31 August 2013 - A Birdy Birdy Day

It has been some time since I got out to go look for birds. This morning I left the house well before sunrise and started a tour of the Great Salt Lake shoreline.  I started 78 miles north at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. It was hard to believe how much it had changed since the last time I was there.  It has been so hot that many of the channels are totally dry, and some of the wetland areas are parched and cracked mudflats. Even so, I had a great time and added new birds to my list.  

As dry as it was, the Bear River still flows into these 100s of acres. 

One (of the many) hard things for beginning birders such as myself, is the change in coloration: winter plumage, breeding plumage, juvenile coloration. 

All different for the same darn bird. I think I've found something new, but no, only the seasonal color change. 

Makes for some frustration in the identification process. Here is an example. This is an avocet in the winter plumage. First I've seen. 

The avocets I've been watching all summer have a rich cinnamon color. Thought I'd found a new bird. Learning more every day. 

 But speaking of new birds, these are Solitary Sandpipers. 

A new bird for me. There are so many varieties of sandpipers, identifying this one took three books and some googling. 


Another new bird was a Northern Harrier. Big! 

Nearly had a heart attack when it rose out of the rushes right in front of me. He would float just above the tops of all the grasses then dive into them and come flapping back up. I didn't see him catch anything. According to Sibley, my bird bible, this brown is a juvenile coloration. 


I thought I'd see hundreds of white-faced ibis again, but the shallow wetlands where I'd seen them before were dry. Guess they've moved somewhere else. I did get close to a few individuals scattered through the refuge, but the sky was full of them. 


There is something about the ibis, all the colors in their feathers are just beautiful and change depending on the light. They are magnificent. 

Moving from birds to fish for a moment. Carp are a problem. They are not native and they get huge. There is at least one good thing that comes from the wetlands drying out. As the water disappears carp become exposed,and then die. Many of these carp are up to three feet long. 

As I was driving past one of the dried areas I was vaguely wondering where all the driftwood came from when I realized it was dead carp. The dying carp create food for foxes, coyotes, raptors and seagulls. 

You can see how the wetlands are turning brown as fall comes. 

The highlight of my time here was finding baby grebes. I spent quite a bit of time with binoculars watching the little guys. They'd be bobbing along beside a parent then a frantic peeping would start as the baby would scrabble up into the parent's feathers. 

This is a Clark's Grebe.

This large baby is a Western Grebe. Wonder how big they get before mom says no more rides? 

I ran into a pair of pheasants and two babies. The parents flew as soon as they saw me, leaving their babies to disappear into a stand of tall grass. All I captured was one of the babies. 

Of course there were all the usual suspects, great blue herons in abundance, pelicans, snowy egrets, ravens, crows, cormorants, franklin's gulls, california gulls, black-necked stilts, coots, barn swallows, bank swallows and tree swallows, lesser yellowlegs, long-billed curlews, red wing blackbirds, eared grebes. Probably more I'm forgetting. 

My plan was to start at the north-most point and work my way back home. Next on my list was a wildfowl management area near the south part of Willard Bay. Best laid plans. Ha. I was excited about this, because many of the bird habitats are closed for viewing between April and September. I had it in my head that today was September 1. So the Willard Bay management area was still closed. Darn! 

But I did see some country I had not been to before. Willard Bay is a diked-off area of the GSL where the water is fresh and people can take their motor boats without the salt eating the metal alive. Here you can see part of the dike. 

A channel from the Weber River feeds the wetland preserve. Considering how dry the surrounding area is, you'd think it would be full of ducks or something. Didn't see anything. 

My next stop was going to be the Farmington Bay wetlands. They have changed the freeway exit signs from Gentile Road to Kaysville. When did they do that?  So I missed the exit. Geeze. My next stop was Antelope Island. 

Once again I was stunned at how far the water has receded. The causeway is usually a great place to spot lots of wading birds. This should be water all the way to the far mountains. Nothing.

It was so dry there were no birds, until about two-thirds across the causeway. I was looking out thinking the wind was kicking up a froth on the lake when I realized it was thousands of birds. Good thing no one was behind me. I screeched to a stop--may even have left rubber on the road. 

All the darker areas on the water are birds. I am pretty sure they are Wilson's Phalaropes, in their winter coloration. 

 

This is the first time I have ever seen such a huge flock of a single variety of birds. These pictures are just one little piece of the flock.

They were all talking. It wasn't loud, but thousands of birds making soft little ket-ket sounds. 

I walked down the causeway to the water's edge (big mistake - brine flies) but I couldn't leave. 

I'm estimating between 700 and 1000 birds in this tiny piece of the swirl.

Every now and then a couple hundred would rise up circle around then settle back down. I understand this behavior is called murmuration. It is fascinating to watch the clouds of birds as they ripple and swirl around each other.

I think I spent more time on the causeway than I did on the island. 

Once on the island I took a short hike on the Lady Finger Trail. Great views of Bridger Bay. Again, you can see how low the lake is. The water should be up to the line of green vegetation.

The trail was really pretty, winding through beautiful rock formations. The rocks were often a yellowy-orange color that was enhanced by orange lichens.

 

It was 96 degrees today. By now it was late afternoon and I was hot and tired. Decided it was time to head home. Just another fabulous day.