Caesar Creek and Spring Valley WA – 4/22-23

There had been a lot of talk about Terns at Caesar Creek, so I thought I would check it out, since I don’t have very many good photographs of the Terns in question.  Well, OK, I have some fantastic looks at a Forrester’s Tern, but not a Caspian, so that was my main impetus.  Well, long story short – as is the way of things, there were very few gulls at all and absolutely no Terns.  That’s OK – I got some good photographs of the Bonaparte’s Gull that was hanging out with the Ring-billeds, and I also got a special treat: there was an Eared Grebe swimming around in lonely circles just off the boat ramp.  I wasn’t able to get as close as I wanted, the first day, and the light was dreadful, so three of the four photos I’ve saved of this beautiful bird are a little dark, but, yesterday, the sun was out and I brought my Better Beamer flash extender and while I wasn’t able to get close, again, I was able to get a single, well-lit and beautiful photograph.  That made me very happy.

On the way back from the boat launch, I spotted a Sparrow that wasn’t holding still, but wasn’t hiding, either.  It also had a yellow swatch across the face.  I thought, “hey, cool!” and sought out my opportunity to get a decent photograph of a Savannah Sparrow.  After about 10 minutes of chasing it down, I did end up with a few great shots.  That makes me happy – they’re cute little birds and I’ve rarely had one sit out in the open enough for me to get unobstructed photographs.  Luck was with me, it seems.

I moved on to Spring Valley Wildlife Area just a little later, and had  some of the best looks at birds I’d had for a while, inasmuch, as the Better Beamer allowed me to illuminate where I otherwise could not have.  This helped me get some fantastic shots of a Yellow-rumped Warbler – unlike any I’d taken before…the detail was so much better.

I think the highlight of the morning, though, was the pair of foraging Pileated Woodpeckers.  They were scuttling along the ground, pounding on the undersides of fallen trees, or along the bases of trees.  It was funny – they would see me, fly about 50 feet away, then go about their business, waiting until I was within a good sight-line, again, then fly a little further up.  They repeated this process a good 6 or 7 times, until finally disappearing into the thicker forest-y part of the trail.  They were funny, though, and it was so tempting to just say, “you’ve got a little schmutz.  Yeah, right there…”