Overview

Birding Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area is fun, but it is more of an expedition to slowly drive the perimeter roads and take short walks into the Joshua Tree forest in search of birds. There are no birding hotspots, but the entire area is habitat for many species. There are a few residents, but most birds migrate through the area and so are in the area seasonally.

Wee Thump is the best place in Nevada to look for Gilded Flicker and Curve-billed Thrasher, but also watch for Northern Flicker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black-throated Sparrow, Red-tailed Hawk, Crissal Thrasher, Golden Eagle, Loggerhead Shrike, Common Raven, Cactus Wren, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture, Bewick's Wren, Bushtits, and even ducks and shorebirds use temporary water in the area.

For more information on the wilderness area, see Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area.

Location

Link to map of the wilderness area.

The Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area is located about 50 air-miles south of Las Vegas between Searchlight, Nevada, and Nipton, California, on the north side of Nevada Highway 164. The southeast corner of the wilderness area (Table 1, Site 1299) is on Highway 164, 8.2 miles west of Searchlight, and the southwest corner (Site 1305) is on the highway 13.2 miles west of Searchlight. In California, Highway 164 becomes Nipton Road.

Roads on all sides of the wilderness area provide access for birders. Nevada Highway 164 is paved and runs along the south side, the other three perimeter roads are dirt: Wee Thump East Road, Wee Thump West Road, and Wee Thump North Road. Always be careful on dirt roads and exercise good judgment based on your vehicle.

Habitat Type

The entire wilderness area is located in the Mojave Desert Scrub (Upper Sonoran) life zone, but there are two distinct habitat types.

In the higher-elevation western and northern areas, the vegetation community is a Blackbrush-Joshua Tree forest. Many other plant species are present, especially in washes, but blackbrush and Joshua trees dominate the landscape with a scattering of Mojave yucca, banana yucca, and buckhorn cholla.

In the lower-elevation areas (southeastern areas), the vegetation is more typical Mojave Desert Scrub with lots of Joshua trees. Here, creosote bush, white bursage, Mojave yucca, bunchgrasses, cholla (including matted cholla), pricklypear cactus, and a variety of other low-growing desert shrubs dominate the landscape. The invasive red brome grass is not too much of a problem here.

Wildlife other than Birds

Reptiles include desert tortoises, yellow-backed spiny lizard, side-blotched lizard, leopard lizard, zebra-tailed lizard, and Mojave Patch-nosed Snake.

Mammals include bighorn sheep, coyote, black-tailed jack rabbit, desert cottontail, valley pocket gophers, kangaroo rats, pocket mice, white-tailed antelope squirrels, badger, bobcat, cattle, kit fox, mule deer, and desert woodrats.

Invertebrates include common green darner dragonfly, variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, familiar bluet damselfly, and tadpole shrimp (Triops spp.).