Cinnamon Teal

An old saying comes to mind when I look back at our latest trip to Bear River: “Nature abhors a vacuum.” As a gardener, I used to think that saying only applied to my garden where areas I had just weeded would immediately be covered in new weeds. However, it took on a more pleasant connotation when the missing American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, and Grebes were replaced by large numbers of birds we had rarely seen there, more than ready to take advantage of the wetlands.

One of my favorite of those was the Cinnamon Teal.  We were greeted by a pair of very raucous male Cinnamon Teal in the fields before we got to the refuge.  I assumed they were squabbling over territory since it was near breeding season.  

male Cinnamon Teal

We were then greeted near the gate by a single male Cinnamon Teal in the pond next to the gate.  

male Cinnamon Teal

I began to question my original premise that males would become territorial this time of year since the opposite seemed to be much more common since most of my shots actually showed pairs or small flocks of male Cinnamon Teal hanging out together.

two male Cinnamon Teal

We only saw a single pair

pair of Cinnamon Teal

and they didn’t seem any rush to nest. I was curious about when Cinnamon Teal nest, but the only information I could find online was that they nest “at different times in different areas,” which didn’t really answer my questions.

Thankfully, it’s easy to admire their beauty even when you don’t know much about them, and that’s often the first step in learning about their lives.

Bear River Grebes

My all-time favorite shots at Bear River may be pictures of Avocet chicks, but a close second would have to be pictures of Grebe chicks riding on their parent’s back.  We didn’t see any of those on this trip, either, though we saw grebes throughout the refuge. 

Bear River is the first place I ever saw a Clark’s Grebe and didn’t realize it wasn’t a Western Grebe until I put the shots up on my computer screen. Now, though the hairline is a distinctive difference; the dark cap usually doesn’t surround the eye.  In addition, the orange beak is quite different from the Western Grebe’s yellow beak.

Clark’s Grebe

Though they look remarkably similar in the wild, seeing them posted together like this helps me to clearly distinguish the two.

Western Grebe

Of course, once you think you’ve got the difference mastered you see one like this that seems like a hybrid Western/Clark’s, which I’ve never seen before but does seem to exist.

Hybrid Western/Clark’s Grebe?

Another unexpected sighting was this Eared Grebe not yet in full breeding plumage, a first for me at Bear River.

Eared Grebe in transitional plumage

Luckily we were too busy just taking shots of the many birds we did see to be disappointed by the birds we didn’t see. 

If I had driven 600+ miles to just see Avocet or Grebe chicks I would have been depressed by our trip, but, since I don’t chase particular birds and visit places that make me feel alive, I always end up enjoying the places I visit — unless there are too many mosquitoes visiting at the same time.

Not Just Avocets

As I noted in a long-forgotten blog entry, where you find American Avocets you almost invariably find Black-Necked Stilts and White-Faced Ibis.  Apparently, the corollary is also true: if you don’t find Avocets you probably won’t find Black-necked Stilts or White-Faced Ibis, either.  

We saw more Black-necked Stilts in wetlands next to the freeway on our way to Bear River than we did on the refuge.  The only shot we managed in the refuge was this one, taken at the beginning of the auto tour.

Black-necked Stilts

Luckily, we saw more White-faced Ibis than we did stilts.  It was hard to miss the distinctive profile as small flocks of Ibis flew overhead.

Silhouettes of Black-necked Stilt in flight

Unfortunately, the sunlight didn’t cooperate when we finally spotted several Ibis foraging in the wetlands. 

Black-necked Stilt in the shade

You would swear that White-faced Ibis are a dark, brown color from shots like this.

It’s only in the kind of light we got at the end of the road tour that you can clearly see, as the Cornell site points out: “The handsome White-faced Ibis shimmers with purple, green, and bronze plumage. Breeding adults add to this a ruby-red eye surrounded by a sharp white mask, and pink legs.”

Brightly-lit White-faced Ibis

Of course, it would be easier to accurately render the colors I saw if water didn’t look as different in varying light as the birds do, making it difficult to know if your camera accurately recreated the colors you saw. It might also help if I didn’t automatically underexpose my shots to avoid blown-out highlights, but that’s a discussion for another time. My mind tells me that water should be a blue/deep blue, but my camera constantly reminds me that what is inside my head isn’t always true. I still struggle to recreate what I saw when I took the shot, not just what the camera captured.

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American Avocets

The first time I saw a picture of an American Avocet was in Tri-Cities on a brochure showing birds that could be seen in the refuge at different times of the year.  Right then I resolved that I would find one to photograph.  It was a few years before I found one, though, despite exploring all the bird refuges on the Columbia River.  Strangely enough, the earliest picture I could find in my blog was taken in the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, near Santa Rosa in March of 2012, and it was in its non-breeding plumage. The earliest I remember seeing one in full breeding colors was at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. 

Later I learned that the best place to find them breeding was at Bear River. I finally managed to get a shot of an Avocet chick there on July 12, 2016.  I was hoping to relive that moment on our recent visit, but we saw very few Avocets there this time and not a single nest, though when we were confronted by this Avocet as we started the road tour, I suspected that there might be a nest nearby. 

American Avocet

However, I dismissed that idea when the Avocet suddenly decided to take a nap.

Sleeping Avocet

The area where we’ve seen nests before was drained this year and cows were roaming the fields, apparently an attempt to rid the area of some kind of obnoxious weed.

So, we had to settle for shots of solitary Avocets foraging in the shallow water on other parts of the refuge,

Avocet Wading in Shallow Water

but Avocets are such elegant birds that it’s always a treat to see them, chicks or not.

Avocet Feeding

We did see a few pairs of Avocets, though. This pair foraged so closely together that I wondered if they could be courting each other and nesting.

A Pair of American Avocets Feeding

If so, they would be late because a little research revealed they generally nest from April to early July.  

In a normal year, that’s when Leslie and I would be headed to Colorado, but this was far from a normal year in so many ways.  Hopefully, we can get on track again next year.