Archive for the ‘grebe’ Category

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Bear River National Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Finally made it to the Bear River Migratory Bird Wildlife Refuge in Brigham City, Utah. They are just completing paving a 12 mile dirt road from their Visitor Center, near the I-15, to their old Visitor Center near a 12-mile unpaved loop around a freshwater impoundment. That makes a 36 mile auto tour route, counting the return trip back over the paved road. It really is an incredible refuge.

Above, a series of pictures of part of the grebe courtship ritual. Grebes carry their young under their back feathers while they swim around.

While some birds are just starting to nest, saw some young American avocets and killdeers.

A huge number of pelicans nest on an island on the Great Salt Lake. They come to the fresh water marshes at the refuge for food and water.

There was intermittent rain, along with snow in the nearby mountains my first few days at the refuge. The swallows (cliff I think) were swarming to get mud and build nests.

The rainy weather alternated with temps in the 70′s, causing concern for flooding from snow melting and adding water to the already saturated ground.

The warm weather also brought lots of bugs. After just driving the paved road during the rain, ventured out on the dirt road loop when it warmed up. Wanted to take a lot of pictures, but my truck was always surrounded by hoards of midges. Locals drove with their windows down and laughed at out-of-towners unnerved by the bugs.

Saw dozens of Western kingbirds. The kingbirds and swallows should have no shortage of food (bugs).

Muskrats are supposed to be a sign of a healthy marsh.

On an off-topic, happened to watch the movie Hereafter. While I didn’t really care for the movie, was surprised when the character played by Matt Damon was shown to like to listen to Charles Dickens’ books. I have just about gone through all of this prolific writer’s books, either listening to a free download read by my Kindle or to an Audible edition on my iPod. A lot of the same themes run through the books and they have happy endings, or at least you are told what happens to all the characters. People in England during this period seem to have drunk a lot of alcohol and eaten a lot of meat.

Posted in American avocet, Brigham City, grebe, kingbird, muskrat, pelican, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

More birds at Camas Refuge

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Walking on a path near the visitor center at Camas National Wildlife Refuge saw two very large nests on the ground. As I looked closer, saw there was a young great horned owl in one of them. It didn’t seem to pay any attention to me, but on walking back by, saw that it had flown to a nearby tree. Online it says they fledge from the nest while still downy around the head and without noticeable ear tufts. Surprised they nest on the ground. There have to be coyotes in the area.

Lewis’s woodpecker. Don’t believe I’ve seen one before.

Ruddy duck

Juvenile northern harrier. Saw it harassing a lone Canada goose on the dirt road.

Came across two barn swallows nesting in an unused mailbox. It is in a hunting area on the refuge, so it’s probably used during hunting season.

Birds seen but not pictured: western tanager, a flock of cedar waxwings, juvenile meadowlarks, yellow warbler, marsh wrens.

Posted in Dubois, great horned owl, grebe, Hamer, Northern harrier, Roberts, swallow, wildlife refuge, woodpecker | Comments Off

Camas National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

I’m visiting Camas National Wildlife Refuge along the I-15 in Idaho, southwest of Yellowstone Park. Eared grebes at the refuge are pictured above. Last year when I was here, there were baby eared grebes riding on the backs of a parent and baby coots. I’m earlier this year though, and winter weather is continuing longer than usual. The corridor along the I-15 between the small villages of Roberts, Hamer, and Dubois, remind me of the Bishop area along #395. It is a desert area with snow capped mountains to the east, west, and north. I plan to stay here till after Memorial Day. Hopefully by then the winter weather will be gone, along with most of the snow from the mountain passes.

Besides Camas National Wildlife Refuge, there are two wildlife management areas here that I hope to visit: Mud Lake and Market Lake.

Yellow-headed blackbird

A hawk holding on to a branch in 30-35 mph winds.

At my campsite, there are two killdeers that use the broken wing ploy every time I step outside, most likely to draw me away from where they have a nest. Would love to see some baby killdeers. They start walking around as soon as they hatch.

Driving home from the refuge on a rural road late one windy day, two sandhill cranes flew in front on my truck, making me slam on my brakes. I was the only one on the road and was driving slow, so I didn’t hit them. Have seen 3 or 4 pairs of cranes and one pair of swans.

Below, clouds passing through the area. They did not bring any rain, just snow to the mountains and cold temperatures at night.

