[Birdtalk] Bear River MBR

[cldavis at xmission.com]

On this beautiful Sunday I saw not ONE but TWO SHORT-EARED OWLS on the drive
into the refuge.  One let me drive right up to it, stop, take its picture
and then drive away--and it stayed right there the whole time. One of the
owls even had little ears showing. I've decided, based on all the photos of
SEO's I've taken this year, that no two look alike.  Is this the only owl
that's so varied in appearance?

In the canal that goes south from the biffy, near the very end by the wooden
platform, was a skittish juvenile RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.  I drove up and
down the road, backwards and forwards, trying to get a decent picture as
the bird dove into the water and resurfaced somewhere else. I got some
photos that were better than no photos at all and the merganser is probably
still giggling.

The SPOTTED SANDPIPERS are sashaying around, as usual, in the dry parts of
the canals.  There was a huge raft of DOWITCHERS on the west end of the
large central water area (at least 500 birds).  That's a record siting for
me. I could have spent all day picking out the long-billed from the
short-billed if I even had a clue how to tell the difference (AND if the
SHORT-BILLED, like Sasquatch, even existed).

I saw a lady from Lewiston, Idaho, today who was cruising the refuge before
she left for home. She had been here for the "bird festival."  She told me
she had seen a PEREGRINE FALCON hunt the area just south and west of the
final turn that leads to the refuge.

One last thing.  If you get a chance to visit Salt Creek this week, the
drive in to it is gorgeous!  The sunflowers are out in huge numbers and
there are also some sunflower-high bushes with beautiful lavender flowers. 
When they combine with the sunflowers, it's quite a show!

Carol