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<\/p>\nEveryone seemed to be eating midges, including me.<\/p>\n
Yesterday morning at Bear River MBR the midges were back with a vengeance. In recent years they’ve been increasingly absent due to the drought and the shrinking Great Salt Lake but yesterday they were thick, especially on the north and south sides of the auto tour loop. We can thank the wet, snowy winter and the rising lake for that.<\/p>\n
The infamous midge tornadoes (midge-nadoes) of yesteryear weren’t particularly evident yet but in many areas everything stationary seemed to be covered with midges, including the windshield, side mirrors, side panels, head rests and interior roof liner of my pickup. I nearly swallowed at least one midge when for some reason I was breathing through my mouth (resulting in a sputtering, coughing and spitting fit) and I had to blow two of them off of my breakfast chocolate donut before taking a bite. Sacrilege!<\/p>\n
The birds were having a feeding frenzy, picking midges off of the vegetation and snagging them right out of the air.<\/p>\n
Some of the photos below may be lacking in quality but they certainly document the profusion of midges. And the skill of birds in picking them off.<\/p>\n
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When this male Red-winged Blackbird took off he disturbed hordes of midges that had been resting on the phrags.<\/p>\n
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Another male was picking them off of his signpost perch and out of the air in front of him. Did he catch this one?<\/p>\n
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He sure did, although he nearly went ass over teakettle during the process.<\/p>\n
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This female Red-winged Blackbird was enjoying the same bounty.<\/p>\n
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She often didn’t have to work as hard as the male. This midge almost flew into her mouth.<\/p>\n
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An easy catch.<\/p>\n
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This midge wasn’t quite so easy, but she caught it anyway.<\/p>\n
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Even the Song Sparrows were having midges for breakfast. Here there are two midges attempting to hide on this bristly stem.<\/p>\n
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The sparrow made a stab at the top one.<\/p>\n
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And got it.<\/p>\n
I’m surprised that I didn’t document any Yellow-headed Blackbirds eating midges because midges are their specialty. Lots of other birds were eating them too, songbirds especially.<\/p>\n
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For me, yesterday’s experience with midges at the refuge was a bit of an eye opener. I knew of course that many birds depend on midges as a major part of their diet. But seeing so many individual birds of a variety of species pigging out on midges made me realize how negatively birds must have been impacted by the lack of midges in recent years.<\/p>\n
Welcome back, midges. You’ve been sorely missed.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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Everyone seemed to be eating midges, including me.\u00a0 (10 photos)<\/p>\n