Spring has sprung

Tuesday I went up to watch the Idaho Fish and Game tend their gill nets (another post) and spent the rest of the day enjoying the wildness of Idaho around Henrys Lake.  It was a beautiful day with the Mountain Bluebirds and the Tree swallows fighting over nest boxes around the lake.  Here is a female bluebird carrying plant material to build the nest in a nest box.

 

Here the male bluebird stands as a sentinel to protect the female as she builds the nest or is just plain lazy or full-of-himself for being so beautiful.

 

Even without a nest box, these two Tree swallow love-birds are busy getting to know each other.

 

By Timber Creek two immature and one mature Bald eagles are waiting for a good chance to pick off a spawning cutthroat trout in the stream.

 

This White-crowned sparrow got into a fight with a male bluebirds because it got too close to a nest box holding a female bluebird.

 

At the edge of the road I found what looked like a six-headed snake.  It was not a one snake but a female with five smaller male Garter snakes trying to breed her.

 

On the cut next to the road were three other males, larger than the five with the female.

 

Eventually the three joined in the mass of snakes as the wrestled in the mud.  I left before the wrestling was over.

 

Then I found two chipmunks chasing each other through the sagebrush.

 

I finished the day by climbing a mountain in search of some garnets and "fairy-cross" crystals.  I found both and got high enough to see some Bighorn sheep.

 

What a great day it was to enjoy the wilds of Idaho.