| Well, having
gotten all of those landscape photos didn't stop me from stopping
by at Reifel Bird Sanctuary, which you may by now be realizing is
one of my usual haunts.
As I was driving in
to the Sanctuary, I spotted some birds on a phone or power wire.
The first one was a Cedar Waxwing.
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| He flew
off fairly quickly, though. There were a bunch of European Starlings
on a wire, too. There was this adult, with half a berry in his mouth, |
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and this juvenile,
who, as you can see, is starting to molt (he's showing a few spots
on the breast, like the adult)..
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In general, it seems
that the fall molt is starting for a lot of birds.
As I went into the
sanctuary, I found a few Barn Swallows that were hanging out by
the "warming shack". I imagined that this one, up in
the rafters, was looking down on the world and plotting his takeover
of it.
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Tthis other one stopped
in a nearby bush to pose for me. That's a good thing, because
Barn Swallows tend to move really fast most of the time, and it's
hard to get a picture of them in flight. Look at how far his (forked)
tail projects behind his wingtips.
Barn Swallows have
the most deeply forked tails of the North American swallows.
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As I went further into
Reifel, I came across a bunch of Mallards who seem to have fully
molted into their winter plumage. Here's one that was showing
off how well he can stand on one leg. I like the bold brown color
on his breast.
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| I went southward
around a lagoon, and when I was walking past a Great Blue Heron,
he flashed me! |
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Dirty old bird! I'm
sure glad there weren't any children about.
In the outer lagoons,
there were a bunch of Greater Yellowlegs, like this fellow.
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In addition to the
Yellowlegs, there were quite a few dowitchers. I believe they
were mainly Long-billed Dowitchers, but they're really difficult
to tell apart from Short-billed Dowitchers. Here's four shorebirds
in a row, one Greater Yellowlegs and three of the dowitchers.
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As I was passing the
path between the two outer lagoons, I looked up and saw a passing
hawk. I think it's a Northern Harrier. Looks like he's molting
his outermost wing feathers (which are called primaries).
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I took a path back
through the inner ponds, and didn't see too many other bird species.
I did find a big dragonfly, like the blue-striped patrollers but
green-striped instead, hanging onto the bottom of a branch. He
appears to have had some tail damage. Either that, or there's
a leaf or something stuck to his tail.
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After wandering around
for a bit, I stopped at one of the ponds where they have some
benches and took pictures of one of the local Sandhill Cranes,
who was feeding nearby. Here I caught him with his neck outstretched.
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| And here's
a face portrait. |
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| The sun
was really scorchin' by this time, so I made my way back to the
car and ended my day of photography.
I went out the next
day, Sunday, but that'll have to wait until my next dispatch.
Your eye on the avian
world,
Tom
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