Category: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Although a single Yellow-Headed Blackbird was reported recently on a local birding site, we seldom see them here in the Puget Sound area so I’m generally pleased to get a picture of one, particularly the brightly-colored male. Still, I was surprised by how many I saw everywhere I went last week, everywhere; their brash songs

filling the air, making it impossible to miss them,

all of them.

Most of this singing seemed intent on attracting a mate,

like this charming female Yellow-Headed Blackbird, harder to spot because of her more subdued colors and because her usual “song” seems to be just a harsh clicking.

Judging from this guy’s expression,

though, some of those songs were probably territorial claims, not romantic love songs. At least I hope this wasn’t this guy’s idea of the best way to attract a mate.

I just got back from a week-long birding trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, Malheur NWR in southeastern Oregon, and Tule NWR in northern California. Needless to say, I collected a massive number of photos I haven’t had nearly enough time to process. As always, I had a hard time figuring out the best way present the photos I’ve taken. Although this blog is largely a personal journal, reflecting my experiences over the last 10+ years, time doesn’t seem the best way to present these kinds of photos. To me, it makes better sense to present them by types of birds, though that means I would have to process the whole trip’s shots before I could write an entry. That might take weeks, and meanwhile my blog would have far too much “dead time.” So, more often than not I settle on a less-than-perfect (a wabi-sabi) approach.

At first I thought I would present shots of Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, which had to be the most prominent bird on this trip. I even processed several of the shots I got at Bear River, but changed my mind at the last moment and decided to show the bird that greeted me at my arrival at the refuge. I actually arrived an hour before the automatic gates opened, and I loved the rosy, early morning light in these shots.

This Night Heron almost looked as tired and frazzled as I was after driving 817 miles non-stop, and resting a few hours at a nearby rest spot before spending the morning birding.

I suspect, though, that if I had tried this stretch while standing on one leg that I would have immediately fallen down.

As it turned out, this

was my favorite Night Heron shot of my trip, though I saw (or at least glanced) Night Herons in all three places I visited. Heck, it might even be my all-time favorite shot of a Night Heron. I really do need to get more shots in early morning and early evening light.

After a glorious trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last summer I didn’t want to miss the chance to check it out in the winter when our trip required us to pass right by it. As it turned out, we were about ready for a stop after driving through Salt Lake City. With a long day’s drive still in front of us and questionable weather, I knew that we would have to make a quick, early morning stop if we were going to stop at all.

As it turned out, it was actually sunnier than when I visited it in the middle of June. Unfortunately, the sun was quite low on the horizon and the light was extremely orange-colored, making it harder than usual to identify birds that I seldom see in their winter dress.

At first I thought this might be a Ring-Necked Duck, but my bird guide doesn’t show this variation for Ring-Necked. It also looked a little like a Scaup, but my best guess is that it is probably a Redhead in eclipse plumage.

When we first saw these two grebes (I realized immediately they were grebes), I thought they must be an unknown variety, but, as it turns out, they were simply Pied Grebes in winter colors, something I seldom see, especially in the bright, morning sunshine.

There was no doubt about these two because I spent over two years looking for one before I saw a whole flock of them near Santa Rosa. So it was a treat to see a pair of Canvasback ducks, even if they were much too far away to get a really good shot.

We saw so many Northern Harriers at the refuge I just assumed this was one as it swooped down and caught a mouse, but a quick look on screen made it clear that this was no Northern Harrier, though, again, I’m far from certain what it is. My best guess is that it’s a Rough-Legged Hawk.

The thrill of the day, though, came just as we were finishing the auto-tour. As we were slowly scanning the lake I happened to glance down at the ground and see a white blur. I got Leslie to hand me the small lens since there was no way she could see what I was seeing from her side of the car. Luckily, this little Long-Tailed Weasel popped up from the foliage again,

took a quick glance at me,

realized I was too old and slow to present any real danger and dashed out of the grass and retrieved a dead mouse that it must have dropped as I drove up. Unfortunately, he was right, I wasn’t nearly fast enough to get a shot of him as he picked the mouse up, even though I got a great view of him.

Although I wasn’t nearly as impressed with Big Bear as I was on my earlier visit, that two-minute adventure made my day, making it possible to bear the long drive home through, snow, sleet and hours of darkness.

I’ve got enough pictures from Bear River to post for another few weeks, but I figure if you haven’t already put it on your “Must-Visit” list, I’m probably never going to change your mind. I’ve already posted pictures of the birds I specifically went to see, but I was amazed at how many other birds I saw there. So, I’ll end this series with some of my favorite shots that I haven’t posted yet.

I shot these Wilson’s Phalarope in brilliant morning sunlight, making the contrast even worse than it would have been later in the day. Still, those are the most brilliant colors I’ve ever seen on these birds.

There were whole flocks of Cliff Swallows on the reeds along the road, allowing me to get better shots than I’ve ever managed before.

I actually got several shots with better lighting than this shot of a male Ruddy Duck, but none of them did as good of a job of showing his brilliant blue beak

and this classic Ruddy Duck pose with tail feathers pointing straight up.

I saw Night Herons throughout the refuge, but this is my favorite shot of one that came bursting out of the reeds after I pulled up and stepped out of my truck.

I also spent a lot of time photographing gulls, Franklin Gulls and California Gulls. Since the California Gull is the state bird of Utah, it seems appropriate that I end with this shot.

If the story of the Mormons being saved from the locust by gulls is true, they should probably thank the Lord for creating the Great Salt Lake which attracts all kinds of gulls (and other birds).

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago as I drove across the Salt Flats I thought to myself, “What a wasteland.” Of course I had the same thought when I first saw Lake Malheur on the same trip. Luckily I’ve had the chance to discover otherwise in the last few years. I’m not about to leave Puget Sound to live in either place, but you can be sure that I’ll be visiting both areas many times in the next few years.