Tag Archives: Hutton Lake

How Avocets Drink

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*The Institute just got word that were Avocets up at Hutton Lake in Wyoming and they were drinking. Now to most of you this is a so what, snore, yeah, kind of thing but to us it’s a really big deal. We have an entire department devoted to all things birds. How they work, what their middle names are, can you eat them, what makes them different from Homo sapiens or web-footed ungulates. Anything and everything birds. We’re like the CNN of this stuff.

Our bird or Ornithology department was busy when the information came in about the Avocets drinking. We had them out near our final perimeter fence installing those new ultra-powerful hydrofracting transformers to run the 880 amp tri-ithulim fencing we installed to keep trespassers out of the sensitive areas we have over there. That’s why we had to send a cobbled together team made up of one of our cooks, the guy that passes out the shovels and hoes to the interns as they go to work in the morning, our senior cartologist as he’s the only one of the bunch that can string two sentences together and our staff photographer.

Our staff photographer is the one that made it possible to understand how the Avocet’s manage to drink. Unbeknownst to us he had developed, completely on his own, an App-like device that can be retrofitted on digital cameras called the SloMoStill. This is a revolutionary device that can be coupled to a camera with large fat rubber bands and duck tape and with the additional software provided cause light to slowdown as it passes through the camera’s lens, thereby stopping the action in the shot so it can be recorded on the sensor. You can see that at work as you look at the water droplets suspended in air in the image above. See they’re not falling back into the water as gravity demands. Genius. Because of the new ability this invention provides us we can now see in perfect clarity how Avocets drink.

Look at that long recurved bill. That is not a straw. The end of its beak is way out in front of where its mouth is, so the Avocet when it wants to drink has to stuff its whole head and mouth underwater to accomplish this, thereby risking drowning or being pounced on by a predator that does not have its head stuck underwater, or so we thought. But because the new SloMoStill camera App was at work our crack photographer has proven this is wrong. Instead we can see that the Avocet does not stick its whole head in the water and risk getting it in its nairs (bird nostrils) making it cough and/or choke in an embarrassing manner. What it does instead is smack the water’s surface smartly with that long thin beak and as the drops of water rebound into the air, grabs them one at a time to let them roll back into the Avocets mouth. If you look closely you can see a drop of water in the Avocets bill in preparation of being swallowed. Pretty darn clever, eh.

There you have it, another mystery solved by the scientific folks at The Institute. A few short minutes ago you didn’t have a clue as to how an Avocet drank. Now you know it all. Go ahead share it at the water cooler, astound your friends with bird lore that they never thought you knew anything about. Be the envy of the Animal channel watchers as they will never see anything like this there. And it’s all free for the reading. Pass that on to your friends too. Check out *The Institute at BigShotsNow.com and be smarter than everyone else. It’s an American thing to do.

*Note: For those of you unfamiliar with The Institute and what it does, please see the page labeled “The Institute” on the Menu Bar above. That should explain everything. You shouldn’t have one single question remaining after reading it. None. For those of you favored few who already know about the Institute, Nevermind.

Sing A Song Of Morning

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We’re not the only ones that find joy in the first light of morning. Our companions on this big blue ball hurtling through space find as much pleasure in the beginning of the day as we do. For some it means that they’ve made it through another night and celebrate the gift of another day. For others it may just be the colors and freshness of the light that gives them reason to address the morning.

This plover seems to be one of those that is finding the colors of the morning require some comment. Perhaps a word of thanks, or a call to the universe to say it is here and alive and glad of it. I belong to that camp. Just take it in. Be immersed in the moment. Be glad you’re alive. Sing a song of the morning just because you can.

Following the Storm

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Hutton lake up in Wyoming is one of those places that depending on what time of the day or year you view it will determine how you feel about it. During the day it is fairly plain and nondescript with few distinguishing features other than the wildlife and birds that are there for various reasons. The light levels are harsh during mid-day and the vegetation is sparse and low-lying. The birds that you find here are usually passing through to somewhere else, as this is a stopover for many migratory flocks.

