Gray Jay #315

My father-in-law and I took my four kids on a birding tour around Cascade Reservoir while the Mrs. did the Black Friday shopping thing.  I have to always plan something fun and exciting for me kids to look forward to on these trips so that I can threaten them with not doing it which holds their complaints about my birding to a minimum.  The plan for this trip was to stop at Gold Fork Hot Springs and swim while it snowed.  We stopped a couple of times on Gold Fork Rd and saw Stellar's Jays and Clark's Nutcrackers.  While I answered mother nature's call a gray bird flew overhead and Lynn called out, "There's a Gray Jay!".  Zipping up as fast as I could I was able to see the Gray Jay for a few moments through my binoculars.  At this stop, we also watched an American Dipper diving into the stream off the ice.  When we go to the hot springs and got into our bathing suits, I was delighted to see Gray and Stellar's Jays flitting over the pools caching away winter food supplies.

Dunlin #314

My father-in-law, Lynn Davenport, reported last week seeing Dunlins at Dry Lakes south of Nampa, ID. That was before our trip to Utah were I saw the Bonaparte's Gull discussed below. It is almost an hour drive from Avimor to Dry Lakes, so unless we are visiting family out there its a rare opportunity to get out there just for a bird. I made my way out there today in the late afternoon evening hours and I saw 12 Dunlins in about the plumage shown in the picture above. I would love to see them in breeding plumage, but a Dunlin is a Dunlin and a life bird whichever way I look at it!