Waterfowl galore during a morning visit to Market Lake

ROBERTS — A trip to Yellowstone Park was canceled this week due to the prediction of very high winds. So, I decided to visit the dried-up Market Lake Wildlife Management Area for a few hours before the dad-blasted wind showed up.

Wednesday morning, as I entered from the north side of the lake, I found enough water for a few waterfowl — and a host of male yellow-headed blackbirds and red-winged blackbirds arguing with each other.

They appeared to each have staked out a claim of about 2 square yards and seriously defended it. When a female would fly by, the chase was on.

While watching them, two things happened. First, I glanced up into the tall trees and saw a pair of baby great-horned owlets watching me. Then, amid the blackbird’s racket, I heard the call of a sora. I knew instantly it was going to be a good morning, as long as the predicted wind waited long enough for me to spend just a few hours there before it started howling.

Because I knew the owlets would not move much, I positioned myself so that I could watch the slough where the sora had called. Then I waited for it to show itself. It took about half an hour to come out, but I got a couple of pictures.

Then I opened my truck door and slammed it shut, which caused the bird to show itself again. Soras are cousins to the Virginia rails, which are usually more visible in area marshes.

After walking down the North Windbreak to get pictures of the owlets, I headed south. I traveled about 200 yards before I flushed out a short-eared owl hidden on the side of the road and watched it chase a female northern harrier that was gathering material to build her nest.

Later, the owl was harassed by the female red-winged blackbird defending her nest. But it finally captured a rodent and delivered it to its mate, which was nesting in a patch of tall marsh grass. Hopefully, I will be able to see them after the kids are hatched.

There were also a few cinnamon teal, northern shovelers, greater scaup, ruddy, redhead and mallard ducks. One hen mallard had seven ducklings with her, while a pair of Canada geese had eight goslings with them. There were also a few shorebirds along the canal — mostly spotted sandpipers, willets and killdeer.

Just before the wind came up, I was nearing the end of my trip along the four dried-up ponds when I saw my second short-eared owl. As I watched it, a large white bird landed near me in the canal. It was a great egret, one of my favorite birds.

I watched the egret as it worked its way along the canal, capturing brunch. Then it flew off as a vehicle approached, showing all of the elegance of a royal bird.

The vehicle sped past me, headed toward the North Windbreak, only to come back about half an hour later while I was waiting to see if the short-eared owl would appear again. It stopped, and the occupant said, “Not much happening, is there? Sure, wish they would fill up the ponds.”

As the vehicle sped away, I thought of one of my favorite hymns, “Slow Down” by Sissel. I smiled, thinking about the three hours that I had spent traveling 2 miles along the dried-up ponds and marsh of Market Lake.

I will come back and enjoy it again when the wind stops. Have a wonderful week!