Archiving throughout Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas: Havasu NWR, AZ, April 10

Havasu National Wildlife Refuge was established by Executive Order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 for the primary purpose of providing migratory bird habitat. The refuge is comprised of 37,515 acres along the lower Colorado river in Arizona and California. The refuge protects 30 river miles and encompasses 300 miles of shoreline from Needles, California, to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. One of the last remaining natural stretches of the lower Colorado River flows through the 20-mile long Topock Gorge. We loved it here and appreciated its beauty and serenity.

We made several outings to explore the refuge waterfronts which ranged from back marshes (small and large) and the CO River itself.

This is the "Catfish Paradise" section of the refuge; a place we visited one Saturday night during our two and a half week visit. There was a nice breeze along the water and we enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells.

Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is a birding hot spot with 318 bird species relying on the diverse habitat. The refuge brochure states: "Western and Clark’s grebes perform synchronized dances in the waters of Topock Marsh and Beal Lake and nest in the emergent vegetation. "

This guy is a Western Grebe. We had never seen this type of bird before and he put on quite a show, diving in and out of the water (they completely submerge themselves) looking for food.

Sunset at Catfish Paradise at Havasu NWR. It was beautiful.

This is Oliver getting ready for his nightly run along the "Lower Levee Rd." on the refuge. This takes you right along the Colorado River and is a very scenic place to enjoy and get some exercise.

This is another section of the refuge that provides more habitat for the birds.We tried to explore all areas of this vast expanse and really enjoyed everything we saw.

This is the office complex in Needles, CA, just across the river from the refuge itself. This is where we lived and worked.

The building above and below is the biology building where we set-up our equipment and worked. The top photo is the backside and the photo to the right is the front.

This is the main office and Visitor's Center. You can see that it is next door to biology, which is the building in the background.

Here is our 2BR guest house, which is an incredibly com fie place to stay. Above is the view from the backyard. Below is the front view. It was on the corner of Ocotillo and Santa Fe.

Here is Jay, the biologist at Havasu, and our office mate during our visit. She has a TON of good, positive energy and was a lot of fun to be around. She had several 4am starts to her workday during our visit for the annual waterfowl survey work in the back marshes of the refuge.

This is the inside of the main office and Visitor's Center. We were in and out of here pulling the files and docs to be scanned.

This is Linda, the refuge manager. She knows her stuff and is very protective of the refuge. She is professional, responsive, and easy to work with. Everyone at Havasu really tried to make our visit as productive and comfortable as possible.

Scenes from the biology building at Havasu.

Here are a few images of the inside of the guest house. We are packing to leave in some of these photos so there are suitcases everywhere. It is quite the production to transition from one place to the next as it includes our equipment, bedding, groceries and all of our clothes.