Posted in Airstream, black bird, Dubois, grebe, Hamer, Roberts, sandhill crane, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

Have been in Tulelake, California for a week to visit the Tulelake and Lower Klamath Falls National Wildlife Refuges. There are thousands of geese here, with large flocks in the water and the surrounding farmland.

You can usually see an eagle here, if you visit the refuge in the morning or late afternoon. On one visit I saw an adult bald eagle eating a goose with two juvenile eagles circling above. By the time I got close, the adult had left and one juvenile had taken it’s place. It tried to take off with the prey in it’s claws, but couldn’t manage it.

Breeding northern shoveler

Saw a few small groups of breeding white pelicans.

Grebe

First time I’ve seen a river otter here. There has also been a beaver near my rv coming from a nearby farming water channel.

The way here: Drove the I-5 through Northern California. Pleasantly surprised at all the rest areas. This is the first time I’ve taken the I-5 coming north, having taken the 395 or 101 in the past. Driving over Mount Shasta it started to snow. When I turned off to get to Tulelake, it was snowing heavily with low visibility, although there was no snow on the road.

At the rest stop at Weed saw several rv’s as shown below.

Posted in grebe, otter, snow geese, Tulelake, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

Bolsa Chica Wetlands

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Had the opportunity to visit Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach again.

Above, a clam has “clamped” down on one of the coot’s toes. The coot is looking around for some assistance from a fellow coot. There were areas where there were a lot of these clams in this protected preserve. The next day I looked for, but did not see a coot with a clam on one foot.

Saw three or four varieties of grebes.

Saw another heron’s nest here. The heron above is taking it’s one twig to it’s mate in the nest.

Think this is a snipe. A snipe is the only short, squat, sea bird that I know of. Corrected by reader: this is a green heron. First picture of a green heron I’ve gotten.

A common yellow-throat

A round stingray

Posted in coot, grebe, heron, Huntington Beach | 1 Comment »

Benton Lake National Wildife Refuge

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge is near Great Falls, Montana at the western edge of the northern Great Plains and 50 miles east of the Rocky Mountains. It has many of the birds I saw at Camas Refuge in Idaho, with a few differences.

Above, eared grebe with offspring. Still seeing some young ones riding on a parent’s back. The other parent dives for food for the baby during this time. Have seen some young ones like the one above, start diving. The just stay under water a few seconds though.

Breeding sora in the marsh.

Ibis

A standing yellow-bellied marmot. Have also seen a muskrat.

Upland sandpiper

Willet

Long-billed curlew

Phalarope

A night heron carrying a black bird in it’s beak, with the black bird’s significant other chasing after them. The heron disappeared with it’s prey into the marsh foliage.

A pair of western kingbirds are nesting near the refuge visitor center. They fuss at you when you pass by. Have also seen eastern kingbirds.

When I first got to Great Falls, I stayed two nights at Walmart. During the day, I took my trailer to the refuge. One night, there were around 25 other rv’s staying in the Walmart parking lot. After two days, I moved to Fort Benton. It is an unusual small town, in that it’s in a canyon made by the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark thought this area was paradise when they stopped here. It later became the last stop for steamboats from St. Louis and then a major railway stop. The fort was built to protect people from outlaws and indians.

In looking on the web for information on the Upper Missouri River Breaks, found that cattle have caused a lot of problems here, as they have elsewhere.

“The BLM reports that past grazing management has resulted in almost complete elimination of important woody shrub species such as red-osier dogwood, chokecherry, serviceberry, currant, and gooseberry – all of which are highly important as food sources for mammals and birds. Another grazing related problem is the impending demise of riverside cottonwood forests. Presently almost all of the cottonwood trees along the river germinated from seed in the 1880s, before grazing was occurring on the river. As cattle grazing became an entrenched use on the river, cattle have systematically eliminated virtually all young cottonwoods, leaving no replacement trees to take the place of the old and dying mature trees.”

Posted in Fort Benton, grebe, heron, Ibis, kingbird, marmot, phalarope, sandpiper, sora, White Falls, wildlife refuge, willet | Comments Off

Camas National Wildlife Refuge

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Top picture, a young antelope. The only one I’ve seen. It stayed perfectly still as I drove by. Have also seen a lone moose, but it was too far away to get a picture.

Second picture, a porcupine was plodding along the road on one of my morning visits to the refuge.

Eared grebe with a baby on board, literally. I had heard grebe babies ride on a parent’s back. This is the first one I’ve seen.

