Including a bird whose ID I’m not quite sure of.
Each of these photos was taken five days ago at Bear River MBR. Thankfully, the fog that has been a problem up there recently mostly stayed away that morning.
I have other photos taken that morning that strike my fancy more than these do and I will publish and have been publishing those photos in separate posts. So these photos are sort of “second tier” but collectively they’re a reasonable representation of some of the birds we’re seeing in northern Utah right now and at least some of them are interesting in their own right.
A female American Kestrel on a sign who gave me about two seconds with her before she vamoosed. I got about a half dozen shots of her but this is the only one with light on her face and in her eye.
An adult male Common Goldeneye in a rush because he felt a little trapped by ice out of frame up top that kept him uncomfortably close to my pickup. That’s a feather floating on the water in the backgound.
A lone American White Pelican that forgot to head south for the winter. I worry about this bird and a few others that have been reported to be still here in other areas of northern Utah.
At least ‘he’ has this merganser for company.
I believe this is a female Redhead but I’m just not quite sure. She was alone so there were no males nearby to help confirm her ID.
A pair of Common Ravens mercilessly harassing a Rough-legged Hawk. In an effort to escape their attacks the hawk dived down and landed on the snow but…
the ravens were relentless and followed the hawk. They landed right next to him and got into his face. They were far away from me and mostly had their backs to me so after I took a few photos of them I let them duke it out in private.
It was nice to find a few birds again that morning and have the fog mostly cooperate. On some recent trips to the refuge I’ve been skunked, or nearly so.
Ron
The war of the Corvids against the Raptors. At the California Raptor Center years ago now, local Magpies would sneak into the hawk cages to steal the mice the hawks were fed. More than once, the wily raptors snagged an extra breakfast, but most often it was the Magpie that got a free feed.
Interesting story, Sallie. Magpies are pretty wily so I’m just a little surprised that any of them got caught.
But if you tempt fate often enough….
Always nice to see a variety of species in a post, especially the coy, over-the-shoulder kestrel — she knows how to work it. I, too, worry about the pelican and all the other living things that aren’t in tip-top shape at the start of winter. I know that in captivity cross-species support/”friendships” can be fairly common. I wonder about the same in the wild — I’d like to think that the merganser is helping out his little pelican friend.
Or his “big” pelican friend. I’d like to think so too, Marty. They seemed pretty attached to each other but I suspect that was because the merganser may have been looking for fish that the pelican might disturb.
I worry about those lone pelicans too. Pelicans are usually in a group, when there is one lone pelican, it usually can’t fly. The pelicans are still almost impossible to catch until they are so sick it is hard to save them. Being involved with wildlife rehab has made birding and photography harder for me. I thought it would be good to see healthy birds in their habitat but I know and see injuries, illness. People hate to go birding with Haley and I, we always point out problems with birds. As long as there is open shallow enough water for fishing and the pelican keeps his feathers clean and dry he will be ok.
“As long as there is open shallow enough water for fishing and the pelican keeps his feathers clean and dry he will be ok.”
As you know April, that may be an order too tall to fill for the entire winter. I guess all we can do is wish those pelicans the best.
‘at least some of them are interesting in their own right.’ Wash your greedy mouth out. Any of these beauties would make my day. Thank you.
Just my take, EC. It’s all relative and I do like the shots.
I don’t know of any locations here in northwest Washington that one can, in one location, see the variety you have in locations like Farmington Bay WMA and Bear River MBR. Yes, we have ponds and lakes and wetlands, but I think they probably wouldn’t allow for the opportunity to photograph so many species in one morning, even with your equipment and skills.
15º here this morning and 3-4 inches of snow. I’ll have to thaw the window hummingbird feeder several time today. I did it a few minutes ago and the hummers were at it in seconds. I’m always amazed that the little things survive such cold and windy nights.
Lyle, I saw a bunch more species than this but didn’t get even mediocre photos of most of them.
We got snow here this morning too. Not a lot but we’re supposed to get more over the next few days.
It is amazing the hummers survive. They are probably Anna’s. Thank you for feeding them and keeping the fluid thawed. I used to bring the feeders in at night and put them out before sunrise, if they refroze, I switched out feeders several times a day. I have not had a hummingbird past the first of December, and only a couple of years in 41 of living in Salt Lake.
You’re right on the Redhead – nice rounded head, which at a distance always looks like a lollipop to me! Female Scaup would show white on the face, and female Canvasback would have a stronger slope to the forehead, which reminds me of the Olympic ski slope jump at a distance. Your fog has made its way east, I’m afraid. I decided to turn off the alarm and go back to bed!
Thanks for the confirmation, Diane. I was pretty sure but not completely.
Nice variety for the morning after Christmas. I like the Pelican photos. You can see how dirty that water is looking at the rear of the pelican in the first photo. The Merganser is also dirty from diving. Is it a Red-breasted?
Those Ravens love to harass. I have very often seen them harassing our eagles here, and two years ago had the very unhappy occasion to see them fly into their nest and kill their lone chick while the female was fishing and the male was missing.
Everett, that’s too bad about the eagle chick. Yes, red-breasted.
Nice, fun collection of the variety of birds you have right now. 🙂 Pelican looking a bit ratty – may be in trouble. 🙁 Love the Merganser following along. Raven’s/Crows ARE merciless when it comes to harassing raptors. We’ve been getting more crows in the last few years around here something we rarely saw until recently.
Judy, that pelican seemed to be holding one of its wings a little strangely. I hope it isn’t injured.
Yesterday morning Farmington Bay WMA was teeming with crows.