Let's Bird!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As I mentioned yesterday, we drove down to Quivira NWR last week to do some birding.

"We're almost there!  I can tell!"
"I'm still half asleep!"

Once we got about here ...

The approach to Quivira!

... Mags and I were all set to help watch for birdies!

The first one we saw was right on the edge of the refuge - a falcon!

American Kestrel

Last month, Mom and Dad were very excited to see an American Bittern hiding in the reeds.  Well, guess what kind of bird they spotted next?!?!

"Slowly I turned ..."

Yes!  Another American Bittern!  It was very exciting!

There were lots of smaller birdies out singing!

Eastern Meadowlark

For more info on why we have salt marshes in the middle of the country, please click here.

Guess where this guy was?

Red-Winged Blackbird

Yes!  At the BSM!  How did you know?

Here's his female counterpart:

Female Red-Winged Blackbird

There were blackbirds all over the place - to include this variety:

Yellow-Headed Blackbird

Isn't he stunning?!?

We saw two kinds of Grebes this time!

Horned Grebe

For a better shot of his "horns", please click here. He's the one second from the right.  And ...

Eared Grebe

They can be tricky to differentiate.  Mom was stoked to capture both kinds!

She spent some quality one-on-one time with this birdie:

American Avocet

We ran into lots of his friends further down the road:

Chorus line of American Avocets

While we're looking at long-legged birds ...

Black-Necked Stilt

Here's an artsy shot Mom did of a Heron:

Great Blue Heron

And because he was so cooperative, here's another portrait of him:

Great Blue Heron

I hope he doesn't mind that Mom caught him with his mouth open.

We also drove down to the LSM (Little Salt Marsh), where Mom climbed the observation tower.  She took this shot from up there:

American White Pelicans and Northern Shovelers, the most handsome ducks in all of duckdom

Mom snuck that last part about the Shovelers in there.

Tomorrow we'll wrap things up with where we went after the LSM!  Thanks for coming birding with us!

Cammie!