Family Field Trip - Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

So anyone who knows anything about us, knows that recently Dave has developed a birding hobby.  The girls and I are supportive so we have been doing a lot of bird watching recently.  It's actually helped us to get outdoors more and go visit some nature preserves, forests and other places we normally wouldn't have.

CASE IN POINT - the National Fish and Wildlife Service, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  Growing up in Utah, Dave and I had heard of the refuge.  We even went to the city of Bear River to play high school sports, but we never went to the refuge...or at least I never did.  I'll have to double check if Dave has been before.

The Refuge also happens to be close to a favorite Utah restaurant called Maddox.  And that pretty much sealed the deal.  We decided to go do some birding at the Refuge and then stop for dinner at Maddox afterwards.

Having not been to the Refuge before, we didn't really know what to expect.  There is a small visitor center which turned out to be very nice.  We looked around for a while and then signed in.  We were pleasantly surprised to learn that you can check out maps, birding guides, binoculars, audio tour cds, and even kids activity packs for free.  Pretty much all you will need for bird watching.

The refuge is basically a place for waterbirds.  So we had the opportunity to see lots of waterbirds that are passing through on migrations and a few who are permanent residents.

I should also mention that the refuge is accessible by a 12 mile self-guided driving tour.  You aren't allowed to do this on foot, which is even better when it is really hot and you would rather not drag complaining kids on big long hike.  So after getting our supplies we started out on the driving tour.  Of course, we weren't 100% clear on the map and where exactly the tour began and when to start the audio cd.  I'm sure some smarter people would have figured this out sooner.  Let's just say that it is a 12 mile drive from the visitor center to the beginning of the auto tour.  We ended spending a lot of this 12 miles thinking we were on the tour and we were stopping and straining to see every little bird possible.  It wasn't until after about an hour of this that we hit the actual auto tour route.  Looking back it's pretty obvious now since on "the 12 mile pre-tour" we saw about a dozen birds, but once we got to the actual refuge we saw about 1200 birds!

Here's a story to prove our point.  While driving to the refuge, we saw a Clark's Grebe swimming in a canal.  Its a long-necked black bird that kept diving under the water.  We pulled the car over to take a look.  You had to have quick eyes as it popped up and then went back under the water.  Of course, everyone saw it but Paige and she was going nuts because she couldn't see it, which in turn was driving  the rest of us nuts.  Let's just say after a long period of time, and lots of encouraging her to be patient she finally saw the Grebe.  When she finally said, "I see it!" I'm pretty sure I said, "Thank God!"  The irony of all this is that at this location we were not officially on the refuge auto tour, but once we got to the tour we must have seen about 200 Grebes.  There were so many everywhere, that by the end, we didn't even stop to look at them anymore, which is pretty funny (i.e. frustrating) considering the amount of effort and grief we all suffered earlier!

Okay, so now to the official tour of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  We finally matched up the cd with the sites we were by and we saw tons of birds.  Over 20 new species we had not seen before.  There were a lot of huge and beautiful pelicans, along with Clark and Western Grebes.  We also some very cool waterbirds with long curved beaks called American Avocets, Gadwalls, White-faced Ibis, Long-billed Curlew, and Black-necked Stilt.  We also some familiar birds like Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Cormorants, Kildeer, and Turkey Vultures.  It was a very successful birding trip even for the summertime.  It would be great to go back in the spring and fall during migration season.

pelicans

We also saw a ton of huge dead carp!  The girls got a kick out of that.  The refuge is marshy and when the water rises and recedes it traps the carp on dry land and they die.

Here's a pic collage Paige made

After our tour, we were all starving because we had spent more time than we anticipated and so we hurried over to Maddox Restaurant only to be greeted by a huge line!  It seems like everyone loves to eat at Maddox.  We had to wait about 20 minutes which wasn't too bad considering there seemed to be a lot of people ahead of us.  Funny story - while waiting you have plenty of chance for people watching.  After a while Ashley turns to us and says, "there sure are a lot of old people in Utah!"  It was funny because honestly, most the people waiting to eat were on the older side.  That's what happens when you hit a home cookin' restaurant in a small town at about 3pm!

Maddox is a home cooking place famous for homemade food including fried chicken, fresh rolls with raspberry butter, turkey steaks and fresh beef.  Let's just say we ready to eat when we finally got to our table.  Ashley ordered the fried-chicken and it was delicious.  Dave had fried shrimp which are really some of the best we have ever had and I had the shrimp steak.  It's a unique thing so I decided to do it and it was good too.  Everything was just like we remembered it and expected it to be.  This was the girls first time eating here but they loved it too.  We all left sick full and with a take-out tray of fresh rolls.  Yes!

Anyways, while in Utah we took a few other opportunities to do some birding and see birds that we would never see in the Midwest.  One place happened to be right next to Dave's parent's house in Farmington.  It is a pond system managed by the Utah State University.  Dave, his mom, and I went walking there a couple of times and saw pelicans, yellow-headed blackbirds, long-tailed Grackles, American Coots, Say's Phoebe, and Western Kingbirds.