Birds

We didn't see a lot of birds on our recent road trip. There seemed to be more swallows around, but maybe I was just noticing them more.

Female Wood Ducks aren't as flashy as the males, but they're still interesting looking.

I wouldn't have recognized this as a Brown-headed Cowbird without iNaturalist's help.

The male is a little more recognizable. It's on the back of a bison in Yellowstone. The name "Cowbird" comes from following cattle to eat insects they stir up. Before European settlement they followed bison. They are "obligate brood parasites" meaning they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. This way they can lay up to 40 eggs per season.

One of our regular stops is Upper Coffeepot campground just outside Yellowstone. A large group of American White Pelicans hangs out there. This year they were further up the river from the campground. It's always a challenge to photograph white against a dark background. They were mostly just in a big group on the far shore.

The rest of these birds were all at a campsite near Boise, Idaho. This bird was flitting around in the bushes and I was lucky to get one decent shot. It was a new one for me - a Yellow-breasted Chat (a large warbler).

Our campsite was visited by Wild Turkeys and their young.

The young are well camouflaged.

California Quail also like the same log as a perch.

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