Geese for Friday, Fish for Saturday

Had a great two days in the Great Outdoors.  With only about a week to enjoy the snow goose migration, Friday evening I went back out to Camas NWR to visit.  The snow geese were in and out with a large flock flying around.

By evening, the geese were all out in the fields feeding but a small group.  But they wer joined by a lot of both Tundra and Trumpeter swan and flocks of ducks.

Then Saturday morning I headed to Henrys Lake to check on the spawning activity (see my fishing blog).  The sun was beautiful coming up over the east and creating a golden glow with all the fog.  Here the glow colors the Henrys Fork by Ponds Lodge.

At Henrys Lake the fish filled the run entering the spawn house.  This is a promise for a great fishing season for this year.

More wild days in Idaho for a guy who loves wildness.

SkyWatch Friday - Sunset

The prevailing wind bends the grass heads from south to north.  They become almost petrified by the winter snows with only the strong ones still standing as the snow receeds in the spring.

Look out from above!!!!  Thousands of snow geese invade Camas National Wildlive Refuge bringing with them enough "fertilizer" to green up the marshes.

                                     

Just another wild day in Idaho.

View other SkyWatch Friday pictures at http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Snowgoose invasion

I just got back from Camas National Wildlife Refuge and it has been invaded by Snow and Ross's geese.  Here they are dropping onto the Big Pond.

As the sun set, they moved out to the fields to feed.

A great way to end another wild day in Idaho.

I'm Back

After a week of traveling, a severe cold, a three-day conference, I will post a few of the pictures I lucked into. 

Here are two flickers of a group of 18 fight over some rotten apples under an old apple tree.

Here is a mostly red-shafted Northern Flicker with some yellow-shafted feathers in its tail and it also had four in the left wing.

I was also able to visit the group of Long-eared owls and found three pairs of the 12 still there and setting up home by working on nests.  We will see what happens.

They were also a little more available for roosting pictures.

Just some more wild days in Idaho.

SkyWatch Friday. Teton River sunrise

This week the surises have been stunning around Rexburg.  This shot was take on Tuesday morning as I was on my way to school.

Just another beautiful start of a wild day of teaching kids in Idaho.

View other beautiful skies around the world at http://skyley.blogspot.com/

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.

SkyWatch Friday - Rexburg Temple

Wednesday morning on my way to school, the only light showing through the grey skies was right behind the Rexburg LDS Temple.  The silhouette of the temple was highlighted by the light rays streaming from the heavens.

A great view to start another wild day in Idaho.

See other SkyWatch Friday pictures as http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Rough-legged hawks harassing Great Horned owls

Last week while checking out some Great Horned owls, I located the male and finally located the female on a nest.  Yes, they start nesting in February here in Idaho.  Here is the male.

The nest is very high in a tree, and I could not get a good picture of it.  Soon two Rough-legged hawks started circling the owls.  Here is a light morphed Rough-legged.

And here is the dark morphed Rough-legged hawk.  They appeared to be a pair, but not sure.  They perched is the dead trees around the owl nest and the male owl kept a good eye on them.

Just some more wildness in Idaho.  Have a great week.