May 14 - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

I don't recall if this was a planned stop or a spur of the moment, I believe it may have been the latter. Either way, this turned out to be a great stop for ducks, egrets and a few other treats. The weather was a bit blustery, but we were able to shoot some photos from the car as we were driving right along the lake.

The first bird spotted was Yellow-headed Blackbirds, another new species for the year.

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

2019 Bird #133

Once again, there were Cinnamon Teal here. They appear to be more common in the Northwest states than at home in BC. Maybe there's just more suitable habitat here.


Cinnamon Teal - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

The next bird seen was a male Ruddy Duck, another new one for the year.


Ruddy Duck - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID - 2019 Bird #134

I assume these Western Grebes were a male and female, they appeared to be exhibiting courting behaviour.


Western Grebe - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID



I took a short movie of them with the Nikon camera. As mentioned, it was quite windy as you can hear in the video.

After some debate, Chris and I agreed that these were Lesser Scaup, based on the peak at the back of the head, especially prominent on the female.


Lesser Scaup - Market Lake WMA, Robert ID

Mixed in with the ducks were some Avocets.

American Avocet - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

Here's another Clark's Grebe. once again with the white between the eye and beak.

Clark's Grebe - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

This next shot is a mixed bag of Scaup and Avocets.

Lesser Scaup and American Avocet - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

I see Sandhill Crane at Reifel Bird Sanctuary. Here it was nice to see one in the wild, not waiting for seed handouts from children.

Sandhill Crane - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

My Cinnamon Teal shots have all been with them on water, here's an action sequence where a male takes flight.

Cinnamon Teal - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

Cinnamon Teal - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

A close relative to the Cinnamon Teal is the  Blue-winged Teal. You have to get past the colour to see the similarities.

Blue-winged Teal - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

An odd couple is next, the Pelican earns the largest beak award.

American Pelican and Double-crested Cormorant - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

The next shot shows a male Gadwall taking flight.

Gadwall - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

Getting away from the birds momentarily, there were also reptiles on display here.

Western Painted Turtle - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

I took a few more photos and it was time to go.

Gadwall - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

One last shot of a Clark's Grebe, the last one for the tour. 

Clark's Grebe - Market Lake WMA, Roberts ID

As detailed in the next post, we had one more stop before reaching St. Anthony for our last night in Idaho.