Birds and Nature

I took this brief video clip earlier this summer of this pair of Western Grebes engaged in a courtship dance at Lake Cheraw. When the wind isn't as loud you can hear the vocalizing of these grebes. SeEtta WesternGrebesCourtshipDance from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo .

I photographed these Eared Grebes at Lake Cheraw in southeastern Colorado as both parents (they were up at the same time) were busy feeding fish and maybe lake vegetation to this very young chick. How do I know that the chick is less than 10 days old? Birds of North America online states, "Uncommon for chicks >20 d to receive parental care." I am not sure what that small fish is but it zebra striped. And according to the Birds of North America chicks receiving parental care by both parents are more likely to be less than 10 days old. While this chick mostly just waited for a parent to bring it food it occasionally would swim out to a parent to get fed as quickly as possible as shown in pic below. And I did see it dive once but it didn't look like it caught anything. Pics are best viewed more enlarged, just click on a pic to enlarge it. SeEtta

Sandhill Cranes are migrating south across Colorado and these are a few of those that I saw during my trip yesterday to the La Junta area. These were part of small group I saw at Lake Cheraw. They were all standing when I arrived but as shown 2 have laid down with one tucking it's beak into it's back feathers to rest. Though I have seen thousands of these cranes in several states, I can't remember ever seeing one laying like this on the ground. Lake Cheraw is a good place for them to rest as there is no active recreation (no boating, no fishing, etc) here to disturb them though they are hunted in this flyway I have not seen hunters here. The group in the bottom pic were flying near Lake Henry but changed direction to fly to another nearby lake SeEtta

This American Avocet was the highlight of my visit to Lake Cheraw which is northeast of La Junta. Though the wind had been gusting all afternoon, it became even stronger when I got to Lake Cheraw and the waves were pushing over the shore on the north side of the lake where much of the visible shorebird habitat is located. The waves didn't stop this American Avocet from foraging and it was successful a number of times while I watched including in the bottom pic. I was surprised to see 3 Black-crowned Night Herons that were taking shelter by the wetland area where a flock of White-faced Ibis were sheltering. Other birds included Black-necked Stilts, aechmophorus grebes, Eared and Horned Grebes (in high breeding colors), and waterfowl including Ruddy Ducks. SeEtta