The mammals that frequent this area, such as Antelope, coyotes, and prairie dogs are seen more often when some natural event takes place, such as when the antelope drop their calves in the spring. Coyotes are there because they’re everywhere and being opportunistic, take advantage of the food supply as it changes through the seasons. Nobody knows why the prairie dogs are there, one day one shows up and before long they’re all there. The Redtail hawks don’t mind their squatting however, especially when the young unwary prairie dogs are out and playing too far from their burrows.

The low rolling hills that surround the lake continue on until they bump up against the mountains or continue in the opposite direction eastward until they reach Nebraska or any other of the middle kingdom states that claim they have prairie. The wind blows across the hills and lakes endlessly until you find yourself developing a semi-permanent list to one side depending on which direction you’re walking.

But there are moments of unsurpassing beauty here too. When a storm is imminent the wind will kick up into nearly gale force conditions, then suddenly stop, allowing deep dark clouds to roll in close to the earth. So close you feel like you could reach up and touch them. Then the rains will come. Not often but every once in a while there is no rain just the clouds and you, and the view to the horizon. There may be lightning then, but not always. It gets very dark, even in the middle of the day, and ominous thoughts can crowd into your mind. This isn’t a place for the timid.

These conditions can be found in the early spring when this place is reawakening from its winter imprisonment. It’s as if this storm is it flexing its muscles and stretching after a long troubled sleep. The image above was taken in early April around 6:30 pm and it was one of the rainless storms. The wind had been fearsome through the late afternoon and the clouds rolling in kept getting lower and it appeared that soon there would be no space left between the clouds and the earth for humans. It looked to be time to pack it in. To go someplace warm and maybe have supper. Then suddenly the winds dropped as often happens, and in the stillness of the early evening, the sun finally broke through the clouds to illuminate the lake with a golden reflection of the sunset, and a plain somewhat forbidding place was turned into a golden paradise, if only for a moment.

That’s part of the draw of this country, an everyday occurrence can turn into an adventure at the drop of a hat. All you have to do is stand your ground even when it feels like you should be running away for all your worth. The payoff is often golden.

Tighten It Up People

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One cold blustery day last fall Franklin’s gulls gathered together at Hutton Lake up on the cold windswept plains outside of Laramie Wyoming. They were going somewhere and hung around on the lake just long enough to freeze their little gull feet off. Look closely at the image, you won’t find a foot there. The general consensus of those observing them regarding why they gather together, was an incredible desire on their part to share body heat. The gulls that is, not the observers. It was very cold that day and a 35 mph wind quartering out of the North didn’t help any.

Franklin’s gulls, or as they’re known locally by many as Jack Brinn’s Gulls, or at least they’re known as Jack Brinn’s gulls by two people anyway, namely Jack Brinn and the Director of The Institute who is an ardent supporter of Jack Brinn’s tendency to want to name entire species after himself, but only the good nice ones. In Wyoming two people gathered together in nearly anyplace is considered many. A crowd actually. A recent poll of those many up in Wyoming thought that Franklin’s gulls should be named Jack Brinn’s gulls so I propose we change it immediately. The people have chosen. Make it so.

The gulls gather in tightly spaced groups or flocks if you are a stickler for absolute accurate detail, and fly packed together in a huge feathered lump with nothing but their wing tips sticking out. We have determined they do this because of a strong belief that the guy next to them knows where he’s going. This can make for some unusual flight patterns which take them all over the sky, but they do it with incredible precision.

The wind which has been kicking up here lately, blew a VW sized boulder through the window of our document storage area and scattered photos all over hell and back, and this particular one was plastered up against the ‘pick me’ wall. We pay attention to omens here at The Institute so that’s why you’re getting this information about Franklins gulls, Jack Brinn’s gulls. We’ve found it to be prudent to go with the flow and not mess with the Cosmos. If the Cosmos wants you to know about Jack Brinn’s gulls we’re not going to stand in the way. We’re not stupid. So those of you with Bird Books, turn to the gull page and use a heavy-duty marker and black out Franklin’s gull and write Jack Brinn’s gull there instead. Thanks.