a good 4th of july weekend

i had last friday off so b and i decided to get out of town and do some serious birding. we got up early and drove up to the bear river migratory bird refuge. although it's summer (and not peak migration time) we saw a total of 38 different kinds of birds (out of about 62 summer residents). and 21 of those 38 were new birds! below is the list of new ones.

eared grebe
double crested cormorant
northern pintail
northern shoveler
blue-winged teal
ruddy duck
snowy egret
black-crowned night heron
white-faced ibis
sandhill crane
american avocet
snowy plover
long-billed curlew
common snipe
wilson's phalarope
western sandpiper
california gull
franklin's gull
bank swallow
marsh wren

an american avocet feigning an injury--probably to keep us away from the nest.

this one was my favorite: the black-crowned night heron. when i first saw it through my binoculars, i was blown away. it's red eyes are intense.

the ruddy duck was fun. we both had this in our top three favorite birds of the day. it's blue beak is cool.

after we were done birding, we went into logan. we had a good time there doing sundry things including going to the dairy and getting root beer- and mango-flavored milk, cheese curds, and creamed raspberry honey. that was quite a lunch.



we also went to logan zoo and saw b's grandparents house. it's quite different than it used to be. we finished our logan-time by going up into the canyon. we found a beautiful spot that we'll have to go back to to do some swimming/bbq'ing.



on saturday, the 4th, we went on a hike/fishing trip up in a nearby canyon. and b caught 7 fish although we only brought 2 home. and 1 of them was a cutthroat...if you can imagine. here's b with his proud, proud cutthroat.



on sunday, we went up into another canyon (three in one weekend) and happened across a giant puffball. unfortunately it was too far along (ie past its prime) to eat, but b spread it around the lawn so that (fingers crossed) we'll have a yard menagerie of giant puff balls! (btw, a puffball is an edible mushroom.)