I went two places yesterday to enjoy being away from the city in a different way than hiking. My first stop was here at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. I have friends from New Jersey who have been here twice on vacations to Las Vegas and they always said what a great place it was and they were right.
You enter the preserve through an office where you fill out a short form for contact information and save harmless for the City of Henderson. This is good for two years. You sign the guest book and then enter the preserve going out the back door. There are volunteers working here who make sure you have a map and a bird pamphlet so you can mark off the birds you see if you want.
From the back door, you're on your own to explore and enjoy! There's a dirt track that goes basically two miles around the exterior perimeter. You can see many of the pools this way. There is also a dry pond in one spot where burrowing owls have been spotted.
There are two places where the preserve has observation points. One is a boardwalk that goes out into one of the ponds where you can get closer to view some of the birds. There are benches at the end of this walk and there are benches in many places throughout the preserve to just relax and enjoy the solitude and sounds of the birds.
There are a couple of blinds with holes at different levels for different height people to stand behind to observe the birds. You can also get some good photos without scaring the birds. Finally, there's a raised platform--you walk up a set of steps--that looks out over two of the ponds. It's a great place to stop and watch what flies by.
I will be back. This is one of those places where going just once is not enough!!