Spencer, Camas NWR

On Monday I drove to Spencer, Idaho to do research for an article about the fire opals that are found there.  Instead of going on the main roads, I went cross-country and covered two scenic byways, the Fort Henry Historical Byway and the Lost Gold Trails Loop.  My first major sighting was this Belted Kingfisher that had been hit on the bridge crossing the Henrys Fork of the Snake River.

 

A little farther down the road, I flushed a Great Blue Heron hunting frogs and mice in the tall grass.

 

 

Once on the desert any water even the mud puddles attracted birds like this Sage Thrusher and sparrow.

 

This buck Pronghorn in a pasture on the green grass, but keeping a fence between him and the cattle.

 

 

 

Not far from the pronghorn was this young Red-tailed hawk hunting mice in a meadow.

 

Once in Spencer, I visited all four shops, interviewing many people.  Spencer fire opal is a precious gem and is found in layers of common opal.  This picture shows the layers of the rock.  The story about the opal, stores and mines should run in the on-line newspaper, the East Idaho News, next week.

 

One of the stores has a mini-mine where they bring rock and put it in a pile to allow would-be miners to hunt for pieces of opal.  I spent about two hours there and found a few pieces.

 

On the way home near Dubois, I found this young Burrowing owl hiding behind the sagebrush near a burrow.

 

My last stop of the day was at Camas National Wildlife Refuge where this White-tailed buck was hiding in the tall grass.  He would only lift his head high enough for me to see his eyes when I whistled at him.

 

 

 

Just another day spent in the wilds of Idaho.

Market Lake birds

Last Friday I slipped out to Market Lake for a few hours and saw 87 species of birds and got some good pictures of some of them.  Highlight were a Great Egret and several Black Terns.  I did not get good pictures of the Black terns, but at least you will be able to identify them.

On the way to Market Lake I stopped to see if the Burrowing owlets were out of the nest yet.  They were not, but the mother came over to check me out.

 

At Market Lake willets were on the edge of the ponds.

 

A cormorant was fishing in the deep water near the road.  It is funny that they often swim with most of their body under the water.

 

Western grebes have started nesting so the males and juvies are swimming around lonely.

 

Forester terns were all over the place - oops - I forgot to load a poor picture of the Black tern.

 

The Black-crowned Night-herons kept flying over the ponds and marshes.

 

The color-clashing Ruddy duck males were everywhere while their mates are probably nesting somewhere in the reeds.

 

And finally as I was leaving Market Lake a Great egret decided to say "hi" to me.  It was the first one of the season.

Just a few enjoyable hours spent in the wilds of Idaho.  Have a great week.

Raptors, migrating big game and Burrowing owls

This week was very warm with no moisture and all the migrations continue with birds and big game.
It looks like an odd pairing up with a "Harlin's" Red-tailed hawk matching up with a regular colored Red-tailed.  A Harlin's is almost black on top with light coloring showing when flying above you.

 

Its mate is a light colored, near a light-morph.  They are in the Burton area near Rexburg.

 

Here are two more Red-tails that show the different coloration of the Red-tails the migrate through the area.

 

On Tuesday last week this Bald eagle was being harassed by a pair of Kestrels near Sand Creek Ponds north of St. Anthony.

 

Also on Tuesday from St. Anthony to Sand Creek area there were 17 moose working their way across the desert.

 

Right with the moose, there were over 100 deer also migrating to the high country.  With two light winters in a row, the mule deer population is growing.  Here is one of the few bucks still wearing their head-gear.

 

A large flock of sandhill cranes joined 108 Trumpeter swans on the grain field planted and left standing for migrating birds at Sand Creek.

 

Then on Saturday I found my first Burrowing owls of the year.  There were three pair from Roberts to Hamer that had moved in since last Monday.

 

It is the wildness of Southeastern Idaho that inspires me.

Spring snow storm

Sunday morning it started snowing and snowing hard.  The flakes were so big our cat, Flurry, was chasing them, but there were so many he finally just watched them fall.  So before church, I decided to see how the birds were reacting to the heavy snow.

The bald eagles were still courting - the wet snow could not dampen their desire to pro-create.

The newly arrived female Burrowing owl looked mad about being caught in the snow while Mr. continued to clean out their chosen burrow.

A pheasant cock with his tail covered with wet snow runs from me to some cover - or maybe to visit a setting hen.

This robin in my backyard is fluffing up trying to stay warm by shaking the snow off its back while the trees are covered.

Sandhill cranes continued to look for food in the marshes - who knows some dumb rodent may scurry past and become lunch for today.

Not only a wild day in Idaho, but an answer to prayers for more moisture.  Shake off the crap of life and have a bless'ed day.

Elk and Steller's Jay

Back teaching has cut into my outdoor time and blogging, but I am having some evenings and Saturdays to get out.  Yesterday was one of those unforgettable days.  I started out by looking for snow geese and found about 1000 of them but these two antelope were feeding near the field the geese were in.

Next I headed for Camas National Wildlife Refuge to see what I could find.  On the way there I found a pair of Burrowing owls.  They might be the same couple I saw last year as they are just 100 yards from where a pair nested last year.

At Camas there were not a lot of waterfowl and I did not find the Great-horned owls, but I saw my first Steller's jay that kept me entertained for an hour.  They are very pretty and very noisy. 

On the way to Market Lake I hiked some back roads and found 19 head of bull elk; all still wearing their armor.

At Market Lake I searched for a Long-eared owl but did not find it.  The Russian Olive trees were filled with Cedar and Bohemian waxwings eating the berries.  It was a lot of fun.

Just another unforgettable day in the wilds of Idaho.

Burrowing owls - another beautiful show on earth.

Sitting in a blind for three hours in the hot sun is not fun unless you have some hot action that you are watching.  And hot action it was - seven baby Burrowing owls was intertaining for me as I watched them do all kinds of stuff.  I shot a total of 1200 photos in the three hours.

Here all seven of the owletts are outside the burrow looking for what trouble they can get into.  The one on the right has caught a beetle and is eating it.

One little guy does not like the heat of the sun and is always trying to get in the shade of a sibling.

Everytime a bird or a plane would fly over they would watch the sky intently.  Here all four that were out of the nest watches a plane fly over.

When the parents who usually sat on a nearby sage, would sound the alarm, all would head down the burrow.

Here one little guy tries out its wings, while another one watches and gives advise from the back seat.  Just like a bunch of teen-agers.

Spending just another day in the wilds of Idaho.  Entertainment at its finest.