Dance of the Sandhills

Have you ever seen a Sandhill Crane dance? It's pretty awesome to watch, and it's something I'd only seen in nature shows and magazines. Yesterday, we got to see one take a huge leap into the air, wings outstretched.

 

Andrew took a great picture, showing this crane in action.

 

Long-eared Owls, a Long Awaited Lifer

We've known there were Long-eared owls in Idaho, a bird neither of us had ever seen before. We were watching Ebird reports pop up all over the place. But every time we went to a place with a reported sighting, we struck out. Over and Over.

 

So when we went to Silver Creek Preserve, we expected no different. There was even a note in the log book that a LEO was spotted the day before. Didn't blink an eye.

 

Lo and behold, we were walking around a bend and a Long-eared Owl was sitting on a post not ten feet from us. In plain sight, just waiting for us to see it. We were floored. Shocked, and struck dumb. I grabbed Andrew's arm to stop him and as he swung the camera up to take a picture, the owl decided we'd seen enough and flew off.

 

Its mate was sitting nicely up in the nest just a few feet off the trail though, so we got some pictures of that one.

 

The rest of our two mile walk, we were just in awe. In awe of seeing an owl that close to us, alert and aware at one in the afternoon. It just seemed to be waiting for our arrival. It is a bird sighting I will never forget. 

Birding Cape Lookout State Park Oregon

Last weekend we enjoyed our first camping trip of the year. We decided to go back to the Oregon coast, to the Tillamook area and we camped at Cape Lookout State Park. We absolutely love Oregon, for its scenery and of course, its birds!

 

After setting up camp Friday afternoon we drove up the coast in search of cool birds, and we were not disappointed. We found Ruby-crowned Kinglets, an Eared Grebe and Western Grebe.

We were not out long, and the light was getting horrible for pictures. So on we went back to camp, where our own campsite held a lot of bird surprises. After a long walk on the beach we started getting things ready for dinner, and immediately heard a Varied Thrush way up high in a tree. I managed one sun-lit picture before it flew away. We could also hear the chatter of hummingbirds, but couldn't find them. 

 

The Stellar's Jays were quite curious, and loud. They had no qualms about coming into camp and seeing what we were up to. 

They didn't even mind the 70 pound husky walking around...one jay even explored Dakota's water dish!

It wasn't just the bigger birds with attitude and curiosity. Little Fox Sparrows like to know who's moved into their space too. I had gone for a walk around the campground with Dakota before making dinner and Andrew snapped this picture of a Fox Sparrow in the back of our car!!! We found the bird in the back more than once. The next morning I came back from the water spout to see the sparrow fly out from the back of the car. Needless to say, we were careful when we shut the doors to make sure there was no curious bird left inside. 

The next morning we finally got to see the hummingbirds responsible for the chatter we'd heard the night before. Two Rufous Hummingbirds were buzzing in and around the campsite. We were very pleased to see these birds, since no sightings of them had been reported in the area yet. 

The area around Cape Lookout State Park was an excellent area for birding. This is only a few of the many birds we heard and saw Friday night and Saturday morning!

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

My last post really focused on the Chukar we saw on Antelope Island. I was so excited I skipped right over our great day at Bear River. We did the auto tour loop twice, once in the morning when we first arrived and then in the evening before we headed back home. It was a beautiful day at the refuge.

 

We had great luck with birds, new and old! We saw Horned Larks and Doubled-crested Cormorants. We drove nice and slow around the auto tour to make sure we didn't miss a thing.



The morning loop also included Sandhill Cranes, Red-winged Blackbirds, Gulls, Great Blue Herons and more! In the evening we had even more luck and rounded out our trip with two new birds of the year(and Life List). The first was this Loggerhead Shrike. We hadn't quite got to the start of the loop and I saw a grey bird fly by along the water. Immediately I told Andrew that the bird I just saw was different, I knew that much. So we whipped a U-turn in search of this 'different' bird.

Good thing we did, in seconds we saw the shrike flying from one side of the road to the next. Stopping briefly on road signs before taking off again.



We were pretty excited, glad we'd decided to come back for another loop - we thought about heading home, but in the end did not. That proved to be a good idea. Once we left the shrike, I could see ahead some huge white birds. I told Andrew there were some swans ahead, and we should try to get some close shots of them. As we got closer I realized they were not swans. But, American White Pelicans! We were so excited, much like with the Chukar, Andrew had been hoping to see a pelican since they had been seen in our area for weeks. Finally, we had our sighting and the pelicans didn't disappoint. 

There is something so amazingly prehistoric about these birds, I don't get tired of watching them soar. Their strong wing beats and huge bills never fail to look majestic.

 



We also saw a heap of swans, most likely Tundra, peppering the water and making for a even more spectacular view of the mountains. Common Mergansers also stopped for a few pictures. 

I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset.

If you're ever driving through Utah, make sure to stop by Bear River. 

The First Chukar

This past Wednesday, we went down to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, check them out here. We were keeping an eye on the bird sightings at the refuge waiting for several new species the be seen for us to take another trip down there. That last time we went was the day after Christmas. While down there, we also stopped at Antelope Island State Park, which we didn't have time for on our previous adventure.

 

It is a beautiful island, check out their website here. We are definitely planning a longer camping trip to the island because there were several hikes we wanted to do and did not have time for. Anyway, our trip to Antelope Island led us to one of the most exciting bird sightings we've had this year.

 

The Chukar!

Yep, this game bird introduced from Pakistan was the one we've been waiting for ever since we realized they were here. And our reaction pretty much fit the amount of anticipation we had. The picture above was one of the first Chukar pairs we saw. We were driving up to the visitors center and two weird birds went running across the road in front of us. We were instantly shouting in the car, CHUKAR! CHUKAR!!. We stopped in the middle of the road (no one was around) as I scrambled for my camera and Andrew took some pictures. After they ran off we kept laughing and high-fiving our excellent bird sighting.

 

I am so sure we are not the only people that react like this to birds...right?

Andrew said there had been two reported Chukar sightings on Ebird, and we figured we just saw them. But nope, we saw no less than 10 Chukars!

 



They are a funny bird. We saw one everywhere one can be seen, on the ground, in a tree, on a rock and running, neck outstretched wings close to their bodies. I'm not sure if this sighting, or our reaction will be beat this year.