February Family Adventure: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

March 15, 2015

I usually hate February. Weather is always terrible, skies are gray, and everyone ends up sick for at least part of it. But this year, Mother Nature smiled upon us and gave us the most glorious February ever known to man! Sunshine and warm weather abounded, and we were all healthy and itching to play outside. So Nate the Adventure Man decided it was time to hit up the Bird Refuge, which we've had on our list of places to go for long time.

Nate the Adventure Man

We ate Subway sandwiches and chips and fruit from home on the drive there. We brought our binoculars (and made some for Leah) in hopes of seeing lots of birds. As we approached the loop that goes around the refuge, we came upon some bona fide cowboys! And girls! Herding cattle! They even had cowboy hats on!

Nate downloaded a podcast (or something) to listen to while we drove around that explained what we were seeing, right as we were driving by it. It was supposed to, at least, but we kept having technical difficulties. But in the end, I'm pretty sure we got to hear it all.

We stopped and got out several times to look for birds and saw quite a few. It was kind of the off season, but we still saw a duck or two, birds of prey, and several stork-like birds. And swans! Hundreds of them! We explored in some grassy areas and didn't see much, but if you held really still for just a few seconds you'd hear birds everywhere! The grass was teeming with them! And their songs were so varied and beautiful. The day was clear and chilly and for a lot of it we were all alone, without any other people in sight. I think that's good for ya every once in awhile. In the end, Nate and I saw (and cared about) more birds than the kids, but they really liked exploring and seeing the water and swampy areas. And also eating chips. Lots of chips. I'd like to go out there again now that it's warming up and see what other kinds of birds are around. The bird population changes throughout the year.