Howe, Idaho, Christmas Bird Count

Getting up with the temperature at a balmy minus 13 degrees and heading out to Howe, Idaho, with four other people to do the annual Christmas Bird Count, can be very exciting.  As we entered the small town, the temperature had dropped to a minus 22 degrees, and what did we do?  We started wading in snow up to our knees looking for owls.  They were not to be found - but we found some later in the day.

In the car I was in there were three of us; Kit, Justin and myself.  We were assigned the northern section of the count area and found a total of 43 species of birds.  Two of them I had never taken pictures of.

There were five Virginia Rail chasing each other in a warm creek.

 

A White-throated Sparrow with a lot of other sparrows at a farm.

 

Also at that farm was about 30 California quail.

 

We ran into several coveys of Gray Partridge.

 

A Merlin was in the same tree with about 20 Eurasian Collared doves.

 

Three Belted kingfishers worked the warm springs near the rails.

 

Hundreds of Horned larks worked the straw and weed patches.

 

Known for it concentration of raptors during the winter, the Howe area is the winter home of the Rough-legged hawks.  We found 41 of them there.

 

Jackrabbits were everywhere.

 

We found the Common Redpolls throughout the day in small and large flocks.

 

It was a cold, but rewarding day spent in the wilds of Idaho.

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.

Belted Kingfisher in action

Had some great days this week watching and photographing wildlife throughout Southeastern Idaho.  On Thursday I decided to target some Belted kingfishers that I had observed two days in a row, so I set up near one of their favorite perching spots.  It was an old cement pillar to hold an irrigation pipe.  I wasn't long before one showed up.

 

It finally located a food item near the edge of the water.

 

As it emerged out of the water, I noticed it had a successful dive.

 

 

It looked like a stonefly nymph as it twisted and turned it around looking for the best way to eat it.

 

 

Several times it tossed the victim in the air, catching it each time.

 

After it swallowed the crunchy water bug, it found another perch.

 

Then it finally decided to cool its feet before flying off to the Henrys Fork of the Snake River to probably look for something slimy that would slide down a little easier. 

 

Just part of another wild day in Idaho looking for more wildness.