Death at Market Lake WMA

Last week I drove out to Market Lake WMA for a short time but saw this mess.  A farmer had discarded his twine from his hay that he had fed his cows and left it laying everywhere.  It was all over the ground along with other garbage.  A pair of ospreys had used the twine in building their nest and one of the chicks had become tangled in some of the twine and fell from the nest where it died.

 

So I am encouraging everyone who feeds livestock to dispose of the twine in a burn barrel and burn it so this does not happen.  It was a waste of a beautiful bird.

 

 

 

 

Sorry the pictures are sideways, but don't know how to correct them.

 

 

I also met this wonderful marsh wren as it tried to visit me inside my blind.

 

Another day in the wilds of Idaho.

Saturday full of birds

Saturday I decided to run out to Market Lake Wildlife Managment Area to try to find a few birds.  There were some fun birds like this Clark's Grebe that I watched catching some lunch.  I love the beautiful red eyes.



 

 

 

Then I watched hundreds of coots and this Mom was feeding it newly hatched chick.

 

I love Snowy Egrets and they are getting more common here in Madison and Jefferson Counties here in Idaho. I watched as it caught and picked the spines off this small catfish.

 

Just another wild day in Idaho.

Red-necked Grebes and Mountain Bluebirds

I have not posted for almost 10 months as I became frustrated with all the anon. comments and others stealing my photos.  So I have made a few changes as a lot of people have asked for me to resume.  So I will try another time.

I went fishing on Henrys Lake on Tuesday and had a good time except for the wind that was blowing  when I got there and then started again about 9 after a couple of hours fishing.  As I was coming off the water I saw a battle waging in the shallows.  It was two male Red-necked grebes competing from a female.  It was the first time I ever saw a Red-necked fly and also the first time for a battle.

 

Here is the winner of the female, showing off after chasing off his enemy.

 

 

This was the battle over the female.

 

Driving around the lake, I observed this mother Mountain Bluebird feeding her young.

Moose on the loose

Yesterday afternoon I went to Camas National Wildlife Refuge to do some birding and to check on the three bull moose bachlors that have been there for a year.  Low and behold the largest bull had found two girlfriends and was protective of the two.  The cows wandered on their own and the bull was determined that no males, including me, would mess things up for him.

 

 

As one of the cows came near me, the bull did a stalk on me.

 

 

He decided to charge, but there was deep water between us and he would stop there.

 

 

He would bellow at the cows, but they would look up at him and then continue eating.

 

 

He got a little angry at us all and took it out on some willows.  Probably just sharpening the tines for me.

 

 

He had to chase after one of the wandering cows and then looked back and me, warning me to keep my distance.

 

The other cow moved across the road from me and he decided he was tired of me being too close.  So he pawed and ground, urinated in it and I headed for the truck. 

 

 

I did not get any pictures of him chasing the truck down the road, but he chased the truck for about 20 yards before heading back to round up his two partners.

 

The last I saw of them was as they headed into the high bullrushes -  right toward the other two bull moose.  I'm afraid he will have a fight on his hands.

 

What a great time in the wilds of Idaho and I will be there looking for them again and soon.