What You Talkin' About, Willet?

I love the variety of birds we get around here.  A few weeks ago, I caught sight of this guy, a willet.  I'd never seen one before, and had to take a few minutes with the bird book to distinguish it from some other more common birds.  It reminded me of a snipe, but with longer legs and a shorter beak.

These long-legged, straight-billed shorebirds feed along beaches, mudflats, and rocky shores. Willets are common on most of our coastlines, but Wyoming is a long way from any coast.  During breeding season the western population moves far inland to nest in grasslands and prairies near freshwater, I'm guessing that' how this beautiful bird ended up in a cow pasture in western Wyoming.

The Stars and Stripes and awesome clouds

Owlets!

My favorite story lead of all time belongs to Ray Hageman, voice of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.  "Sometimes, you find the neatest things in trees."

That was Ray's lead into a story about a Wyoming Game Warden caught a wild lynx in a tree outside Cheyenne (lynx are NOT native to the area, this one had traveled across all of Colorado to get there).  I didn't see a lynx, but these great-horned owlets were pretty amazing!