Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge, June 2022

One of life’s birding joys is to observe the little dinosaurs, (birds are their descendants), during the spring breeding season. At that time the males and some of the females are adorned with brilliant colors. If you are really lucky you can even see the birds elaborate courtship rituals and dances. This year our friends Barb and Dan joined us. We made the short drive to Idaho and the Refuge armed with our cameras, cell phones, (for recording the birds calls) and the app Merlin which is great for identification using pictures, locations, and songs, After driving along Tin Cup Creek, we made the turn to the Refuge Head Quarters. We first went to the overlook where we took images of the landscape. Last year a male grouse was dancing there, but we did not see it, just the usual hawks, sandhill cranes, and in the distance ducks.

Stopping at the Main Building we picked up the literature and tried to take photos of the swallows. They were nesting underneath the building’s overhang and while they did not hit us, we did have to duck from near misses, (I did get one good photo of a barn swallow).

Driving on we passed a pond with northern shovelers and a cinnamon teal nesting on a small mound of dirt.

Driving on we passed a kestrel on a fence post, (notice that the kestrel has killed a large mouse in its talons), and several sandhill cranes.

A Western Kingbird posed on a wire

and a red-tailed hawk soared in ever widening circles as it hunted for its breakfast.

My favorite place on the refuge is when we reach the place where the road dissects a portion of the lake. Yellow headed blackbirds hunted for food. Due to the late spring, the cattails where behind in their growth and so we did not get the usual poses in our pictures. Instead, we had to settle for pictures of the birds along the ditch.

A willet waded while two Wilsons Phalaropes swam in quick circles.

The female is the bright colored member of the pair, which is unusual.

At one point a cinnamon teal swam and posed for a close-up image.

White faced and glaucus ibis waded and fed in the shallow water and a flock searched for gravel before exploding into the air.

The iridescent feathers of the ibis are a brilliant purple along with their purple bills.

A sandhill crane fed among the reedy area.

Leaving the water, we mentioned that the rest of the drive was where we saw hawks so of course we did not see any. Again, after telling Dan and Barb about the moose that inhabit the refuge, we never spotted a single one. Nothing like promising something and then nature does not cooperate. Leaving the refuge, we drove to our usual picnic spot where we enjoyed our lunch alongside Tin Cup Creek. It had been a fruitful day as our friends added to their life list. It is so much fun to share trips with friends and Renita and I always enjoy a day of birding. Clear skies