Thursday, February 23, 2017

Nerdy Birdy Time

Not much adverturing in my life lately, unless you count the downhill ski adventures at Alta. President's Day Weekend was a small exception, as after 3 days in a row of skiing... and the reminder that I'm out of shape... day 3 my legs could really feel it, we headed up north to the hot springs.

Since we were way up there we decided to check out the 'Happy Place' - Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. We did not get to see much, as the road was closed a few miles off of the highway due to flooding. There are spots along the road with signs say not to cross when flooded, but in all the years I've been visiting the refuge there has never been water anywhere near those spots, though when I first moved to Utah in the '80s the refuge had flooded so badly for so long the visitor center had to be relocated to it's current location. This may be the year where we are finally leaving the drought behind, maybe the Great Salt Lake will begin to fill again but hopefully not so much that the refuge becomes inaccessible to us bird nerds. A local birder/photographer documented the current flooding on his blog it is strange to see places normally high and dry so waterlogged.

But even without getting out the auto loop, we had a nice birdy moment watching a large flock of murmurating blackbirds. It is so fascinating to watch so many birds fly in such a synchronous manner.

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