Red-Necked Grebe

 This has already been an exciting summer for us, bird wise at least! 

With our tax return, we decided to get a pair of kayaks.  Here we are on Palisades Reservoir. We got the same ones; Jake got an orange one, I got blue.  So completely typical.

So the second time we took them out, we were braver and able to venture further out from the shore.  Which turned out to be awesome.  

Guess what we saw??

Red-Necked Grebe!

I so wish our pictures had turned out like this!

This is a new bird for us!  Jake looked them up and they are quite rare for the area.  So I contacted the F&G and I got to fill out my first rare bird sighting report! Seriously awesome!

We didn't get pictures that first day, but we've gone back a couple of times and it's still there. Our pictures just don't turn out though.  So we are going to head back out tonight on the kayaks and see if he's still there.

Love new birds!

Also-

This last weekend we stopped in Yellowstone and saw the Harlequin Duck again. We didn't know he was there, we just stopped to perhaps they were there.  There was a pair, one sitting on a rock, the other diving and swimming in the rapids. It always amazes me to see them swimming.  I'd drown.

Pelicans

 Summer has finally come to Wyoming!

We're trying to get out as much as possible and enjoy it while it's here. We headed out again tonight. We drove around Palisades Reservoir. We've seen lots of pelicans, but tonight was the ultimate jackpot if that's what you were looking for.

Taken with our camera.

Taken with Jake's iPhone

These were just the left views that would turn out well, because it was getting dark. But they were this thick for all 180 degrees. I find that to be awesome!

Happy Summer Birdwatching!

Too many window hits!

 In an effort to keep the birds from hitting our windows, I decided to paint them.  The other things didn't seem to be working.  

So here's the front window. I'm waiting for Jake to decide which bird he wants to paint on the big branch.  I had originally just done it black, but you couldn't see it from outside.  So far, so good!

Here's the back window from the outside.  

And from the inside. I had put  a lot more contrast in the white, but it didn't show up like I wanted. Oh well. You can see it great from the outside, so hopefully it helps!

On a seperate note, here's the sunset last night. It's so pretty here!

A Pass Along

Check out this funny picture involving a Chickadee and a Crane Statue. 

Awesome, no?

From one of my favorite bird blogs. Check it out!

Evening Grosbeak

 I got up earlier than usual this morning. about 6:00.  That's way early in my book. But the cat was hungry and demanded attention right now.  Next time I'm getting a dog.  

But as the cat was horking down his breakfast I made a round of our bird feeders.  I was so happy I did. I'm glad that I was awake. Only sorta. 

We had a large flock of Evening Grosbeaks.  I counted 20, but they were moving in the trees and flying, so I'm sure there were more than that.  

Here is an example of my awesome camera and sweet photo skills. 

Here, they are hanging out on my homemade platform feeder.  

It's a dip try, with drilled holes to let the water drain. Unless it rains a lot, a lot. Then I have to go dump it. 

I was feeling bad that the seeds were almost gone. So when they flew to the other side of the house, I filled it back up with seeds and nuts. I'm not sure they've found it again yet. 

I only saw a few males, with the large majority of them being females.

I kept trying to coax him closer, but he wouldn't.  

In case you wanted a better picture, I googled some for you. They're kinda a freaky looking bird. That eyebrow is really wigging me out.  

By the way, this is a new bird for us, yay!

Bird Feeders

Today is the first day of spring. What's that you say? Spring was two months ago?!?! Wyoming must have missed the memo.  Our last tiny bit of snow just melted earlier this week. We've had nonstop rain for most of the last week.  But today. Today is gorgeous. I went for a bike ride to celebrate. 

We've gotten our bird supplies out. Here's what we have:

• 1 Platform feeder with a nut mixture
• 1 Meal worm feeder for the plethora of bluebirds we have
• 1 Safflower feeder
• 2 Hummingbird feeders
• 2 Suet feeders
• 5 Sunflower Seed feeders
• 3 Bird Baths

Do you think we went a little overboard?? 

