George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary – Page 45

Phalarope & Owl

Another beautiful summer afternoon to be out volunteering a Reifel. It was a decent crowd for this time of year with a couple of pleasant surprises. First up in the outer ponds,

… were three Wilson’s Phalaropes. They appeared to be juvenile birds,

… and this would be on the early side to see them arriving. Of course some of the usual suspects were around.

Like this Great Blue Heron roosting in a conifer. The other surprise came at the end of the day.

A juvenile Great Horned Owl snoozing away the afternoon. This was one of two, likely from the local pair that nested in the Alaksen National Wildlife area.

Barn Swallow

Something else has been keeping us busy of late,

… a new kitten. Now that he is feeling right at home, hopefully a little normalcy will return to our lives.

With this in mind I managed my first outing in a couple of weeks. I made my way out to Reifel to help out on the trails. The beautiful long weekend weather must have drawn people elsewhere as there were not the usual Sunday crowds. It was quiet on the birding front as well. Fortunately I did manage to find some action along the outer dyke.

Some recently fledged Barns Swallows were lined up along a branch,

… and still being fed by the adult birds. Always fun to capture this activity and I was fortunate to get all four juveniles with their mouths open at the same time.

Bullock’s Oriole

Not the potential large crowd for a Sunday afternoon at Reifel, but still a good number of visitors. Aside from all the new waterfowl arrivals in varying stages of development, it was fairly quiet on the birding front. There was a report of a juvenile Great Horned Owl, but I and others were unable to relocate it. There was some interesting activity though, a Bullock’s Oriole pair.

The male as seen above,

… and the female not far away gathering nesting material. It’s been a few years since the sanctuary has had a nesting record for Bullock’s Oriole.

Bonus shot and entertainment for the afternoon,

… was this Mink catching voles along the outside dyke trail.