I closed out April spending some time at one of my favorite local spots to visit, Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I actually took two trips since it’s relatively close to my house. I went out shortly after sunrise the first trip. It was a sunny start to the day, so the warming temperatures were actually very difficult for photography. I have run into this issue several times out there before. The warming air close to the ground mixes with the colder air above and makes for a lot of distortion when trying to photograph through the atmosphere. It was a great morning for observing wildlife though. I was greeted by a small herd of pronghorn antelope. I also observed a short-eared owl as I was entering the refuge. Farther inside the refuge, I saw a couple more short-eared owls flying and doing some aerial acrobatics. They were too far away and there was too much distortion to get any clear photographs, but they were fun to watch. There were too many other species to list them all, but some of the highlights included swallows, sharp-tailed grouse, pelicans, Canada geese, snow geese, red-winged black birds, yellow-headed black birds, several gull species, willets, pheasants, stilts, many duck species, meadowlarks, horned larks, ground squirrels, muskrats and even a porcupine. I could hear some coyotes off in the distance, but I never saw them. As always, you can click on the pictures for a larger view (depending on your viewing device.)
Male pronghorn antelope looking into the camera.
Another shot of the antelope buck. I like the way he has some extra prongs almost growing on the top of his antlers, very unique. He was also spending a lot of time rubbing against the brush. It looks like they are losing their winter coats, so I am guessing that might be why he was rubbing so much.
Tree swallows fighting over a bird house. I spent a while watching them bicker with each other. I did not have my shutter speed quite fast enough to really freeze the action, but I still thought it was worth sharing.
Another action shot of the tree swallows interacting at the bird house. I do like the way the sun makes their colors shine.
Tree swallows more calmly sitting on the post above the bird house.
The best consensus from other bird photographers I talked to is this is a willet. I am not an expert when it comes to the variety of shore birds that pass through during the spring migration.
A black-necked stilt in the foreground with a sleeping American avocet behind it. There is also a killdeer out of focus in the background.
Muskrat cruising around. I saw quite a few of them, more than usual.
A porcupine was looking a little out of place, I am not sure where he was trying to get to, as there are not a lot of trees in the area.
I returned in the early evening hoping that the heat distortions I experienced earlier in the day would not be an issue. By this time however, the weather had turned to very overcast and even some light rain off and on. So this presented its own challenges, requiring higher ISOs and lower shutter speeds whenever possible to account for the lower available light. The change in weather did resolve the distortion issues though. I was again greeted by the same heard of pronghorn antelope. I also encountered a short-eared owl perched in a small tree just inside the refuge. This gave me a great photo opportunity and probably the highlight of the trip. I did not want to linger too long to disturb the owl, so I continued deeper into the refuge. I observed some of the same species I had earlier in the day, but overall I would say there were fewer birds due to the worsening weather conditions. Once I got around to the ponds, I did find a small flock of white-faced ibis that I had not observed earlier in the day. They were in an area that had been burned earlier this spring, so it made for a unique picture to see a water bird in a burned landscape. The gulls especially were also enjoying the burn areas. They were conducting controlled burns to help clear out some of the old vegetation that had built up. There was already fresh green grass coming up. On my way out of the refuge I observed some red-tailed hawks and some white-tail deer, but it was getting too dark by then for any pictures. All in all it was a great day and a fun way to close out April 2022. All of the pictures were done with my Canon R5 and my Canon 600mm F4 version 2.
Short-eared owl perched in a small tree.
Another shot of the short-eared owl kind of looking over its shoulder. It was a lot of fun to see it.
A white-faced ibis in some of the burned area.