Today’s birdwatching trip around the 12-mile self-guided Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route was nothing short of a headscratcher for me, to say the least.
It’s early October, a time of the year when many species of birds have already migrated southward and others are preparing to leave soon.
Early this morning, however, I came across not one but two different unfledged baby western grebe sightings, both still riding on their parent’s backs, as a matter of fact.
That is a common and much-anticipated scene for birders visiting the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in June and July, sometimes even spilling over into early August in some years.
But, suffice it to say, to have multiple baby grebe sightings this time of year when the first average fall freeze date, according to USU, for Brigham City is October 12 is very strange indeed.
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Maybe it was the wet spring we had here in Utah that caused a lot of flooding on the Bear River that possibly could have set the breeding season back a few weeks for some individual breeding pairs, I don’t know for sure.
But what I do know is October is very late in the year for western grebes to be still raising their young chicks on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, especially ones that are unfledged and still riding on their parent’s backs.
Another interesting grebe sighting today, too far out on the open water to get better images, unfortunately, is what’s called a “weed ceremony, where in this case mated Clark’s grebes did a complex dance and mating behavior routine that consists of weeds being held in their beaks for part of the mating ritual.
I had never seen this particular grebe behavior before so it was quite interesting to watch, even if was from a great distance away and through my camera lens.
Although there weren’t as many grebes on Unit 2 as there typically are during the summer months, I was quite impressed with how many grebes, some with fledged and unfledged chicks at their sides, were still on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route this late in the year.
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This particular trip just goes to show you never know what you’ll see while birdwatching, even on the most routine of trips like today was for me, as I never expected to see baby grebes so late in the year as I, in fact, did today.
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(Migrating Snow Geese Feeding Close To The Road. 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.)
