Saturday, March 19, 2011

Big birding day.

This morning I left the house at 6:30 with two goals - find the snow geese and see if I can find some sage grouse.  The roads out to the sage grouse leks are still blocked but as I pulled into Camas National Wildlife Refuge three grouse were flying over the pond.
The ponds are filling with water, but the snow geese have not found it yet.  The trumpeter swan and pintails have.


Did not find any snow geese at the refuge, so I headed for Mud Lake.  This Red-tailed hawk was hunting in a field where about half of the snow was gone.


About two mile east of Mud Lake I finally found the snow geese.  There were not a lot of them, but they were a sight for sore eyes.  They were coming in on small waves.



One group had a White-fronted goose with them.  It is only the third one I seen.

At Mud Lake I found this nesting in a bunch of Russian olives. 

For my last stop I headed to Market Lake.  It was still ice covered, but west of the freeway the fields were flooded by melting snow and covered with migrating Northern Pintails, Widgeon, Mallards and Northern Shovelers.

Nine hours of birding produced 49 species of birds and seven species of animals.  A great way to spend a wild day in Idaho.

13 comments:

Gaelyn said...

What a fantastic wildlife day. Love the hawk shot.

Carol said...

Thanks for stopping by....so glad you did....I went to your blog and what a stunning header.

I remember those icefishing days in NY. Brrrrrr

Susan Ellis said...

Gorgeous photos! and great birding day! I LOVE this time of year!!

Zyzzyz said...

A lovely set of photos.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

OHhhhh! That was an absolutely perfect day Bill. Thanks for sharing it. Wonderful (as always) bird shots.

Martha Z said...

Oh! What a fantastic day of birding, I wish I could have been there.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Glad you were able to spy some Snow Geese anyway Bill. The Red-tailed Hawk and Great Horned Owl images are super swell~

Janie said...

You saw a lot of variety. Great photos, Bill!

diane b said...

You manage to cram a lot into your busy life.The bird photos are great. What a sight the snow geese must have been.

Dustin's Fly Box said...

awesome pictures!!! Great blog! You got a new follower

wilbo43 said...

Wow, all those birds! Someone should make a movie, maybe call it 'The Birds'. I'm sure it would be a hit, he he.

Marvin said...

Sounds like you had a full day of birding. Thanks for sharing your trip and great photos.

Robin Robinson said...

Fantastic Red-tailed hawk flight shot, and of course, who doens't love Snows?????