Monday Is For The Birds!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Today is for the birds -- or rather the birdies we saw on our most recent trip down to Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge!  Finally.

"Buckle up, there are a bazillion birdies out there!"
"Ready for take-off!"

We hit Cheyenne Bottoms first.  Here are our highlights from there!

Great Blue Herons, a Red-Winged Blackbird, and American White Pelicans

The Blackbird seemed to be some sort of bouncer for the Pelicans, driving the Herons out of their fishing spot.  Here's the new fishing hole one of the Herons found:

Great Blue Heron

There were so many different members of the Heron family out there!  The smallest of the white herons were these Cattle Egrets:

Cattle Egrets on a fly-by

The next smallest were the Snowies:

Snowy Egrets

If Maggie and I had to pick a favorite, it would be the Snowies.  You know.  Because SNOW.

Mom shot a whole series of this guy on take-off:

Double-Crested Cormorant

Here's a Snowy posing on a post, showing off his bright yellow feety-feet:

Snowy Egret

How about another Great Blue?!?

Great Blue Heron and Barn Swallow

The Barn Swallow kept dive-bombing him.

After a sweep through The Bottoms, we headed down to Quivira NWR.  That place was teeming with  Sandpipers - like these:

Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs

This little guy was quite the poser:

❤❤❤ Snowy Plover!!!!  ❤❤❤

Guess who put the hearts in there?

There were also quite a few Ibises at Quivira:

White-Faced Ibises

AND Stilts:

Black-Necked Stilt

The Stilts were squawking at every other birdie out there, were flying all over the place, and were just agitated as can be!  Quite possibly because ...

Black-Necked Stilt baby

That's right - there were Stilt puppies in the area!  They were just protecting their young, and I can totally relate to that!  The White-Faced Ibises challenged the Stilts quite a bit.  This guy mixed it up with two Stilts:

"Hey, Camera Lady.  Watch this!"
"Stay away from my babies!"

The Stilts double-teamed the much larger Ibis and eventually won the day.

"And don't come back!"

Don't mess with anyone's puppies!

We also saw large groups of the largest of the white herons:

Great Egrets

It was such a birdie-packed paradise!

On the way home, we saw more Cattle Egrets -- hanging out with Cattle!  Dad turned around on the highway so Mom could get out and take a few shots:

Cattle Egrets and Cattle

They were quite a distance away.  Mom was careful not to encroach onto private property - and she certainly didn't want to disturb the cattle!  It was really cool to see them together!

That's a wrap for this trip!

"Time to head back home!"
"That was a LOT of birdies!!!"

We hope you enjoyed seeing some of Mom's photos.  Please visit our album on FlickR for the full set, if you're interested!

Thanks for coming birding with us!

Cammie!