George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary – Page 26

Brown Creeper Nest

Back in May of this year I had an opportunity to observe a Brown Creeper nest. It was located along the east dyke trail at Reifel in a vulnerable spot, so its existence was not common knowledge. The nest was built behind a large piece of loose bark. While there was some routine activity during the incubation period, it definitely picked up once the chicks hatched.

Here you can see one of the adults arriving with food and looking into the nest making its presence known.

Then the other exiting the nesting cavity,

… and heading up the tree before flying off.

Then the arriving adult,

… enters the nest with the food delivery for the chicks.

Keeping track of the days I had hoped to be around to catch the fledglings leaving the nest. Unfortunately I missed that moment,

… but did catch this shot of one of the adults at the nesting tree after the young had left. It was a great few weeks watching all of this unfold.

Yellowlegs + Dowitcher

It was another warm day as I made my way to help out on the trails at Reifel this afternoon. There were not too many people and unfortunately not much in the way of birding activity either with the grassy trails being fairly quiet.

Luckily some Greater Yellowlegs were present in the inner ponds feasting on the small stickleback.

There were also some Long-billed Dowitcher coming into the inner ponds as well.

As it got closer to the end of the day I made my way to the west field. There were no Phalarope or Stilt Sandpiper present this afternoon, but high tide was still over an hour away.

Still had some fun though watching the regulars like this Lesser Yellowlegs coming in for a landing above other feeding Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Odd man out today in the southwest field was this Canada Goose hybrid.

Sora

Headed out to Reifel this morning to help with the Marshnotes newsletter mailing. Once that was finished the tide was high, so I headed out to the west field for look before leaving. I was hoping for a Stilt Sandpiper, but no such luck.

Instead were these two Wilson’s Phalarope along with two Red-necked Phalarope. While watching the Phalarope I could hear some Sora chattering away in the reeds.

To make my afternoon one decided to pop out into the open,

… and wander around stretching briefly before disappearing back amongst the reeds.