Yesterday morning at Bear River MBR I was frustrated by what I call a “cloud from hell” for almost the entire three hours I was there. It was really a bank of clouds that hung over and just to the east of the refuge, when I could see that it was mostly sunny everywhere else. And it barely moved all morning, keeping me in deep shade or marginal light at the very best.
As a result, today’s photos and some others that you’ll see in future posts were taken in pretty poor light.
1/8000, f/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
This grab shot (thus the excessive shutter speed) of an American White Pelican illustrates the lighting conditions well. As we see in the lower background, the refuge itself was in deep shade while the Promontoy Mountains in the upper background were well lit, as was everything else except the refuge and vicinity. It was frustrating but I made do with the light I had.
OK, onto the ‘meat’ of today’s post.
1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
I was excited to find my first nesting American Avocets of the year. I almost missed her because she was just standing there when I approached and her mud-scrape nest was very difficult to see. I couldn’t even see the egg through my viewfinder and didn’t know it was there until I looked at my photos at home on my big screen.
Avocets typically lay four eggs in a clutch in a five day span and so far she’s only laid one egg. Usually they don’t begin incubating until the third egg is laid so that probably explains why she was just standing there, rather than incubating.
1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Her mate, who was foraging in some standing water about 100′ away, was calling to her so after a few moments she responded to him by…
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
taking off and landing close to him. I got two photos of her in flight but in the first one her right wing obstructed her head and neck and the second one was a little soft.
A better look at the single egg and most of the nest. The nest appears to be a rudimentary bowl of scraped mud that had subsequently dried. Before and during incubation both adults will collect and add lining material to the nest.
I suspect that while the adults are incubating, some of that emerging green pickleweed will be tickling their tummies.
Other avocets and Black-necked Stilts appear to be in the early stages of nesting in the same area of the refuge. I look forward to seeing their fuzzball babies.
Ron
Super series!
Thanks, Charlotte.
That grab shot would have me grinning with glee.
I am fascinated by the nest scrape too. It seems to work though it is decidedly counter intuitive.
Thanks, EC. I have two other photos of that pelican, all grab shots, but I used that one because the bird was closer to the horizon, which worked best for my purposes with this post.
Beautiful images! One would never know you were battling clouds and unhappy with the light.
She is so lovely, with her curved bill. Hope their nest is successful!
Thanks, Carolyn. A little processing can help with some (not all) of the issues caused by low light.
Never get tired of seeing Avocets! Thanks for sharing this morning.
Good. Thanks, Diane.
Ground nesting out in the open like that already seems like such an odd adaptation, so not incubating the first couple of eggs right away (and even leaving them alone) seems truly screwy! But, the species continues, so there must be some sort of advantage. I wonder what is different about those first couple of eggs that keeps them viable.
Also, that’s a heckuva grab shot! 🙂
“there must be some sort of advantage”
Marty, I think it’s done in an effort to synchronize the hatching time, so all eggs hatch at about the same time.
Glad you like the grab shot.
Interesting post Ron. Nice shots, but for sure I would never have realized there was an egg there till I saw it on the screen. Their eggs are very well camouflaged. Hope you get the chance to send us some shots of the little fuzz balls soon.
Everett, avocet fuzzballs should be forthcoming in a little over 3 weeks. Then all I need is a little luck in finding and photographing them.
American Avocets are so pretty — I love their colors and shape. I didn’t know about their nesting habits — thanks once more.
Kathryn, glad to know you enjoyed both the photos and the natural history info.
Beautiful bird and great capture of the nest, such as it is! 🙂 The nest and egg certainly camoflague well! Many of the ground nesters seem to have very good ways of keeping the nest secret.
Territorial disputes are in full swing here. Crow dared to come in yesterday which set the Magpies off which set off smaller birds to add to the general squabbles among Robins/Grackles/Red-winged blackbirds etc.
“Many of the ground nesters seem to have very good ways of keeping the nest secret.”
That’s for sure, Judy. I wonder how many Horned Lark or Meadowlark nests I’ve walked right by and not seen. Hope I’ve never stepped on one.
Like Michael, I’m amazed that the species didn’t die out long ago, given their nest “design” and their time-spaced-out laying of the
eggs……but there must be an adaptation to their circumstances
at work which isn’t immediately visible, so to speak….but SUCH a
handsomely-colored and marked bird !
Agreed, Kris.
On the other hand, some species build no nest structure at all and still survive. Prairie Falcons for example simply scrape some debris together and that’s their “nest”.
Beautiful shots.
Always amazed at how these ground nesters make a go of it. No doubt the camouflaged egg plays a big part of that. Still, pretty amazing.
Thanks, Michael. I was surprised that I couldn’t make out that egg through my viewfinder, even though that’s exactly what I was looking for. I thought it (or several) might be there but I couldn’t be sure.
Maybe once you get your cataracts removed, you may be amazed at what you may have been missing.
I was thinking the same thing, Yuriko. Hope we’re right.