Category: Big Beef Creek

Although the cloudy weather and low light made photography challenging, I managed to get a few shots at Big Beef Creek that I liked. The closer the birds flew the better the shots seemed to be, perhaps because of the haze.

So, most of the shots in this post are close-ups, like this one of an immature Bald Eagle about to catch the first fish of the day.

He returned even closer while flying to a branch behind us to enjoy a quick repast.

Although most of the shots I got that day were of immature Bald Eagles, I still tend to favor the shots of Mature Bald Eagles, like this one.

Even though I spend most of my time at Big Beef Creek focusing on the Eagles, my favorite shots of the day often turn out to be shots of Great Blue Herons, like this one.

There is a reason I have a hard-drive full of Heron shots, after all.

I knew when I went to Colorado that I would miss the beginning of the Sculpin runs at Big Beef Creek with their heron and eagle gatherings, but I also know it’s impossible to see everything you want to see during Spring migration. Try as I might, I can’t manage to be at Bottle Beach, Malheur, Big Bear River, and Big Beef Creek all at the same time even though there are great pictures to be taken at all of them at precisely the same time.

I started thinking about Big Beef Creek as soon as I got back from Colorado, but it was nearly impossible to find the right high tide and sunshine on the same day. As it turned out, despite the forecast for sunshine, it was cloudy when I finally managed to get to Big Beef Creek.

Not only that, I managed to get there nearly two hours before I needed to. Unfortunately, that is not unusual for me because I have a habit of always being early.

Luckily, I wasn’t the only one anticipating the Sculpin run. We were greeted by this Bald Eagle as we drove up.

This Bald Eagle flew back and forth between the telephone pole and trees across the road for an hour before other birds began to show up.

Needless to say, I got too many shots of it.

Luckily, there were a lot of other birds around, too, like this Crow

and this gull.

I even had time to visit with two professional photographers from Spokane before the herons and eagles arrived. They gave me a number of helpful hints on using my new Canon EOS 7D Mark II. I’m always learning new ideas from talking to other bird photographers at places like this, but I was more than ready when the first Great Blue Herons began to arrive.

Once the herons arrive, you can count on the Sculpin and Eagles showing up right afterwards.

With over 150 shots of Western/Clark’s Grebes taken on the two previous visits, I was looking for different birds not more grebes on our last drive through Bear River. However, while scanning for birds this Western Grebe looked different from others I had seen. It was off by itself instead of paired off, and, more importantly, her feathers looked oddly â€?”ruffled.” A closer look quickly revealed why.

This Western Grebe had two rather large chicks on her back,

and though it was too far out to hear, one chick was particularly vocal,

even while its sibling seemed content to doze off.

It wasn’t until I examined the photos on my computer that I even realized that there was a sleepy third sibling.

It wasn’t long before we realized that it was dad that they youngster was calling to.

Dad didn’t appear to have a fish, but he headed directly to the mother and her youngsters and fed one of the chicks.

Great Blue Heron are by far the best fisherman to be found at Big Beef Creek, though fish are so plentiful during the sculpin runs that even crows and gulls get their fill. There’s no doubt Bald Eagles could easily catch all the fish they wanted to, but apparently they’ve found it easier to steal a fish from Great Blue Herons than catch one themselves.

Immature Bald Eagles seem to enjoy flying over a flock of Great Blue Herons just to harass them,

but mature Bald Eagles don’t waste their time just flying over. They single out a Great Blue Heron that has already caught a fish,

drive it off,

land, and take off with their catch,

ignoring any other herons in the vicinity. A truly efficient bully.