Church Conference Sunday

I slept in until 6:30 today but was still greeted by the sun as it peeked over the Tetons.  The impurities in the air colored it a brilliant orange.

I decided to go for a drive out to Market Lake, but the duck season opened yesterday and there were more hunters than birds.  West of Market Lake and the freeway, I found a newly baled hay field with 19 hawks in it.  Swainson's, kestrels, Ferruginous and the Red-tails that have started moving down out of the mountains were all killing gophers and mice.

I watched as a pair of Swainson's were trying to teach two immatures how to harvest gophers.  Here one of the adults carries a gopher out in the field to drop it.

The other adult yells at the youngster (and me) to get going.

Both parents chase after the Red-tails that were trying to get it, but eventually the immature Swainson's gets it before one of the Red-tails comes back to the post.

Then the parents try to chase the other youngster off its perch to try to get it hunting, but like a lot of stubborn children, it is easier for mom and dad to provide.

Just another wild day in Idaho.  I make it back home by 10a.m. for the Conference broadcast.



Wafterfowl returning.

Yesterday after my church meetings and before the weekly family gathering (all of our local kids and their families come to our home for Sunday dinner), I was able to visit the Burton area looking for birds.  The waterfowl have started migrating through as I saw hundreds of geese, ducks and swans.

This was rather funny for me as a European Starling flew right in the path of flock of Trumpeter swans.  No, this was not planned - I only discovered it when I got home and was looking at the pictures.

The swans were absolutely beautiful.  Here I was taking pictures of a pair of swan when they flew between me and the sun filtering through the thin clouds.

Many of the swans had reddish-orange stains on the bodies and necks.

Other interesting pictures I captured of birds include a flock of Common Mergansers.  How many do you see?

A Red-tailed hawk.

A pair of Collared doves.

A even a pair of Killdeer feeding on some mud flats.

A great way to spend a couple of hours in the wilds of Idaho.

Henrys Fork birds

Late this afternoon I ran up to the Henrys Fork between St. Anthony and the Vernon Bridge to see if I could see a few birds.  It was cloudy with some misty rain/snow falling most of the time so I did not think I would get any quality pictures.  But you never know what you will see or get a chance to photograph.  Here are a few of the highlights of the day.
A Blue Heron was available.

There were hundreds of Trumpeter swan, Canada Geese, and ducks.  Here are some swan and ducks resting on an ice flow.

I also saw 14 Bald eagles, seven of them sitting in some trees, but too far away for some good pictures.  But a few flew close enough for some shots.

Swan kept coming in to me until it was almost too dark to shot pictures.

But my favorite picture of the day was of a Red-tailed hawk that came into my preditor call and realized that I was just too large to harvest.

                                    

Just another couple of wild hours in Idaho.

Winter birds are here

Yesterday afternoon I had a few hours after church so I took a couple of them and went birding along the Henrys Fork of the Snake River.  I saw a lot of raptors like a Sharp-shinned, Light-morph and Dark-morph Red-tailed, Rough-legged Hawks and three bald eagles.  Here is a very dark Red-tailed hawk flying off its perch.

I saw hundreds of ducks, Trumpeter swans, a few killdeer and other shorebirds.  Here is a pair of Wilson's snipes trying to keep warm on a slough with a few snowflakes falling.

And then on the way home I located a flock of Cedar Waxwings eating Hawthorne berries.  They are some of my favorite birds.

Just a few minutes of wildness in Idaho.  Have a great evening.