White-faced Ibis is Preening

 

Usually ibises find the most unsightly marshes, but on that October morning several of them wandered into a marshy place where the grass was painted in colorful autumn colors.

The ibis above stopped for a couple of minutes to clean itself. A typical morning procedure that is always interesting to watch.

Generally, life is good.

Disheveled Beauty in the Marsh

 

Friday evening the sky was clear with only a few clouds and I headed out to spend a few hours on the Bear River MBR with hope of getting a chance to create some bird silhouettes.  

Unfortunately, this didn't happen, but I managed a few decent backlit photos of Snowy Egret. The egret at one point looked spectacular with his disheveled standing up hair.

The Egret was kind enough to show me his disheveled appearance, which I loved seeing so much and then he took off and flew away.

Generally, life is good.

Favorite Place to Hunt

 

Great Egrets are very cautious birds and it so easy to scare them away. Even if they are in the thickets of a swamp, you often have to wait a long time for them to become comfortable in your presence. 

When the heron above became a little more accepting of my presence, it still was hiding behind the tall plants.  Cautiously peeking out from its hiding spot the bird to a certain extent probably felt protected in the way, I see you but you don't see me. 

 

The decision to stay was made in a matter of seconds because this hunting spot was a real find, where you could feast on a large supply of food, and if you got uneasy, you could hide in the thickets.

The hunt continues.  

I  have no idea what the Egret found in this swamp.  It often "dove" into the grass and  swallowed something tiny.  Perhaps there were many small frogs or some insects there.

Everything ends sooner or later. Birds never stay in the same place for a long time. They wander from place to place in search of food, but very often return to their favorite places.

Generally, life is good!

Black-crowned Night Heron During Sunrise

 

Early morning. The sun lazily rises from behind the mountains. A small backwater that emanates such calm that you are afraid to disturb it with an awkward movement.

And the light, soft and golden. The Black-crowned Night heron bathes in this light. He is so funny and somewhat reminiscent of a bent old man.  He is in no hurry, because the day is just beginning and it belongs to  him.

This bird has extraordinary patience; it freezes in one position for a long time, peering into the water  while preparing to catch prey.

Generally, life is good.

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron Explores New Habitat

 

In late August, I discovered an immature Black-crowned Night Heron perching on unusual place for these species. Typically, when Night Herons hunt they usually stay close to the water so they can strike at prey, if they are not hunting, they hide somewhere in vegetation. But this Heron was too far from water to catch its prey.  

My guess is that this young Heron was exploring a new and unusual perch and probably enjoyed being there.

 

Sometimes the Heron looked down to check what was happening in the water.

There were a few special moments when the Heron opened its wings and they became transparent because the sun was behind the bird.

Generally, life is good!

Busy Parents

In July, Western Grebes were busy raising their chicks, feeding them and riding the young on their backs.  

Now, the Grebes  have begun to prepare for their night migration.  The young have matured and have grown new flight feathers, they became independent and strong.

 

Generally, life is good.

High Quality Floating Nest

 

During past few years I was lucky to observe and photograph how Black-necked Stilts were nesting. I saw them incubating their eggs between the rocks, on the ground but have never seen their floating nests. 

The floating nest in the photo above was build by female and male Stilts.   

Why did they chose to build this luxurious nest is difficult to say?  I assume that their instinct led them to this place and "told" it's more safe to incubate the eggs in this hidden place and on the floating nest.   

I am sure that the female chose the place and was determined to build a high quality nest.  

Yes, it is hard and tedious work, but in the end, the chances of a safe incubation of eggs are much greater than in the open space between the rocks or in the shallow dent covered with a few sticks on the ground.

Generally, life is good.

Snowy Egret Caught a Frog

My passion for bird portraits is time tested and has never left me.   Whenever I get the chance, I always try to take close up shots of the bird and hope I get something interesting.

So, this morning a Snowy Egret successfully fished, even caught a small frog.

Generally, life is good.

Together for a Short Time

 

In early May, I was lucky enough to watch a Great Blue Heron joining a Great Egret to hunt together.

At the beginning the Great Blue Heron followed his new "friend" and seemed to  enjoy Egret's company.

The proximity to the Great Egret didn't bother the Great Blue at all but I couldn't say the same about the Great Egret.

In the end, the Great Egret decided to break away and go fishing on its own.  

