Being a Bird Nerd

Wednesday and Thursday of this week was dedicated to the topic of Birds.  I was pretty excited for this one because I never really took bird into a focus or an interest.  Sure, I would go bird watching with binoculars and watch them fly or perch somewhere, but this week, was pretty different.  Maybe because 1.) I had a new awesome pair of efficient binoculars I got for Christmas from Mom and Dad 2.) I had a pretty nifty field guide book to help me narrow down the birds to identify, and 3.) had a really patient guide with us to answer lots of questions.

Perfect Silhouette Outline of the Tetons

On Thursday, we went birding to the Kelly Warm Springs and near the Gros Ventre Jumping Rock!  Let me just say I saw my first Golden Eagle at the Kelly Warm Springs!! And....it was being mobbed by a Red-Tailed Hawk!  It was so cool!  The adult Golden Eagle we saw was really big, I mean it appeared bigger than the Red-Tail!  And its golden nape was pretty visible by binoculars too that helped give it the Golden Eagle name.  Also while we were at the Jumping Rock, we spotted a juvenile Bald Eagle!  Our guide, Kurt Johnson, stated the way to tell the different between a Juvenile Bald Eagle and a Juvenile Golden Eagle is the white patterns or shapes on its underside.

The Juvenile Golden Eagle will have two distinct white patches on the wing linings where as the Juvenile Bald Eagle will have white spots sort of all over the underside (like someone through paint on it and is just speckled everywhere).  And after our discovery and identification, the eagle juvenile was more random with multiple white patches and led us to identify it as a Juvenile Bald Eagle! Super cool and another first!

A Sun Dog! Halo Around the Sun

While birding we saw a Sun Dog!  Sun dogs are atmospheric phenomenons that create bright spots of light in the sky, and most often a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.  We did not see spots, but there was an awesome halo!  Sun dogs will appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun and can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but are not always obvious or bright.  Pretty cool!

One of My Species Accounts: The American Dipper
The Only Swimming Songbird

Learning the Anatomy of a Bird's Skeleton

Bird Nerd!
TheChristyBel