Have seen quite a few ibis’. They are like ducks though, they tend to take off when they see you approaching.

Coot smackdown. Pre-fight posturing in top picture. They use their feet in fighting, holding onto the other bird with one foot and slapping with the other, along with pushing with the beak. The goal is to push the other bird onto his back. Think this fight was over a female coot. The bigger coot won.

Another picture of the owl, this time on the ground.

The pictures  below were taken by my rv site in Rexburg: baby robins in the first pictures and a Wilson’s warbler in the second. A parent robin was calling to the young ones today, trying to get them to fly to the ground.

The rv park I’m staying at is a family farm/rv park/bed and breakfast/cabin rental/and gift shop. There is a for sale sign out front, so the owners may have over extended themselves. They are really nice people and work really hard. There are lots of birds and, so far, no mosquitoes. Cotton, from all the cottonwood trees blows around in the air. I decided to stay here through the 4th of July.

Posted in antelope, coot, grebe, porcupine, Rexburg, robin, wildlife refuge, Wilson's warbler | No Comments »

More from Southeast Idaho

Monday, June 29th, 2009

I am around 50 miles from Grays Lake, but I took the long way around to get here, going through Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Yellowstone was extremely crowded (what a surprise). They were also doing road work in two areas that made you sit in your car for a half hour or so before being allowed through. Had planned to camp in Yellowstone, but the campgrounds were full. Exited via the south entrance and headed to Harriman State Park, only to find they don’t allow camping. A mile or so south of Harriman, there was a sign for Riverside Campground in the Targhee forest. Was surprised to see nice paved campsites along Henry’s Fork River that could accommodate the largest rv’s.

Stayed 4 days at Riverside Campground. The first two days were beautiful, but the next two it became mosquitoland. Went hiking at Harriman Park after spraying myself with OFF! It worked pretty well.

Moved a little further south to Rexburg, Idaho to see Camas National Wildlife Refuge. Was pleased to see Camas has a stream and canals that create a lot of wetlands for birds. The land south of it is desert managed by BLM.

The waterfall above is Upper Mesa Falls seen on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.

A beautiful night heron seen at Harriman State Park.

A male, breeding ruddy duck seen at Camas. All the photos below were taken at the Camas Refuge.

Eared grebe.

A baby coot being fed by a parent.

A black tern. First one I’ve ever seen. My bird book says they are uncommon. They remind me of nighthawks, the way they flitter around. A weasel ran down the refuge road and a black tern dive bombed it. Weasels eat birds, among other things.

A short eared owl. They are also uncommon and are less nocturnal than other owls. The picture was taken around 6 p.m. Not a great pic, but it’s all I got.

Saw a few sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, coot, grebe, National, owl, Rexburg, ruddy, State, swan, tern, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

More from Minidoka Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

The magpie fledglings were all on the ground this morning, hopping around. A parent called from a nearby tree, trying to get them to fly to them. They eventually were able to fly up to low branches on a tree.

Regret that I waited till after Memorial Day to head east to Idaho. In any event, finding lots of nesting birds.

A Bullock’s oriole feeding babies in nest. Their nest is like a sack hanging from a branch.

Downy woodpecker

Yellow warbler

Have seen a few grebe here. Think they may be Clark’s grebe rather than western grebe.

Every evening a pair of nighthawks circle around with rapid, flapping movements to catch insects in the air. They move so fast, it’s hard to get a good picture of them.

Posted in grebe, magpie, nighthawk, oriole, pelican, Rupert, State, wildlife refuge, woodpecker, yellow warbler | Comments Off

More from Tulelake

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Yesterday afternoon, found the eagle at the same spot again. It had been sunny in the morning, but a thunderstorm swept through in the afternoon with rain and some hail. Just lasted around 20 minutes. You could see areas in the valley were sunny and some were getting rain and lightning.

Thunderstorm moves across the refuge road.

Western grebe, one of my favorite birds.

Eared grebe in the rain.

Cinnamon teals, a favorite duck of hunters.

Pelicans, cormorants, and terns resting and grooming after the rain. Have seen some juvenile pelicans, but no real young ones. There is a large group of white pelicans towards the middle of the lake.

Below, my campsite at the Tulelake Fairgrounds. This would be an idyllic  place except for all the chemicals used by the farmers. A crop duster flies over farmland almost every day. Hate to think of all the chemicals in the water at Tule Lake.

Posted in Airstream, cormorants, eagle, grebe, pelican, teal, tern, Tulelake, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

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