Bear River Saturday

[Dave Rintoul <drintoul at ksu dot edu>]

Greetings

My eldest daughter and her husband were visiting from Kansas this weekend,
and we went out to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on Saturday. Besides the
hordes of mosquitoes looking for a mate, the most impressive flying objects
seen were

1) Red-breasted Merganser (pair) on the loop road

2) Clark's Grebe and Western Grebe paired up and keeping a very close watch
on each other in the canal south of the approach road

3) An American Bittern subduing and swallowing a garter snake, a process
which took most of 15 minutes, on the loop road just west of the entry gate.
The snake, despite being beheaded and swallowed, continued to move visibly
within the birds gullet for several minutes!

Evening Grosbeaks and Cassin's Finches are regular feeder visitors at the
place where I am staying in Summit Park, and the female finches have been
observed to be carrying nesting materials as well. Must be spring, even at
7000 ft.!

Cheers

Dave


Dave Rintoul                             <drintoul at ksu dot edu>
Biology Division - KSU                        ICBM: 39.18N, 96.34W
Manhattan KS 66506-4901                          VOX: 785-532-0104
Currently on sabbatical leave at the University of Utah

"Scientists are treacherous allies on committees, for they are apt to
change their minds in response to arguments." - C.M. Bowra, 1898-1971

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