Baby - it cold out there

With the temperature a minus 18 degrees, the trees were covered with frost but the birds and animals still had to eat and stay warm, so out in the wilds of Idaho I ventured.

The Red-tailed hawks were trying to keep warm but still had to go out and hunt for food.

 

This Black-capped chickadee was picking of frozen sap from the spruce trees.

 

The Cotton-tailed rabbits fluffed out their fur but stayed close to cover to escape the hawks and owls.

 

White-tailed deer ventured out looking for some grass poking out of the deep snow.

 

This porcupine uses its front paw to pull in a branch to strip it of nutrient-rich bark.

 

And then this Black-capped chickadee next to the Henrys Fork of the Snake River was picking buds of willows to survive.

 

Venturing out in the cold wilds of Idaho can be a very interesting activity.

Spencer, Camas NWR

On Monday I drove to Spencer, Idaho to do research for an article about the fire opals that are found there.  Instead of going on the main roads, I went cross-country and covered two scenic byways, the Fort Henry Historical Byway and the Lost Gold Trails Loop.  My first major sighting was this Belted Kingfisher that had been hit on the bridge crossing the Henrys Fork of the Snake River.

 

A little farther down the road, I flushed a Great Blue Heron hunting frogs and mice in the tall grass.

 

 

Once on the desert any water even the mud puddles attracted birds like this Sage Thrusher and sparrow.

 

This buck Pronghorn in a pasture on the green grass, but keeping a fence between him and the cattle.

 

 

 

Not far from the pronghorn was this young Red-tailed hawk hunting mice in a meadow.

 

Once in Spencer, I visited all four shops, interviewing many people.  Spencer fire opal is a precious gem and is found in layers of common opal.  This picture shows the layers of the rock.  The story about the opal, stores and mines should run in the on-line newspaper, the East Idaho News, next week.

 

One of the stores has a mini-mine where they bring rock and put it in a pile to allow would-be miners to hunt for pieces of opal.  I spent about two hours there and found a few pieces.

 

On the way home near Dubois, I found this young Burrowing owl hiding behind the sagebrush near a burrow.

 

My last stop of the day was at Camas National Wildlife Refuge where this White-tailed buck was hiding in the tall grass.  He would only lift his head high enough for me to see his eyes when I whistled at him.

 

 

 

Just another day spent in the wilds of Idaho.

Raptors, migrating big game and Burrowing owls

This week was very warm with no moisture and all the migrations continue with birds and big game.
It looks like an odd pairing up with a "Harlin's" Red-tailed hawk matching up with a regular colored Red-tailed.  A Harlin's is almost black on top with light coloring showing when flying above you.

 

Its mate is a light colored, near a light-morph.  They are in the Burton area near Rexburg.

 

Here are two more Red-tails that show the different coloration of the Red-tails the migrate through the area.

 

On Tuesday last week this Bald eagle was being harassed by a pair of Kestrels near Sand Creek Ponds north of St. Anthony.

 

Also on Tuesday from St. Anthony to Sand Creek area there were 17 moose working their way across the desert.

 

Right with the moose, there were over 100 deer also migrating to the high country.  With two light winters in a row, the mule deer population is growing.  Here is one of the few bucks still wearing their head-gear.

 

A large flock of sandhill cranes joined 108 Trumpeter swans on the grain field planted and left standing for migrating birds at Sand Creek.

 

Then on Saturday I found my first Burrowing owls of the year.  There were three pair from Roberts to Hamer that had moved in since last Monday.

 

It is the wildness of Southeastern Idaho that inspires me.

Hawk attacks Eagles

Last week I decided to go birding during the holidays and found these two Bald eagles perched over a warm canal.  They were probably waiting for a fish or duck to show up.

A Harlin's phase of a Red-tailed hawk decide it did not like them there and attack them.

The bald on the outside flew off with the hawk in chase.  It chased the eagle away from the canal.

The other eagle watched closely as the chase continued.

When the hawk started back to the canal, the second eagle also left.

It was a lot of fun to watch the battle of the preditors in the wilds of Idaho.

Happy New Year to all of you

Big birding day.

This morning I left the house at 6:30 with two goals - find the snow geese and see if I can find some sage grouse.  The roads out to the sage grouse leks are still blocked but as I pulled into Camas National Wildlife Refuge three grouse were flying over the pond.
The ponds are filling with water, but the snow geese have not found it yet.  The trumpeter swan and pintails have.

Did not find any snow geese at the refuge, so I headed for Mud Lake.  This Red-tailed hawk was hunting in a field where about half of the snow was gone.

About two mile east of Mud Lake I finally found the snow geese.  There were not a lot of them, but they were a sight for sore eyes.  They were coming in on small waves.

One group had a White-fronted goose with them.  It is only the third one I seen.

At Mud Lake I found this nesting in a bunch of Russian olives. 

For my last stop I headed to Market Lake.  It was still ice covered, but west of the freeway the fields were flooded by melting snow and covered with migrating Northern Pintails, Widgeon, Mallards and Northern Shovelers.

Nine hours of birding produced 49 species of birds and seven species of animals.  A great way to spend a wild day in Idaho.