It's difficult to say what brought these two birds together. My guess is they found the great fishing spot and decided to share it for a short time. 

The Great Egret is fishing alone. 

Generally, life is good!

American Coot Parents and Their Chicks

 

American Coot chicks have already matured and are independent.  It happened so fast that it's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago the parents were taking care of the young feeding them incessantly.

  

I recently learned why Coot chicks are red.  It's interesting that Coots mothers add pigments to their yolks.  The more eggs mother lays the more pigment she adds.  In this way she effectively paints her chicks by order of age. 

The bond between parents and chicks is very strong.  There was so much tender care and love in the air.

Diving incessantly for food is quiet tiring, but soon the chicks will become independent and parents will be free again.

Generally, life is good.

Black-crowned Night Heron is Fishing

 

Like all Herons, Black-crowned Herons use the same fishing techniques.

They stand still in shallow water for a long time, waiting for fish to approach and then throw their head and neck forward, like the Heron in the photo above, into the water to catch prey. 

The Heron I photographed recently during fishing seems to have caught a crayfish. Apparently, crayfish is popular on the heron menu.

The Heron also have pulled silt out of the water. I was sure that it would swallow it along with a prey, but I was mistaken.

 

The Herons swallow fish whole. They are using their forward-facing eyes to determine which end of the fish is the head and which is the tail.  They also swallow the fish head first, so that the fish slide smoothly down their throats.  

Fish is swalled but silt left outside.

Black-crowned Herons tend to hunt on their own and usually during night or early morning.  

But during the day they will nest together in the colonies.  I read that colonies have up to twelve nests in the single tree but I have never seen them.

Life goes on.

Western Grebe During Nesting - I.

It has been three long years since I last photographed Western Grebe on a nest. Since then, I have always looked for nests but have never seen them.

A few days ago I was thrilled to see a female Western Grebe on her well built floating nest. 

It's not always peaceful during nesting.  A Western Grebe must always be on the alert and often chase away other Grebes that are trying to get close to the nest.

Stay away from my nest.

During my last visit, I saw only one egg in the nest.  Will there be three more?  Typically, Western Grebes lay three to four eggs.  I hope to see more eggs in the nest soon.

It was not easy to photograph the nesting Grebe.  The nest was surrounded by sticks and marshy hummocks, but I had a great opportunity and was happy.

Life goes on.

Sandhill Cranes

 

Every time I am in the Bear River MBR I am thinking about these amazing birds and always try to imagine our meeting.

I was lucky this morning to see a pair of Cranes foraging together. It was a very short meeting, only a few minutes, but I had a chance to capture the beauty and elegance of these birds and that was great.

I think this pair has a nest with eggs or young flightless chicks nearby but not completely sure.

Life goes on.

Free Ride

I was puzzled by behavior of these Gadwall ducks.  Whether it was a fight for territory or just one of the ducks decided to "ride for free". In any case, it was fun to watch them interact with each other learning something new about their behavior. 

Life goes on.

Masters of Motionless

 

It was my lucky morning when at dawn I came across  five Black-night Herons fishing in a very unusual open area.  I was so excited to see these incredible birds that for the first few minutes it was hard for me to believe what was happening.

After spending almost two hours with Herons, I learned something interesting about their behavior.  The Herons stand in a crouched posture for a long time and stare at the water until they see and hear something.  

This Heron after standing for a long time decided to take a walk keeping its head low. 

Finally, after standing like a frozen statue the Heron changed its position and became alert.  He certainly heard something that attracted his attention. 

The Black-night Herons are masters of motionless.  The stand and stand waiting for a prey mainly at night or early morning.

It was early morning when I photographed Herons.  Light during the dawn was amazing but unfortunately short-lived.

Life goes on.

Female American Coot is Feeding Her Chick

It was a big surprise to stumble upon the Coot family.  The chicks looked so funny with their yellow-orange downy feathers, bare red and black head and stubby red and orange bill.  

Some Coot chicks were more independent but the chick in the photo above couldn't yet feed itself and was fed by its mother.

Opps,  the chick dropped its food. 

Mother immediately dived into the water and emerged from it with algae. The chick  was obviously looking forward to being fed again.

American Coots are omnivores, they eat seeds of marsh weeds, grasses, algae, fish, worms, snails and eggs of other birds.

Life goes on.