A Great Egret Spooks

Put a bunch of birders together and most would probably agree that Great Egret, and other heron birds are about as graceful as you can get in the bird world. They're like ballerinas on stilts, with wings. To watch them walk along the shore, jabbing their bills in the sand, wings outstretched - you'd swear you were watching a performance.

 

I last left off with our Black Crowned Night Heron sighting at Hagerman, and we were mesmerized by it's swooping flight. We didn't realize there was another bird just a few feet away from us. As we got up to leave, we were both startled by a huge commotion; rustling, flopping sounds. Not five feet from where we had been sitting a Great Egret was flapping out of the grasses. It wasn't all that graceful - it actually looked a little stuck. It flapped trying to get higher above the grasses and it took me a few seconds to turn my camera on to get the action.

 

I missed the struggle, but got some shots as it was flying off. We feel pretty badly that we ruined it's resting spot for the night, we had no idea it was there, and never would have if it hadn't spooked.

 

 

Ok, this picture sucks...but look in the top right corner. It's a Belted Kingfisher!!! I only saw it when I got home and reviewed the shots. I have no decent photos of a Kingfisher.

 



And off it went, to find a nice place to rest - without us crazy birders. 

Black Crowned Night Heron

Managed to check off a new life bird yesterday! It was very exciting (because I get excited about these kind of things). My husband and I were on an afternoon walk and he suggested we head down to Hagerman National Fish Hatchery and Wildlife Refuge. If you're in southern Idaho you should definitely check it out. There are hoards of waterfowl, gulls, herons, cormorants, It's a great birding spot.

It's a quick forty minute jaunt from Mountain Home, and we arrived at around 3:30pm. We were getting ready to leave and I stopped to use the restroom while Andrew retrieved the car. When I came out I heard a different kind of bird sound a coo coo COO COO coo.  If that makes any sense, which I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

I signaled to Andrew in the car to bring the binoculars and I crept slowly forward to find the cooer. Completely unrelated and not responsible for the coos, in the trees ahead, right along a waterway Andrew saw some shapes.

Looking through the binoculars I realized they were night herons! I had a mini-freakout while Andrew ran back to the car for the camera. Notice how Andrew gets delegated to binocular bringing and camera getting, he must love me. We were a good ways away from the seven night herons sitting in the tree, but we still managed to spook them and they took off in a loud rush of wok WOK WOK WOK. Yeah, they make those sounds.

 

 

We stalked them around the hatchery until one brave bird decided to fly in and around to see if we were dangerous. Andrew and I sat down in the dirt amongst the reeds to help conceal ourselves...become one with the earth. It seemed to work, the heron was less nervous and kept getting closer and closer. So, I was able to snap to great shots.

 

 

 

 

It even landed in the tree for a few short minutes before taking off again, Andrew was able to snap the last two pictures. It was an excellent sighting. The weather was beautiful, about 50 degrees! It was nice to sit there as the sun went down and observe the birds.

 

The light was failing and we decided it was time to go, so we stood up, brushed ourselves off and right in front of us was a huge commotion...

 

Next time.   : )

 

 

 

P.S. The cooers, that led to the discovery of the herons were Eurasian Collared Doves - I'm not used to their unusual coos. 

Not Always Birds

Bird watching does not always pan out. We've had our fair share of bad bird outings that involved lots of looking and no finding. On days like that you really need to slow down, take a moment and enjoy all the other beautiful things around you.

 

Birding gets me out the door - but the untold adventure that always awaits keeps me going back. I never know what I'm going to see. The day after Christmas was no different. We went down to Bruneau Dunes State Park, just  few miles south of us to do some birding. There were a lot of ducks and geese on a small patch of open water on the lake, sparrows flitted in the trees and magpies flew over head. Things were pretty quiet. We did the loop around the lake, not having much luck with birds but up ahead I saw this clump of leaves that didn't really look like a clump of leaves.

 

Well, it wasn't a clump of leaves it was a porcupine!

 

I'd never seen a porcupine in the wild that hadn't met an unfortunate end by a car. This guy was alive, and adorable! I stayed far away and took pictures of him and he moved around the tree.

We had more of a treat because on the other side of the lake when we were almost done with our hike we saw another one!

 



 

Two porcupines in a day! That seems pretty special to me. So, I may not always be watching birds, but if you keep your eyes open, it's amazing what you can find!

As Birds Fly

Looking ahead to 2014 I decided I needed a different title for my new birding blog. While I plan on talking a lot about birding in Idaho, I know a lot of birding adventures this year will happen outside this state.

 

We have plans already to visit Utah, Oregon, California and Washington. I wouldn't be surprised if Montana and Wyoming get into the mix. My husband and I have such itchy feet, and my binoculars follow us everywhere, I knew the title of this blog had to reflect that. So, I may not be able to fly, but we certainly do get around...here chronicles our birding adventures of all kinds!

 



Rough-legged Hawk takes off

The last weekend of December found us driving four hours to get to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah. What a trip! Check out their website here and follow them on Facebook if you have one. We were trying to snag a few new birds for my year list and we were able to add four new species, but even if we didn't it would not have been a wasted trip.

 

The center was closed for the holiday, so we just drove the 12 mile auto loop. Northern Harriers, ducks and Rough-legged hawks were everywhere. My favorite shots of the day were of this Rough-legged Hawk. I was able to snag some pictures of him lightening his load (if you catch my drift) and taking off.

 

I have many more shots of this beauty...but this will do for now. If you are in the Ogden, UT area, or anywhere near there stop by. It's a great drive, we cannot wait to go back in the spring.