I think it's just enough. In fact, we still need to get our thistle seed out.

For as nasty as it's been, we've seen a good number of birds. Here's the list:

• Cassin's Finch
• House Finch
• American Goldfinch
• Pine Siskin
• Female Yellow Warbler
• Black Rosy-Finch
• Dark Eyed Junco
• Robins
• Hummingbirds-several different kind
• Mountain Bluebirds
• Townsend's Solitaire
• White Crowned Sparrow
• Tree Swallow

I'm so glad it's finally spring!

Clark's Nutcracker

With the changing weather, we have had a change in our birds! Which is always exciting to see some new guys. We have a small flock (?) of Clark's Nutcrackers. These are not new to us, as we've seen them many times in Yellowstone and Teton Parks, almost yearly. They love our berry suet, and are loving the huge grasshoppers that are still hopping around. I was just reading about them and was amazed at what I read. I read that a Nutcracker can plant an entire forest in its lifetime. Because he hides so many seeds that he just doesn't need. Up to 33,000 per season! That is a lot of seeds! But I have to say that I am not all love for these guys. They have a very annoying call, and they drive our cat crazy!

Golden Eagle

On a recent road trip through the vast nothingness that is Wyoming, we came across a pair of Golden Eagles on the side of the road. We were pretty close to being in Central Wyoming, about twenty miles from Devil's Gate and north of Rawlins. We've recently read that they live mainly on rabbits, which I know there was a lot of 'em out there. Jake has also seen one along the Ririe highway in SouthEast Idaho. I think it's funny that we've seen these enormous birds, which are fairly rare, along busy highways. They are certainly a beautiful bird, and very large!

Buddies

We have moved. And since we've moved, we've lost a lot of our trees and landscape. Here's what our yard looks like now.



If you look really closely at this picture, just to the left of the arch, you can see what's left of Palisades Reservoir. In the spring, the water was so high, and now it's not. I guess that's the way things work.

With our move, comes new birds. We've seen the usual birds around here. But we've been seeing large flocks of Mountain Bluebirds. I've never seen this many anywhere! This morning there were probably a dozen! Very cool.


These guys have been hanging out with the Bluebirds. I couldn't decide which picture of the Yellow Rump to use. So I used all of them.




The variety(?) that I've been seeing is very light, with very few dark feathers.

I'm just wondering if these two species generally hang out together? They come in the same flock, and they leave in the same flock! With the dozen Bluebirds, there were at least the same number of Warblers. The sit very near each other on the fence line, adjacent fence posts, and near each other on the ground. Are they perhaps migrating together?

Either way, these are two fantastic birds, and I love having them visit us!

Caspian Tern

Last night we went for a little drive down to Palisades Reservoir. The water was so low! There were lots of geese, gulls, pelicans, and Grebes out. We also saw this funny little guy flying around. We haven't see a lot of terns, but we could see his forked tail. Looking closer at him, he had a freakishly large, and BRIGHT orange bill. He flew like a big swallow, very gracefully,with easy maneuvering. We watched him dive a couple of times coming up empty handed. He disappeared without any noms. What a cool new bird!

Cooper's Hawk

First, let me apologize for the images being rotated, Photoshop was being finicky and uncooperative.

We were sitting at the dinner table this evening when this young Coopers Hawk flew in. He landed on out old picnic table just off the back deck. We watched him for a second before we grabbed the camera.

He initially landed on the table looking towards the house. Transferring from both legs to one leg.



He saw something in the grass, and we thought he would jump down to get whatever it was.






He watched it for a few minutes, then hopped down.



He hung around for quite a while before flying next door. The rest of the little birdies in the neighborhood were very alarmed and concerned about this guy.

We thought he was sweet though!

Green-tailed Towhee

It has been a nice quiet summer with not a lot of bird action around the house. Tonight I glanced out the back window and saw a large finchish looking bird. After looking closer, I saw that it wasn't a finch at all, but a Towhee.


A Green-tailed Towhee! This is another new bird for us here in Wyoming.


