House fight - a Battle for a Home

Yesterday the day was too hot for great fishing on Henrys Lake, so on my way home I was taking pictures of some birds.  Many of the old Bluebird nest boxes have been taken over by Tree Swallows.  But a new one had been placed on a pole and the Mountain Bluebirds had a nest of babies there.  The male was guarding the nest while the female came in with some food for the young.

One of the pair would stay perched on the house while the other went for food.

Once when both left for food, a Tree Swallow came and landed on the nest box. It appeared that its mate

tried to tell it that the box was occupied.

They actually got into a fight with them locking bills and the aggressor clawing the other with its feet.

But the swallow wanting the nest box was not convinced until it was attacked by the male bluebird.

The battle was claw and bill combat, but I was unable to stop the action or catch up to them.  But the male continued to fly sorties around the nest box.

He finally landed as the female brought in some food for the babies.

He stayed guard until the babies were fed and the female left the nest box.

This battle over a home between the bluebirds and the swallows happened three times while I watched for a half an hour.

Just another experience in the wilds of Idaho.

Outdoor Class- June 25

I took and helped teach an outdoor class on June 23-25.  On June 25, we studied wildflowers in the Big Hole Mountains and Teton Canyon.  Here are a few of the beautiful flowers we saw.  See if you can identify them.

Number 1.

Number 2:

Number 3:

Number 4:

Number 5:

And my favorite:

And to end another wild day in Idaho, we were greeted by this "four-eared" moose.

Fishing and birding in Island Park

I have posted a fishing report on http://www.billschiessfishing.blogspot.com/ for this week so far.  But on Monday after fishing I worked my way down through Island Park looking for birds.  Had a great time.

I found some beautiful Yellow Warblers and here are a couple of pictures of them.  Here it is flying out to pick off an insect.

And here one is warbling its head off.

Here is a tern, not sure which one, but I think it is a Caspian tern, looking for fish on the Henrys Fork.

As I came off the water from fishing on Henrys Lake, I was greeted by this Black-crowned Night Heron.

I also found this Mountain Bluebird on the shore of the Henrys Fork.

Catching my share of fish and then finding some great birds, what a great day to spend 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.