I woke up bright and early on Day 2 in Provo, Utah.  We stayed at a hotel that was next to the Provo River.   There was a beautiful bike trail along the river.  I headed out first thing to see if any birds were out along the river.

It was barely light which made it tough for photos.  I noticed later my pics have a lot of noise as I had to set my ISO so high.  Why didn’t I think to use a flash???  Ah well…live and learn.

There was a bush along the river that was covered in berries.  The birds were all over this bush.  They were busy eating and not minding me too much.

After breakfast we headed over to Utah Lake State Park.  I had n0ticed on eBird that a lot of bird sightings are posted here.  Sounds like my kind of place!

The lake was a beautiful place.  If I lived in Provo, I’d be there all the time!  Along the road to the lake, there was all kinds of fun stuff to see and do.  One of my favorites was a Zipline Park.  Lots of ziplines to ride.

When we got to the lake, we drove out onto one of the jetties that was alongside the marina.  The first bird I saw was this Clark’s Grebe.  He popped up briefly for a photo.

Then out along the beach area were lots of Black-Necked Stilts, White-Faced Ibis and seagulls.  Most of the birds were too far away for any decent photos.  But I had to take a few pics anyway as some of the gulls were new birds for me.  🙂

We then drove over to the marina.  This was a really nice place.  I saw several birds in this area enjoying the beautiful morning.

We headed around the marina to the jetty on the other side.  Along this jetty there was the Provo River flowing into the lake.  There was a large area with cattails that was filled with birds.  You could hear and see them, but it was almost impossible to photograph them.  I barely got a pic of the numerous Marsh Wrens.

While trying to photograph all those Marsh Wrens flying about, an Osprey flew right by us trying to catch a fish in the river.  As you can see, he missed.  We saw him fly by again looking for another target.

As we neared the end of the jetty, we saw where the river flowed out into the lake.  There were so many birds here!  Sadly most of them were very far away.  I had my 800mm lens fully extended to get any photos.

There were flocks of American White Pelicans, various seagulls and Caspian Terns.

And among these flocks there were quite a variety of shorebirds.  I have a lot of difficulty identifying these little guys.  Especially when they are in winter plumage.  So if I’ve misidentified any, please correct me!

Along the jetty was a large flock of Northern Rough-Winged Swallows.  There was a favorite tree they liked to perch on.  Lucky for me! 🙂

As were were heading back down the jetty, I saw this Snowy Egret busily feeding in the shallows.  And my first photo ever of a successful catch!

There was a nice park and trail along the Provo River.

Lots of birds here too!  By now the cloud cover had really started closing in and rain was threatening.

After a really fun and successful morning of birding, it was time to hit the road and head to Nevada.  On our way out, we passed by the Great Salt Lake.  I noticed that lots of people had stopped along the highway to write things on the white salt flats with black rocks.

We also passed a Morton Salt collection facility.

We had a 5 1/2 hour drive to Winnemucca, NV.  After passing the Great Salt Lake, the scenery was pretty dull.    When we were getting close to Winnemucca, we noticed a large fire off in the distance.  When I looked it up on the internet, it was the smoke from a fire than had consumed over 122,000 acres of grasslands.  The wind was blowing that day, so I’m sure it consumed even more acreage.  Hopefully they got it put out by n0w.

Stay tuned for Day 3!