“Always Be Observant” While Photographing Birds Is The Absolute Best Advice I Can Ever Give And Today Was Certainly No Exception To That Rule.

Okay, I know what you are thinking with a title like that, and, well, I have to agree with you 100 percent.

“Jeff, isn’t it pretty obvious and a basic part of common knowledge to always be on the lookout for birds while outdoors watching for or photographing birds?”

Yes, yes it most certainly is and I hate to admit it but today I had to re-learn that simple bit of common sense I’ve preached a hundred times if I said it once.

While spending a few hours on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route this morning I was reminded how an interesting bird or a unique photographic opportunity can reveal itself at any moment at almost any place, as it did that very thing this morning, in fact.

As I rounded the very southwestern leg of the auto loop by the boat launch I came across what I thought was a very pleasant setting with a great blue heron perched on an old stump.

It was such an enticing scene I thought I was in heaven and I had to correctly position my car and briefly roll down my window for a photograph or two.

I say briefly because the raft of hungry mosquitos eagerly waiting for me on the other side of the glass actually made me think twice about it, something that rarely happens when a great blue heron is perched so close in such a cool setting and so willing to sit for a few photos.

(Wilson’s phalaropes feed heavily on brine shrimp before their long fall migration to Argentina. For short nature clips like this one and interesting stories about the natural world around us, check out our Bear River Blogger channel on YouTube for videos and updates from our travels while out in nature, both on and off of the famed Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.)

As many of you bird photographers already know, sometimes great blue herons sit and pose for the camera, and other times they just don’t so you have to take advantage of situations like this when they arise.

Well, at least I do and boy were those mosquitos hungry and quite bad but I like how the image turned out so I guess it was well worth it.

This time, luckily, the great blue heron was very accommodating and never left the perch the entire time I was there, something that rarely happens by the way.

After I captured what I think is a very pleasing great blue heron image, pictured above, I was about to roll the window up and start my journey again but something caught my eye sitting in the weeds just a few short feet in front of me.

A small flock of Wilson’s snipe were hunkered down right along the edge of the water not more than 20 feet away from me.

Unfortunately, however, the available angle and vegetation didn’t leave me much room for an interesting photograph other than just to document what I saw out of the corner of my eye.

Wilson’s snipe is one of those bird species I just don’t see too often in a nice photographic situation so I rarely get images of them that are of any consequence.

And today, well, it looked like that was going to be that same result once more.

But as I turned the car around to get back on track on the auto loop my eye was drawn to something else in the weeds, this time along the edge of the large parking lot nearby.

It was 4 more Wilson’s snipe, all casually sitting at the very edge of the parking lot vegetation and only 10 feet away from me at that.

I couldn’t get any luckier if I went to Idaho and bought a lottery ticket, trust me on that one.

So I spent a few more minutes battling the mosquitos once more to capture a few very close-up images of some Wilson’s snipe sitting just 10 feet away from me.

The snipe was almost too close, in fact, for my 600mm camera lens but I was able to make it work before the mosquitos got too bad I had to roll up the window and get out of there before there wasn’t anything left of me.

Yes, if you haven’t been to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge lately, the mosquitos are quite bad this time of year and today was certainly no exception.

But it just goes to show if you keep your eyes open and are always searching for birds while you are out looking for or even photographing a particular bird like I was today, you never know what you may find.

I never would have seen that small flock of Wilson’s snipe if I hadn’t stopped to take a few photographs of the great blue heron and it was pretty lucky they caught my eye, not once but twice, today as I was solely focused on the great blue heron.

I hope today’s blog post inspired you to get out and go birdwatching or sit behind a camera for a while.

You never know what you will find unless you go and keep a sharp eye out for birds.

I will admit I sometimes get lazy and in a rut when going around the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route looking for birds to photograph.

I’ve driven the loop countless times over the past several decades or so and today was a great reminder for me to slow down and pay closer attention because you never know where an interesting bird will be hiding.

If you are a birdwatcher or someone who loves to photograph birds, I offer you to head on over to our subscribe page and sign up for email notifications for future blog posts about our photography and birding excursions on and off of the famed Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.