It’s the dreary doldrums of winter and sometimes the bird watching is a little slow this time of year, even on the famed Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge where I found myself once again this blistery, cold winters morning.
Today, to put it bluntly, was one of those days where birds were in short supply as I drove around most of the refuge auto tour route.
I say slowly because most of the birds came all at once, split between two different locations on the Bear River Refuge today.
First, as I took the first turn on Forest Street, nearly a dozen or more bald eagles greeted me on the east side of the road.
One bald eagle was uncharacteristically perched on a fence post not too far from the road, shown above in the first image.
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Other eagles were spread out in the nearby trees and on other fence posts along the roadway.
As I found my way to the southeast corner of the refuge auto tour route, I came across another dozen bald eagles spread out all over the layer of ice that is currently holding the refuge captive until warmer temperatures return.
All of the eagles on the auto tour route, unfortunately, were quite a ways out on the ice and I needed my 600mm lens to make certain of their identities.
As most of you are aware, I am a fan of the great blue heron and there were about 8 of them on the south side of the road of the auto tour route where I found the bald eagles.
I came across a couple other great blue herons after that along the last leg of the auto loop making around 15 or so for the day.
One nice surprise was the nearly 100 tundra swans sitting out on the ice also in the same southeastern corner of the auto tour route.
Tundra swans seem to be migrating early this year as they typically don’t start to show up on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge until the later parts of February.
In fact, I am certain some of the tundra swans I am seeing from the past few weeks are some that have spent the winter on the Bear River Refuge.
I have been watching the swans on the refuge for many years now, and I have seen a small flock of them stay all winter long numerous years in a row now, this year included.
Migrating swans are, in fact, all up and down the Wasatch Front with a reported 5000 of them sitting on Farmington Bay in a closed area, according to sources from the DWR as of a couple days ago.
Personally, I am thinking the tundra swan migration might peak a bit earlier this year with how many swans are already in the area.
Typically, tundra swans congregate in their greatest numbers on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in mid-to-late March, but with what I am already seeing this year, I am betting the best tundra swan viewing on the refuge could possibly be in late February this year.
For those bird watchers or photographers still looking for a rough-legged hawk this winter, the Bear River Refuge still has plenty of birds, but most of them that I’m seeing are, like many of the eagles were today, on Forest Street itself and not on the auto loop.
Now it might seem like today was a bit more productive than I first eluded to, but, honestly, it wasn’t.
Most of the refuge auto tour route was completely devoid of birds until I came to the southeast corner.
If it wasn’t for the large group of bald eagles on Forest Street, I would only have seen a few rough-legged hawks and some Canada geese along the river.
That is just how it goes when bird watching during the winter, many times it’s an all-or-nothing proposition.
Last winter, I was seeing a lot more birds on the auto tour route, especially on the south end, but it froze a bit differently this year so I am sure that is a big part of it.
Bald eagles seem to be in short supply in many parts of the Wasatch Front, but I am seeing many of them on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge so I wanted to keep everybody updated on what I am finding.
I hope this helps someone who might still be looking for some bald eagles this winter before they are gone for the season.
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