Was That a Willet?

 

For the first time in two months, I finally made it out to Antelope Island and the first birds I spotted on the island were the shore birds as American Avocets along with Ring-billed gulls.  Sometimes the Eared Grebes joined them but not for long.

At some point, I noticed the grayish bird with a pointed sharp beak and began to watch this bird.  This unfamiliar bird constantly followed the Avocet and I got the impression that it for some reason wanted to stay close to it. 

There were several moments when an unfamiliar bird made me smile.  The bird decided to climb onto a rock to be noticed, but all its efforts to attract attention were futile.

Aggression to get attention? Or defend the rock as its own territory?

The bird eventually returned back to the rock and continued to watch the avocet.

I watched the unfamiliar bird for a long time; one might say that I dedicated almost all morning to it. The bird was amazing in its behavior.

Unfortunately, I had a difficult time to identify the interesting bird.  I wrote "Willet" in the tags, but I am not sure if this bird is a Western Willet.

Interestingly, that Willets do often hang around with other birds and are not as skittish as some and importantly they are larger than most sandpipers.  Whether was it Willet or not, I leave the question open.

Generally, life is good!

Western Willets Are Fighting For Territory

Sometimes birds fight for their territory so viciously that I can only hope that none of the birds will be injured.  

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The blurry brown bits in the background are brine flies.

Generally, life is good!

Who Feeds on Brine Flies on Antelope Island - II

The infamous brine flies are so thick on the shore of the Great Salt Lake that my lens sometimes had a difficult time to focus, especially on Franklin's Gulls who were running through clouds of flies with open mouths to catch as much flies as possible. This guy does exactly that.

There were many adult and young Ring-billed Gulls that morning.  Adult Ring-billed Gull is silvery gray on the back and white on head. Young Gulls are molted brown.

I was surprised to see a Western Willet among Franklin's Gulls on Antelope Island.  Apparently they also feed on brine flies. 

There were hundreds of American Avocets.  I was wondering recently why there aren't many of these birds at Bear River right now. Apparently, Avocets prefer to stay on Antelope Island this summer. 

Running but not very fast through a cloud of brine flies.

Some Franklin's Gulls weren't  running. Why bother? You can open mouth and catch brine flies right where you are.

Franklin's Gull and Western Willet are having their breakfast.

My First Western Willet

I knew that Western Willets can be at Bear River but I have never seen them.  When I saw for the first time this bird perching on the log by the road I was so excited that my first shots were so horrible that I had to calm down and say to myself that if  luck would be with me the Willet would stay for a while on the log. And it did.