Notes from a Field. Unexpected Colony, Bear River MBR

As I followed a temporary route along the Bear River MBR, I found myself on D-line that led me to an unexpected marvel: an entire island teeming with many Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, and California gulls. It was quit a revelation to realize how little I knew about the scale of life right here on the Bear river.  

My initial reaction was a selfish disappointment being so far from the island, but this wide, watery moat is precisely what makes the sanctuary safe for all these birds. Next time, I will bring binoculars with me.

Gulls at The Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake shore is dry and salty and it always brings memories of a fishy, tangy smell of Baltic Sea. The gulls at Great Salt Lake are beautiful and if you watch them for a while you will notice how noisy these birds are.

Hmm, what this gull is saying?  What a message it sending to others? 

The gulls are social creatures. Kind of like us, actually. Most of time they act like they can't stand each other and not hesitate showing their displeasure.

These birds have their superpower, they can drink salty water and are able to get rid of salt through a gland at the base of their bill.  These gulls just drink the salty water from Great Salt Lake, no problem at all.

The gulls are fighting often and chasing each other to assert their territory but deep down they know they need each other.

Gulls are so beautiful in flight.

The gulls are committed.  Their nests can be destroyed by predators but gulls will rebuild them. Over and over again.   These birds are fantastic parents!

I photographed California gulls.

Generally, life is good!

California Gulls in Flight

At the beginning it seemed that the gulls were flying in a chaotic way but in a few minutes I realized that there was a pattern in their flight.  First they were making big circles on one side of Bear River, then crossed it, flew over my head and returned back.

I started to follow their flight pattern and a fun began. I tried to capture a gull who was flying toward me.  I never done before the front shots of flying birds and was glad to have this opportunity.

It's amazing how strong these birds are in flight, how powerful their wings are.

So light and beautiful!

California gulls are common at Bear River, they are there all year around.
These birds have dark eyes, red and black on the bill.

What's Up?

On the Wings

Is it amazing that birds can conquer the laws of gravity? Is it amazing that between the wings is a light but strong body with unique designed feathers for flying. Without these feathers birds would not be very well adapted to a life on the wings. 

Black-necked Stilt.

California gull.

Foster's Tern.

American Avocet.

Again Black-necked Stilt.

Mini World - 12. Joining the Dance

Google Plus failed.  At the beginning I thought it aimed to be another Instagram but I was wrong; Google Plus wanted to be another Facebook, only more efficient. Did we want another Facebook? Why should we abandon our love/hate relationship with it?  

What I liked about Google Plus.  

Variety.  My world became bigger.  I liked the possibility to create my own gallery of photographers whose work I liked.  I didn't know that soon I would lose my gallery.

Recently I learned in a surprising way that we are still connected to Google Plus.  I switched to Blogger account and tried to change my image. I thought it would be simple but I was wrong.  It took a while to figure out that I had to return back to Google Plus account and then start the whole process again.

I like the quote of Alan Wilson Watts:

The only sense to make out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. 

That is exactly what I am going to do, letting some things go, little by little, while joining the dance.

Togetherness

The blurry brown bits in the background are brine flies, these birds feed on them.

Only a Few Seconds

With birds everything happens in a second. They are never still. They fly away from you or if you are lucky they fly toward you.

I don't have any idea why this California gull decided to fly toward me, I can only be grateful for that.  Usually all birds are flying away from me.

I took a sequence of photographs with the gull flying toward me and changing her direction before landing (last photo). That was a very exciting experience which lasted only a few seconds.

Antelope Island - I. Feeding Frenzy

There are massive numbers of brine flies on Antelope island during summer.
They are found only within a few feet of the shore.

They don't bite and won't even land on humans.
They are a huge nutritional resource for birds like Franklin's gulls 
and California gulls.

The blurry brown bits in the background are brine flies.

The Franklin's gull is looking at the shore line and preparing for the run on the flies.

The birds are rushing though the hordes of flies on the sand,
staring them up, and then snap them out of the air 
in large numbers.


 

Resting.

Feeding on brine flies.

Another run with open mouth feeding on brine flies.

The Desert Stories -II. Traditional

There are unforgettable stories and they stay with you during your life. This is one of them. 

The story "The Miracle of the Gulls" took place in 1848 in the Salt Lake Valley. It tells how the gulls saved the first crop planted by the Mormon pioneers who arrived to Utah to make it their home.

The pioneers had the good fortune, their first winter was mild and they hoped that if everything would go well, they would have a wonderful harvest but in late May the pioneers to their dismay watched how the crickets started to attack their crop.

These insects were threatening the lives of the Mormon pioneers.  And then legions of gulls appeared by June 9, 1848 and ate mass quantities of crickets and continued eating more crickets during the following two weeks.  The pioneers saw the gulls' arrival as a miracle.

A Seagull Monument was built and the California gulls became the state bird of Utah.

Seagull monument in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The photograph is from Internet

The Desert Stories - I. Educational

Contrary to their name these gulls are the state bird of Utah. They are migratory birds  move to the Pacific coast in winter. That is only then this bird is regularly found in California.

California gulls nest in colonies. The female usually lays 2 or 3 eggs. Both parents are very responsible and feed their youngsters.

When I was leaving Bear River refuge I saw a lot of dead fish and gulls who were feeding on them. I guess fish died because it's getting hot and water in Bear river is getting more shallow and very warm. The desert stories sometimes are sad.