Thanks to advice from Mudcatters, we went on a successful birdwatching trip during our recent trip to Las Vegas. Many people thought we were nuts, but five of us went to Floyd Lamb State Park, and we saw 18 kinds of birds. It was the first bird-watching trip ever for my brother-in-law, and he was very pleased, taking lots of pictures.

A few seconds after paying our entrance fee, we saw a roadrunner in the brush. Everybody was very excited, and my other brother-in-law said it was so great to see "an iconic bird". (I can't help it if he thinks and talks like that.) I didn't tell them that the State of Nevada probably pays that roadrunner to hang around the entrance.

(In the Midwest where I live, the states pay redheaded woodpeckers to fly around campgrounds and thrill the little kids.)

Birds I recall seeing: pipit of some kind, red-tailed hawk, western kingbird, myrtle warbler*, coots, mallards, grebe of some kind, flicker, marsh wren, kestrel, teal, ruby-crowned kinglet, raven.

* I know that the American Ornithological Union says that the myrtle warbler is now the yellow-rumped warbler, but I have a deal with the birds. I won't talk about their rumps if they won't talk about mine.

So thanks to everyone who suggested places to go.