Rio Grande County, Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge - Brant

[Polly Neldner]

Buoyed by a forwarded report from the San Luis Valley we ventured over to see if the Brant was still present at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.

Seldom do we go after a bird and not only am I the first to spot it, but we find it less than 60 seconds after leaving the vehicle!

Luck was with us this morning. The bird had relocated to the pond on the East side of the road. Paul had just done a quick perusal with the spotting scope and decided the bird was not present...but I thought "one of those geese is smaller than the others...one of those geese is not the same". At the time the bird was on the far side of the pond with a few Canada Geese, head tucked down. As I can be stubborn at times I asked for my turn at the scope and happened to line it up just as the Brant lifted it's head!

Pics may be seen on CFO Facebook page. They were taken a bit later when the Brant had come to our side of the pond. While it was still a bit distant, heat shimmer and lighting working against us, we had fantastic scope views and later in the morning were rewarded with a close flyover...as the birds decided to fly to one of the inlets far to the West side of the road.  If it had been there to start with we would have never have seen it!  Life bird # 3209...Happy Easter for us!

Paul and Polly Wren Neldner

La Veta, CO