And the Ones that Got Away

It’s great to see all kinds of birds you seldom see, but what often brings me back to a place is not seeing birds I’d hoped to see. I’ve probably seen enough Avocets, White-Faced Ibis, and Black-Necked Stilts, not to mention Western Grebes and Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, to keep me satisfied until next year, but there were lots of birds I’d hoped to see that I didn’t see nearly enough of.

For instance, this is the only shot I got of Eared Grebes in one of the few places I normally see them.

MsdEardGrb

I didn’t even realize they were Eared Grebes until I put them up on the computer screen.

I managed just one shot of another favorite, the male Ruddy Duck,

Rudy&Mate

and it was so far out that I had to crop two-thirds of the picture to get this. Needless to say, I didn’t bother to keep the digital negative after I printed this.

This is may be one of the best shots I’ve ever gotten of a Redhead Duck,

BRRdHddDk

but it’s the only one I saw, and it was a long ways off. I would have loved to have gotten some better shots.

I did see several Night Herons, but they were extremely skittish and flew off before I could manage a decent shot. This immature Night Heron

YngNitHrn

was the only decent shot I got.

I can usually count on seeing large flocks of pelicans at Bear River, but we only saw a few of them close up on this trip.

BRPlcn]

Of course, the pictures you CAN’T see are the ones I really wanted to get. I would have loved to seen baby Avocets, baby Black-Necked Stilts, or even baby White-faced Ibis, but apparently I was there too early.

I may just have to return for another visit in the near future now that I’ve almost gotten through all the shots from our latest visit.

One thought on “And the Ones that Got Away”

  1. Sure is nice to see the birds you are seeing there. We’ve been out to our favorite birding places and not seen anyone lately. Love seeing that Ruddy Duck. They’ll be back here in the fall.

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