we had hoped, so one more drive to the dike that separates Upper Pahranagat Lake into two, brought us close enough to hear the gabbling of the hundreds of ducks, swans and geese. Although U.S. Highway 93 runs along the eastern edge of the lake, the traffic noise completely melted away in the din of duck noise. When one of the girls got a little too close to one flock of ducks, the wing noise was deafening as they lifted off the lake in a mass of at least one hundred birds. A few swans accompanied this flock, but as they circled back to land again, several of the swans on the lake were calling to their companions in the air. This is an experience that the kids (aged 9 through 14) will never forget, and as they grow up, I hope this peak experience of bird watching will remain a favorite Christmas memory.