I’m still way behind on posts, so this one will be mostly photos. We had a spare day on the weekend, and Justine was able to snag us a spot at Reifel. This time of year is good, with lots of interesting birds on migration. But we’re always secretly (or not so secretly) hoping for owls, and this trip did not dissapoint!
As it’s migration season, there are often lots of shore birds in the ponds around the sanctuary. There was a big flock of Long-billed Dowitchers.
We had another rare sighting in one of the small, interior ponds. It may just look like a mallard, but this little guy is a green-winged teal! We see them every once in a while, but it’s always a good sighting.
Other than the owls, one of the highlights was a flock of cedar waxwings that were all around the sanctuary. There are lots of beries around, and they were having a feast!
Owls Part II
We had looped back to see the Great Horned Owl (it hadn’t really moved), and another visitor informed us that there was a Barred Owl on the other side of the sanctuary. We had literally just walked past the spot (well, it was down a rarely used side trail), but we thought we better go back and check it out!
As we were leaving Reifel, there was a small flock of Sandhill Cranes at the entrance pond. They were all quite young birds.