His red cap was very distinctive, and his white chin was very lovely. It was a getting dark with the onset of a storm, so it was hard to see his green tail.


Wyoming has been wonderful for us!
Without going out too far, we have seen ten new lifers and many that we have gotten reacquainted with!

Edited- Great Horned Owls

We haven't been out very much in the last few weeks, due to the summer heat and the enormous amounts of mosquitoes!

But, last night when I was going to unplug the bug zapper, we heard this. After a little while we heard this. The unmistakable hoot of the Great Horned Owl! I just think it is one of the most beautiful sounds! I could listen to it forever.


After we went to bed, I could still hear them VERY close, and I wanted to see them. So I snuck out to the dining room window to peak to see if I could see them. A minute later, a young guy swooped in to land on one of our Shepard Hooks/Bird Feeders about fifteen feet from the house. It sat there for a few minutes watching the house. It almost felt like it was looking at me. Which was a little creepy, but so cool at the same time. I quickly got my camera and took a picture.


It didn't work, so I tried to cover the flash.


It obviously didn't work!

So I turned on the porch light and got a FANTASTIC view of him. So I ran into the bedroom to wake Jake up. But in the three seconds it took to wake him up, it was gone! I was so sad, because I really wanted Jake to see it!

So I went to bed. But I just wanted to watch them, and to listen to them. I could hear several of them throughout the neighborhood. So I grabbed my hoodie and snuck back out onto our back porch and just sat there for a while. I could hear them all around. There were at least three, possibly four, of them squawking from the rooftops. I had my binoculars, flashlight, and camera ready for the instant it came back to the Shepard's Hook. It never did. But I could clearly see a pair of them sitting on the peak of the house behind us. I shined the flashlight on them and watched them through the binoculars. It was so neat! There was two of them, and one of them was kind of trying to walk up and down the steep roof. You could hear his talons scraping the shingles. I tried to take their picture.


I tried to shine the light on them.


It didn't work, so I tried again.


I know they don't look like much, but they are all different, I promise!

I sat there for about an hour listening to them, and watching them fly. So cool! I could hear them on our roof, on the neighbor's roof, and way off in the distance. After I went to bed, I could still hear them. As one of them flew away, he flew around the house and I could hear it so clearly and close as it flew past different windows.
I really wish I could have gotten a good picture to share with you.

We probably would never have this in town in Idaho Falls. I love Wyoming!

P.S. Here is a feather I found this afternoon! How cool is that?

Rufous Hummingbird

I thought we had seen all of our hummingbirds, but we were surprised to see these guys here this morning. There have been at least three pairs around the house. I must admit, the Rufous is my favorite. I just think they are so pretty! I caught a pretty good glimpse of a female, and she had the prettiest marks. I really like their "rufousy" colors, they are so easy to spot against the green leaves. Are we going to have any more surprises from this fabulous group?

Black-chinned Hummingbird

We have finally spotted out last hummingbird. Here is the Black-chinned Hummingbird. We can tell the difference between them an the Broad-tailed by their hums. These guys have a deep hum versus the Broad-tailed, which is quite high. And the Calliope is quiet. Now how to tell the females? Not quite sure yet, but we are definitely working on it!

Yellowstone and Grand Teton- Harlequin Ducks

We spent the day in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It was a beautiful day! There wasn't a lot of people, and lots of birds and animals out.


We saw a wolf dragging an Elk carcass out of the water. We still don't have a really good camera, so I took a picture through our spotting scope. Not so bad, huh?


This is us at Jenny Lake with our camera on a timer. It had warmed up nicely and we didn't need a jacket. Sorry about getting half the rock in the picture.


But the highlight of our trip, and one of the main purposes, was to see these guys. Can you see them? Squint really close. He's sitting on top of that rock in the middle of the river.


That's a Harlequin Duck! We saw a news story about them still being in the Yellowstone. Normally they leave pretty early, but they were there a few extra weeks this year. So we wanted to see them. Here we are moments after seeing our new bird. Don't we look so happy!

Here is a picture from Google, so I know what we saw! We love the parks!