For The Birds

Spent quite a few days down at the Farmington Bay Refuge last week, before the big thaw this week. It has been just great, and resulted in many pictures. While I don't have the lens needed to really capture things up close, some turned out pretty well, and I was happy with them. So here are a bunch of pics from the Refuge.  The first one shows my home town of Bountiful in the background. 

The prime draw is still watching the Bald Eagles soar and roam.  They are so graceful.

The number of Bald Eagles has grown substantially--I'd say there are almost 100 down in the vicinity of the Refuge on a good day. Here is a sample of how they congregate on the ice.

Sometimes  you get the feeling that they scare the other birds, seagulls included, half to death.

The Eagles even occasionally engage in aerial acrobatics which are amazing to watch (though unfortunately they were too far away for my lens to capture).  However, Eagles are not the only reason to visit the refuge.  There have been  hosts of trumpeter swans.  When they gather like this, the sounds they make at sunset are so wild and primordial.  It is a great experience just to listen to them.

There are also owls aplenty. In addition to this short eared owl (Steve???) we saw a number of barn owls hunting.
There are also many Harriers out and about.

Then of course there is just the beauty of the place, especially in the evening.  The first picture is Mount Ben Lomond, one of the really beautiful peaks along the northern Wasatch front.  The second photo is Francis Peak, the highest peak in Davis County.

 And of course, there are always the sunsets.

Sunset around here usually includes flocks of birds, flying in for the night. If you look closely to this photo, you can see them silhouetted against the sunset.

Not a bad place to spend a dusk or two, right?