Category: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Since one of the main reasons I went to Bear River was to see the American Avocets, and, more specifically, avocet babies, it’s an understatement to say that I was disappointed when I hadn’t seen a single avocet after my first trip around the refuge. I finally spotted a pair fairly close to the road on my way out of the refuge.

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Apparently the flooded fields around the refuge must have provided better feeding than the deep water in the refuge itself.

Although it was a relatively small flock, with no chicks in sight, I spent a lot of time beside the road taking shots.

The overcast skies really don’t do the Avocets justice.

It takes the kind of sunshine I got on the second day to make the bright orange on the head and the neck pop.

It’s that orange color that drove me to seek out in vain avocets first. Once I saw a picture of an American Avocet in a Refuge office, I knew that I wouldn’t be happy until I could find a place to photograph them. Unfortunately, the first time I actually saw one, it was in non-breeding colors, and I confused it for a Black-Necked Stilt, which you often find together with avocets.

I’ve always thought that avocets were very mellow birds, unlike the Black-Necked Stilts that seem quite territorial, at least toward other Stilts that are competing for food. So, I was a little surprised when one of the avocets charged this Wilson’s Phalarope, driving it a considerable distance away.

After twenty minutes of watching avocets quietly probe the water for food, I welcomed a little action.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a chick in sight anywhere. I don’t know if I was too late or too early or why there were so few avocets. I’m just happy that I could photograph the ones I did and that I was able to get some pictures because I didn’t see a single avocet at Malheur or Tule during the rest of my trip.

White Pelicans are another bird I have to cross the Cascades to find. Along with the Night Heron shown earlier, I was greeted by this small group of White Pelicans when I arrived at Bear River before the gates actually opened.

I thought they looked quite elegant in the early morning light, preening before catching a morning breakfast.

On the other hand, the group at the same spot later in the day looked a little scruffy,

particularly since they had been joined by two even less reputable vagabonds.

Shouldn’t they have been out helping this large flock of Pelicans out on the pond herd their breakfast up? (Or, perhaps that impression was just created by two very different kinds of light, though.)

Of course, I finally learned what the pelicans were doing last year when I read that, unlike the more familiar Brown Pelicans, White Pelicans don’t dive and catch fish. Instead, they often herd them into a limited area as a flock and then feed on them.

Interesting fact, but it certainly raised new questions for me when I gave it further thought. Do Pelicans pair off to raise young? If so, do they rejoin a flock to feed, or do they use a different means of catching food?

This looked like a â€?”pair,” but I also read that breeding Pelicans had a special bump on their beak, and neither of these do. (Further Googling suggests that breeding pairs may have already lost that â€?”bump” on their beak by this time of year, though they should still be on the nest if they had mated.)

I am initially drawn to birds by their beauty, but the more I observe them the more curious I become about them. White Pelicans are certainly no exception to that rule.

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 â€?”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 â€?”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.