Waking up at the south end of the Lost River Range, Idaho

Cyndi and I took a vacation in July.  Our destination was a joint meeting of the Idaho and Wyoming Native Plant Societies, at a campground near the Jedediah Smith Wilderness east of Driggs, Idaho.  We made a wandering path toward the rendezvous, setting out a few days early to compensate for our erratic course.  We went through Craters of the Moon National Monument on the way, and spent the night near Deadman Canyon, at the south end of the Lost River Range, in Idaho.

When we awoke we were surrounded by the sagebrush ocean and the community of life that calls this their home.  Sage Thrashers were abundant, Horned Larks flew through, and Ravens called.  I walked away from the truck without my camera and suddenly found myself surrounded by birds that I rarely see.  By that I mean I have seen the Sagebrush Sparrow only one time in my life, and the photo I took at that time was not clear enough for anyone to see what bird it was.

I ran back to the truck, fuming, and Cyndi was delighted because she had never seen a Sagebrush Sparrow at all.  I returned with my camera, and the pictures below will show you some of the ways to identify a Sagebrush Sparrow should you ever happen upon it.  It sits on sagebrush (but more often runs on the ground under sagebrush).  It has a central dark spot on its breast and a white line over the eye (supercillium, as the ornithologists would call it).

I now have an iPhone, and it does have some fun features, like the ability to take a panoramic image of something like 180 degrees.  There are many times a view like this is the only one that can tell the story.  You can click any photo in this blog, and some of them are high resolution, though honestly I usually reduce the size (both the physical size in pixels, and the file size in bytes).  You get a blog that loads faster, and I help keep photographers employed by trying to thwart digital theft and copyright infringement.

This blog, and all images contained herein are copyrighted, with all rights reserved.