Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Spring
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I visited Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week. The day was too cold and too windy….but was the only one that fit it the schedule. I remembered to take pictures of the metal work near the visitor center.
In the garden near the front of the visitor center, I didn’t see any butterflies…but there were dried blooms from last season left on the trumpet vine growing on the arbor and a clump of bluebonnets (we’d seen larger patches as we drove to the refuge along the highway).
We decided to use our car and a moving blind and protection from the wind….making our way slowly around the wildlife drive of the refuge. There were not many birds but enough to make some photography attempts. The most unusual was a Eared Grebe in breeding plumage. Someone in the visitor center had commented about seeing a pair but we only saw one.
There were some American avocets a little too far away for a good picture on a cloudy day. They can be identified with the picture I took….and there is a Great Egret in the foreground.
There were also Snowy Egrets (black bill and legs, yellow feet).
Very far out in the water on snags were American White Pelicans and Double Crested Cormorants.
The Greater Yellowlegs was closer and intent on finding some lunch.
The Great Blue Herons were numerous and seemed to all have the blue topknot of mature birds.
We saw one turtle positioned for maximum sun (warmth) but there were probably more.
There were still some Northern Shovelers on the water; most of them have left for their breeding grounds in the north. A pair of Blue Winged Teals were hiding in the plants beside the road as we were leaving; they are close to their breeding grounds based on the allaboutbirds map…so might have just been making a last stop over.
I took a few shots of wild flowers as we drove out of refuge….just rolled down the window and used the zoom!
