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One of the most colorful summer resi- 
dents of the marshes is the yellow- 
headed blackbird. 
The success of the program may be judged 
by the visitor as he looks out over the refuge 
from the tower or drives along the roadways on 
the dikes. Everywhere he looks there are birds. 
From the headquarters building he may watch 
the snowy egrets, in gleaming white plumage, 
fishing near the dam that spans the river. Al- 
most any time a party of western grebes may be 
seen swimming up and down the canals, sud- 
denly vanishing from sight, and as mysteriously 
reappearing. A flock of avocets may be moving 
over a shallow mud flat, swinging their long, 
upcurved beaks from side to side like so many 
wielders of scythes, providing one of the greatest 
shows of the refuge. Stately lines of pelicans, 
rising and dipping, move over the marshes, their 
bodies white against the blue background of the 
mountains. But for sheer numbers all others 
are eclipsed by the waterfowl whose flocks dot 
the water or, in flight, form shifting patterns 
against the sky. 
NIigrant waterfowl move into the marshes 
beginning in August. By the end of the month 
or in early September the Bear River Refuge is 
host to a million and a half to two million water- 
fowl. Among them is one of the largest con- 
centrations of whistling swan to be found in the 
United States; flocks totaling 15,000 frequently 
are seen. Thousands of geese, both the Canada 
and snow, visit the refuge during migration. 
There are also a number of records of the rare 
Ross’ goose. Predominating in the fall flights 
are pintails, whose numbers often exceed a half- 
million birds. The green-winged teal is nearly 
as abundant. As many as 100,000 canvasbacks 
have visited the refuge. 
Many of these birds remain into the winter, 
leaving the refuge only as cold weather freezes 
over the water areas. Upon leaving Bear River, 
about half of the birds migrate west into Cali- 
fornia, some move south to Arizona and New 
Mexico, while others move eastward into Colo- 
rado, Texas and Mexico. With the spring they 
return, but the concentrations of birds then are 
smaller, and their stay shorter. Courtship ac- 
tivities are often seen among the migrants, and 
the nesting of some species, particularly the 
Canada goose, begins early. 
These marshes are teeming with life even in 
the summer, the quieter season between migra- 
tions. Of the 198 species of birds recorded on 
the refuge, about 60 are known to nest there. 
The Bear River marshes are among the greatest 
producers of waterfowl in the United States. 
6 
At Bear River the black-necked stilt (above) 
typically a bird of the Tropics, finds one of its 
most northern nesting grounds. 
Western grebes, most accomplished of avian 
swimmers and divers, glide up and down the 
canals. They build floating nests of grass and 
weeds and raise 4 or 5 young. Baby grebes 
often ride on the mother’s back, nearly or com- 
pletely hidden among her feathers. 
During the fall migration of the waterfowl, the 
waters of the Bear River Refuge and the sky 
above them are never empty of wings. 
