Water Birds of the West

Imagine living your life in whitewater rivers and on windswept coasts. These are rough conditions for a human.  Now, imagine you are a duck.  This describes the habitat of the rough and tumble Harlequin Ducks.  If fact, many of these ducks suffer from broken bones due to being tossed around in the rough water. 

While the grouse (see previous post) were at the top of my list to see while in Nebraska and Wyoming, I also planned my trip around the return of the Harlequin Duck to Le Hardy Rapids in Yellowstone National Park, and the road opening between Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone (in order to get to LeHardy Rapids). Once the hens start incubating their eggs, the drakes return to the coastal areas (also their wintering grounds) along the Pacific or Atlantic, where they begin molting.  Therefore, the timeframe for seeing Harlequin drakes on the rushing waters of mountain streams is very short-lived.

While at Le Hardy Rapids, I always look for American Dippers.  Dippers also like fast-flowing mountain streams where they forage in riffles and cascades.  They are not the most colorful bird, but their ability to feed in fast-moving water impresses me.

The Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck is another species I was hoping to see but had no specific locations in mind.  I stopped at one of the most popular places in Grand Teton National Park for scenic images.  Beaver dams at this location back up water and offer beautiful reflections of the mountains.  While there, I found a very cooperative pair of Barrow’s Goldeneyes.  And they were habituated to people, making it easy to get close-up images. 

A great surprise to me was seeing Red-breasted Mergansers at the Big Sandy Reservoir, while exploring with my brother.  It was one of the bird species that convinced me to camp along the lake shore that evening and photograph birds the next morning.  It was a lot easier to get out of a tent and walk 100 feet to photograph birds than drive one hour from my brother’s house for early morning images (one more hour of badly needed sleep).

More than 700 species of birds live in North America.  I have seen over 500 species and photographed far fewer.  My goal is not to see or photograph all North American bird species.  But I do enjoy the variety of birds and seeing the habitats they frequent.  If you are new to birding, set a goal of seeing 10 species in one day.  It shouldn’t be hard to do (well, unless you live in Utqiagvik, AK and it is the middle of winter). Get out and enjoy the great outdoors.