It's Friday afternoon, our fifth day at Bear River Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and while we've done a lot of exploring and setting up, we still have no formal duties. We had a phone call with Mike, our boss, on Tuesday morning and he explained the situation. His main concern is that we're well settled and comfortable here. Our only duties are to research a comfortable outside table, chairs and shade that he will get for us and future volunteers, and to put together a list of things future volunteers should know before they arrive.
We've explored Brigham City and discovered a wonderful bakery that makes great breads and cookies. So far we've sampled a potato cheese bread that was crusty and tasty, and a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. This is another place that may become a regular for us. We drove up to Logan to stock up at Sam's Club, and discovered a creperie. Don't know about their regular food because the special was a crepe filled with ice cream and raspberries and topped with whipped cream, so that was lunch. The crepe itself was light and fluffy, which Vicky also confirmed with hers.
Logan is a university town (Utah State) but of course there are no students there right now, and the town was relatively quiet. The 25 mile drive up there was spectacular, especially as there is still snow on the higher mountains around here. Since the days have warmed up (highs close to 90) the snow tends to melt during the day but it's back in the mornings. Other than a few rain squalls one evening we haven't had any precipitation her on the refuge.
On our first full day here we investigated the Visitor Center (or more properly the Education Center) which of course is closed. However, there are two trails just outside. We walked the shorter one, which is paved, but left the longer unpaved one for another day. We briefly saw a mole, along with evidence of his track route, but other than a few swallows we didn't see many birds. It was getting towards sunset so we took the auto route.
This involves a 12 mile drive down paved Forest Street (where we're staying) with the refuge on both sides of the road after the first few miles. We stopped several times, identifying various birds including a Harris hawk, but it was at the end of Forest, when we joined the unpaved auto tour route, that we realized what a treasure this place is.
We got close up views of several American avocets, with their distinctive orange-pink necks, several yellow headed blackbirds, which we've searched in many laces but never seen. They really are a beautiful bird. And for good measure, the more common but still striking red winged blackbird.
Lots of wading birds including a green heron and varieties of stilt, and of course swallows.
The California seagull might be a surprise to you since we're close to 1,000 miles from the Pacific, but of course we're right next to the Great Salt Lake, and these gulls are quite common close to inland salt water. They were everywhere. But what charmed us most, as the sun headed towards the horizon, were the Canada geese. A common sight across the western USA as they migrate, you say. Why charming? The answer is families. We saw several, with the mom leading the way across the water (and sometimes across the road!) followed by her flock of from one to six chicks, with dad keeping watch at the rear.
SInce the gate to the auto tour threatened to be locked at sunset, we made sure we were out by then, and enjoyed the sun creeping up the mountains and turning the snow pink as it headed towards the horizon. We'll definitely be back, and taking lots of photographs, although in places the car was surrounded by midges so I'm not sure I'll want to get out!
I'm sure you'll hear more about the sanctuary over the summer, and also get some photos, but I'll leave this story at this point for now.
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