a Cold Day for Birding

Saturday we decided to go to the Seedskadee bird refuge that is about 50 miles south of Big Piney towards Rock Springs.

Since it is spring in Wyoming, of course we woke up to snow and sleet. Being the intrepid souls we are, we decided to go anyway. I love birding--I'm one of those people who will stare into binocculars for hours trying to decide which of several species that little brown bird could be. Yesterday wasn't that kind of birding day, however. It was the kind of birding day where you mostly stay in your car and look at marshy ponds to see lots of different ducks and other waterfowl. I love spring and fall birding because there is the opportunity to see many migratory species in a short period of time. The birds are migrating through Seedskadee on the way to their breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska and despite the weather, we saw 30 different species--a pretty good day, all things considered.

It was Jed's first birding experience and I was a little worried about how he'd handle it. He's a great traveler but that's highway driving, not slow-on-a-dirt-road-with-lots-of-stops-and-starts driving. However, he did great. He sat in his car seat next to Grandpa Scott and chewed on his purple dog and slept off and on and was very well behaved. His cheeks bounced SO hard when we were on washboards and it was hilarious. Oh, my cute boy!

Here's Jed and Dave getting ready to go. Don't they look cute in their matching outfits? I love Jed's expression--I'm sure he's thinking "I can't believe you took me out of my warm jammies at 6:30 in the morning instead of putting me back in bed. It's practically still dark, guys!"

I love this outfit. Such a handsome little fellow!

At one point we did get out to walk down closer to several ponds (the road was closed--drat!). Since it was rainy and cold, Jed was well bundled indeed. Here he is, back in the dreaded car seat with his purple dog (who currently has a French accent, thanks to Dave), glad to be out of the rain.

It was so good to be birding again. We saw several species I hadn't seen in a while, like pintails, western grebes and cinnamon teals. I also saw a new bird for my species list--a common loon. I have seen other loons and relatives, but not the common loon, which is actually rarer (in this area) than its name would lead you to believe. We were able to sit by the river and watch three of them bringing up shellfish for lunch. It was so great!