Bugling elk

Last week I decided to work on an article about bugling elk for a couple of mornings.  I did not foresee what I was about to experience.  I knew there were about 150 head of elk on Camas NWR and they should be starting their rut.  Here are a few pictures from the experience.  The full story will be in the East Idaho News website on Saturday.

Early morning I caught the main herd moving from feeding in a hay field to the willow bottoms of Ray's Lake.

 

The herd bulls were busy chasing off other bulls trying to steal cows.

 

The herd bulls were challenged by other large strong bulls with them sparring against each other.

 

After I found a small harem, the herd bull charged the sagebrush I was hiding behind.  I stopped the charge by standing up.

 

After he settled back down I watched him with several cows and announcing his talents.

 

He allowed several yearling bulls to hang around the herd.  This one is very odd with a spike on one side and three spikes coming off the other side.

 

After the matriarch of the herd started leading them away from my hiding spot, these three yearling bulls, a yearling cow and the herd bull decided to give me a parting glance.

 

The last two to vacate the area was a calf and a rag-horned bull with a willow branch tangled in his right antler.

 

A great way to spend a couple of mornings in the Wilds of Idaho.

Owls of Camas NWR

This morning after doing my Sage grouse lek counts, I went on to Camas NWR to see what I could find.  I was well paid for my time.  I saw a few new birds for the season, but I also noticed a lot of Short-eared owls flying around, chasing off the Northern Harriers when they got too close to some marsh grass areas.

 

It kept landing on a headgate for water diversion and watched me very closely.

 

Then right by the road in the grass was a brown spot with big yellow eyes - a Short-eared owlet.

 

Not too far off I saw another one.

 

 

Then another one that was exposed to the diving harriers.

 

After an attack from the harriers, it flew about 20 yards into some thick bull rushes.

 

Across the road was another adult - I believe it was the male of the pair.

 

He eventually took off and chased the harriers away from the area.

 

On the way home I stopped to check out a Great-horned owl nest and found that the eggs had hatched and now a pair of adults have three hungry chicks to feed.

 

Just a few rewards of spending time in the wilds of Idaho and enjoying the wildness of it all.

Sage Grouse and migration day

I started early this morning looking for Sage grouse leks and about froze my tail off waiting to get enough light to take pictures of America's largest grouse.  I was parked near a ridge so the first pictures were silhouettes of the grouse in the frosty air.

 

Then as the sun came up, warming both the birds and I, the males started showing off to the ladies.  But the girls stayed only a minute or two and then flew off - a little too early for any serious relationship.

 

The boys did not stay long either, so off I went to Camas NWR to see if the water was in the ponds.  The Big Pond was about a fourth covered but most of the action was in the air.  Here a Short-eared owl was encouraging a Rough-legged hawk to go to the Artic Circle where most of the others had gone.

 

Two Northern harriers decided to play tag over the Big Pond.

 

I saw my first Sandhill cranes of the year.  There were several flocks that came in.

 

 

And the Snow and Ross's geese made their grand appearance off and on throughout the morning and early afternoon.

 

Just a slight breeze - warm sun - and many of God's creatures prepared me for meeting the taxman to settle up with Uncle Sam - and he treated me fairly good.

Oh, the Wildness of Idaho in the Great Outdoors.

Owls - Hoot of a day

The beauty of being retired is that any day of the week can be a "Saturday" where I can just spend the full day "out and about."  Yesterday was such a day and I ended up photographing four species of owls and a lot of other wild things.

None of the owls were new discoveries as I knew where they were; I just had to be lucky and they needed to cooperate.  The Saw-whet owls are using the nest boxes already and I have been watching this one for about a month.  It was peeking out of the hole as I arrived early in the morning. 

 

After visiting a pair of Great-horned owls, I checked it again and it was about half way out of the nest box and still ignoring me

 

Then I walked down to the East Windrow at Market Lake and the Long-eared owls were out of their normal hiding places.  With the sun just coming through the thin clouds, they were easy to photograph.  At best count, all seven of them were still there.

 

The sizes between them are very different.  There was also a Great-horned owl in the same windrow.

 

After spending the day playing with other wildlife like elk, deer, coyotes, jackrabbits, waterfowl and even doing a few chores, I went to Camas NWR to watch the eagles and check on the Short-eared owls.  I found nine Short-ears working the grasslands around the empty ponds.  I hid in some reeds the owls were working.  This one about landed on me.

 

I was delighted to watch them display and even watched as one harvested a rodent.

 

After the sun went down, I located this beautifully colored Great-horned owl in some old dead cottonwoods.

 

I checked several areas to see if the Burrowing owls had showed up, but I was a few weeks too early.  But it was just another early morning and late evening spent with the wild creatures of Idaho.

Short-eared owls

Thursday I hit Market Lake, Mud Lake and Camas National Wildlife Refuge and saw some interesting things.  I had planned on getting to Camas to watch the eagles come into roost for the night.  I got there a little early and found four pair of Short-eared owls flirting and courting around Big Pond.  It was a sight to behold.  The light was poor as the sun was setting, but here are some of the images I captured.
They appeared curious of me and flew around for a while.

Then they started displaying.  They would fly high and then free-fall, clapping their wings under their body, making a clapping sound.  With the eight of them doing this, I was busy trying to find the one working it way toward me.

 

Finally as the sun was almost down, this one displayed right over my head.  It was moving so fast it was hard to capture, but I was pleased.

 

I finally pulled myself away from the owls and joined six people from Idaho Falls at the eagle viewing area.  We had 26 bald eagle come to roost in the large cottonwoods for the evening.

 

Another fantastic day enjoying the wildness of Idaho.

Elk Battle

I had another fantastic day out in the wilds of Idaho yesterday.  I met another photographer out at Camas National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could get the pictures I missed on Wednesday when my photo card malfunctioned.  The White-tailed deer did not cooperate by fighting, but other things were better.

As I topped a ridge I saw a herd of bull elk sleeping on an open dried up marsh about a quarter of a mile away.  The only way I could get to them was to crawl on my belly behind a small patch of sagebrush.  Crawling I did, even bumping into some prickly-pear along the way.  But finally I made it.  Most of the 29 bulls in the herd was not large, but were very interesting to watch.  Some would stretch out as if they were dead, probably because their antlers are heavy.

 

After about a half hour, some began standing up and some even started sparring with their "light sabers."

 

Then off to the side two bulls got into it with a serious fight. 

 

The rattling of antlers filled the air as I shot pictures of the epic battle through a sagebrush.

 

After an hour of watching these beautiful animals, my phone rang - they were up and gone.  On my way back to the truck, I saw 14 whitetails.  I jumped this buck out of some sage.

 

It stopped to look back at me as it topped a ridge in a pose that said, "ain't I beautiful."

 

Walking through the tall grass near the truck, I spotted this pheasant sneaking through the weeds.

 

Just another day for a wild man enjoying the wildness of Idaho.  I will turn my phone off the next time - Monday.

Retirement

Today was my first day of retirement after 29 years of teaching high school, coaching and other great fun activities.  So I decided to spend it out in the wilds of Idaho.  So I headed for one of my favorite places: Camas National Wildlife Refuge.  There I located a lot of wild things.

Four antlerless White-tailed deer.

 

A golden eagle.

 

A buck White-tailed deer.

 

Four different Great-horned owls.

 

Also I saw four Bald eagles, pheasants, four bull elk, cottontail rabbits,  Red-winged blackbirds, horned larks and the newly arrived Rough-legged hawks.

 

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

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.