On the morning of our second full day, we headed to the south end of the wildlife refuge. Here flocks of Sandhill Cranes had settled reasonably close to the parking area. We decided to explore some of the other birds that were in this area. Close to the parking lot, was a group of House Sparrows that periodically flocked to the feeding area. Soon they returned to the bushes close to the parking lot.
These sparrows periodically flew out to feed and returned to the bushes or to the fencing.
In one of the trees above the parking lot, a Red-Tailed Hawk was perched. There was an occupied nest in an nearby tree that it was guarding.
There was another area where we had seen Red-Tailed Hawks and Great-Horned Owls earlier. As we made our way there, we encountered a flock of female Red-Winged Blackbirds perched in the bushes at the roadside. Typically, the female birds meeting males at the breeding grounds. These Blackbirds often create nests among the cat tails and marshes. We had seen the male Red-Winged Blackbirds near the marshes. The males have a very distinctive call as they a waiting to meet a mate.
In image below, I was intrigued by the how the female had splayed her legs out to perch on the sage brush.
Later in the afternoon, I was capturing some incoming Sandhill Cranes in the same parking lot as in the morning. I don’t often get an image of a bird approaching me head on! This one even had some chunks missing from its wing feathers.
Later, I was tracking a single Sandhill Crane that was vocally announcing its arrival at the feed grounds.
This crane approached from the mountains to the west and looped around in front of me, chattering in flight.
I made several images as this bird continued in a wide loop, chattering in flight, before settling down towards the other birds in the flock.
That concludes images from our trip to Monte Vista.