Great Saturday

Had a great Saturday chasing birds all over Southeastern Idaho.  First I went to the upper area of the Moody area looking for sharp-tail grouse.  I was able to find a lek of seven, one male and six females.

In the early morning sun, a Western Meadowlark was singing its lungs out.

At Market Lake WMA, the Great-horned owl has hatched the chicks, but hides them under her wings when we come around.

A Great Blue heron leaves as I pull up to watch him fish.

 

An American Avocet flies over and is just one of about a hundred working the shallows at Market Lake.

On the way home, I stopped by the Texas Slough and found large numbers of Willets and Greater Yellow-legs.  Here a pair of each compete for hidden food.

And finally my first Osprey of the season.  The male was helping the female remodel and spring clean their house.

A great way to spend another Wild Day in Idaho.

Great Grey owls - five of them.

Yesterday I hit the jackpot - I observed five of them.  I flushed on out of some scattered pines.

Two others soon joined it.

They were working an area with scattered pines and aspen

I was finally able to sneak up behind several pines to get about 30 feet away from this one and get this shot through the trees.

It finally flew off with the other two.

As I was coming out of the mountains, I found a pair of them hunting the CRP ground about four miles from the other owls.  The light was bad but I was able to get this shot after it harvested a rodent.

Its mate continued to fly over me as it hunted the same area.

  By the way, I spent today looking for the five and I found all five of them again.

What a great way to end another wild day in Idaho.

SkyWatch Friday - Harvest sunset.

Yesterday evening I decided to go scouting for elk.  I saw two elk, two Ruffed grouse, three wolves, a golden eagle and six moose.

Here are two dating moose.

Then they start kissing!!!!!

As I was driving out of the mountains, the sun was just setting.  The dust from the potato harvest along with the thin clouds in the sky, made for a wonderful sunset.

A great way to end a beautiful sunshine filled day in the wilds of Idaho.

Week of Birding

Starting last Saturday, I have had an awesome week of birding.  I have birded with some of the top birders of Idaho, learned a ton, saw rare birds, saw odd behaviors and recorded several lifetime birds.  Thanks has to go to Robert, Cliff, Harry, Steve, and Darren for teaching me and helping me identify birds I have never recorded before.

Rain and wind kept me off the water and fishing, so I traveled around Southeastern Idaho . I birded in Camas NWR, Mud Lake WMA, Market Lake WMA and Moody Creek area.   Here are a few pictures of some of my birds.

This Great Blue Heron had speared a catfish and couldn't flip it in the air to eat it.  Hopefully it was able to get it off for dinner.

Here is an Eared Grebe trying to entice a young lady to set up housekeeping with him.

Here is a Yellowheaded Blackbird flirting with a bunch a females showing one of his better sides.

One of my rare finds was this Lewis's Woodpecker that at first I thought was a Robin.  But what a beauty.

And of course, not week would be complete for me without an owl or two or three or four different species.  I saw Burrowing, Great Horned, Great Gray, Short-eared and Long-eared owls.  I guess that makes five species.  Here is a picture of some baby Long-eareds - yes, they can fly.

What a great week to get soaked many times in the wilds of Idaho.  By the way, I leave tomorrow morning for a week in New Orleans, so I will see you then.

SkyWatch Friday

Sunset over Moody Creek 

View other great pictures of the sky at SkyWatch Friday.

Header contest - Tree bark- Red-naped sapsucker

Here is an interesting bark picture of a live hollow aspen with a nest of Red-naped sapsuckers in the Moody Creek area.

Here is another picture of a Red-naped sapsucker at Beaver Dick Park near Rexburg.  If you look close you can see the hole made by it so the sap would pool up in the holes.

Bark does not thrill me very much unless there is something happening other than bark growing.  My new header is more than just bark growing if you look very close.

Thanks "This is My Blog - Fishing Guy."

Red-naped sapsuckers

I am always a few days behind with my blog as it takes me a few days to get my pictures downloaded

Last Thursday I decided to spend the afternoon in the mountains east of Rexburg, in the Moody Creek area, looking for huckleberries. I found a lot of green ones, but no ripe ones yet. They are about two to three weeks away from really producing.

I was leisurely driving down a mountain road when I heard the sound of baby woodpeckers in some aspen trees. I pulled over and watched until I saw an adult Red-naped sapsucker land on a tree. After it left, I positioned myself so I could watch. Both adults would bring bills full of sap, insects and even berries to the young.

Here is a picture of an adult feeding the young.


After feeding the young the adult would fly to a near-by branch and pound away on it.
Or it would wipe its bill off on the branch before flying off to gather some more goodies.
I watched this operation as both parents were kept busy as the young ones would peer out of the nest waiting its turn for food. Sometimes yelling to get the parents to hurry up did the trick.