Cibola National Wildlife Refuge

Denis brought the Saturn in for AC maintenance.  Two hours and $160 later the job was finished.

This is our last day in Erhenberg, Arizona and we decided to visit Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge is just 17 miles south of Blythe, California.  It's over 18,500 acres and was established in 1964 as mitigation for channelization and dam construction on the Colorado River in the 1930's and 1940's.  It's located in the floodplain of the Lower Colorado River and provides important habitat for migratory birds, wintering waterfowl and resident species.

This is the first time I've seen a Beavertail in FULL bloom

What I found interesting is that the refuge manages a variety of habitat for wildlife with about 2,000 acres of farmland to provide food for the wildlife.  They harvest hay in the summer and leave alfalfa, corn, milo, millet and other crops for wildlife during the winter.

Gambel's Quail - Interesting looking bird

Now having said all this, you'd think we would have seen a lot of wildlife.  No, we didn't because the water canals were bone dry.  We chose a bad time of the year to go there.  We had a nice hike and we were thankful for the canopy of trees that provided shade from the 90 degree temperature.  We spotted the quail as we were leaving.

You must cross this bridge if you want to visit Cibola

Those wood barriers don't offer much protection

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife spare no expense for nice bathrooms, solar
panels, well maintained hiking trails, plenty of literature, etc.

You can see the solar panels in the background - wish I had
a few of those for our motor coach

Still practicing - tried manual focus

This is supposed to be filled with water 

Even the canals were dry

Got back in time to pack up the site for tomorrow's departure.  It was a nice last day.

Yesterday Denis put in the new motor for the stairs - he did a nice job

Took this shot just because I could