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.