Idaho birds

Where has the time gone? I've been studying hard and taking exams, for the most part. But, to get a little fresh air and exercise Cyndi makes sure I take my eyes from the computer screen from time to time, and we go birding. I've not found the time to blog, or even edit all the photos I've taken.

I've just finished another course of study and am in my final review for my next exam. To reward myself for my determination to get through this one I'm spending a little while organizing and editing my photos.

You now get to share the joy I've had taking these. You might want to click on some of your favorites in this batch to see them really large. The feather structure can be seen in the close-ups.

This is a Chipping Sparrow.

Though we didn't enter the closed area, of course, we could still see some wildlife. It wasn't hard to find!

This Killdeer is one of those photos you might enjoy seeing larger. Look at that eye color! And, I must say, you can probably tell that the bird was not running in fear for its life. I'm learning to get along better with our avian friends. Patience and a longer lens are my secrets.

Here's a colorful Kestrel.

These are Horned Grebe.

Everybody loves Eagles, and this is a mature Golden Eagle.

The Mountain Bluebird is Idaho's state bird.

I got quite close to this Yellow-headed Blackbird, and the light was favorable as well.

Here's an American Avocet feeding.

I had to put in another, so you could see that wonderful curved bill.

Here's a Wilson's Phalarope.

And, a muskrat is gathering plant materials. Do you think it eats that stuff? Or is it making a nice home with a soft bed?

I saw this Pronghorn yesterday. Cyndi and I took the long way home from her mother's house in Gooding.

And this fox kit was seen just outside of the urban area of Boise at Foote Park by the Boise River.

Vacation in Nevada and Utah

First, an update on my progress toward a degree ... I've completed my first semester requirements ahead of schedule and am already working on next semester's studies. There will be another difficult Cisco exam, but I'm feeling confident. Wish me luck.

Cyndi and I took a week-long vacation to see her parents, and we birded our way through Idaho, Nevada, a tiny piece of Arizona, and Utah before arriving back home. Because most of my free time is now spent studying, I'm going to make just one long blog post with the highlights of our trip. (I even did a little studying while on the vacation, and will be working mandatory overtime later this month. Whew, where does all the time go?)

Here we are at the base of a Joshua Tree, enjoying the warm spring day.

The skies were mostly clear, and the further south we drove the warmer the days became.

We visited a remarkable birding hot spot called the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. That name sounds more glamorous than "sewage treatment ponds" does it not? And, it's a more fitting name as well. Where else could one get a photo of a Common Moorhen, Cinnamon Teal, and Green-winged Teal all in one shot?

And, I got my wish there when this Crissal Thrasher foraged on the ground, diving its long curve bill deep into the soil probing for insects. This was a Life Bird for me, the first one of that species I'd ever encountered.

When up in a tree, the curved bill can be seen more clearly.

The Verdin were busy building nests, but I managed to get a photo of this one before it went back to work.

And would you believe it ... a Roadrunner! Running! In broad daylight. There it goes. They don't hang around much, do they?

On the way out of Nevada, we visited Valley of Fire and this arch caught my eye.

There was a site with ancient rock art. I like the two figures at the top left, waving or gesturing with open arms.

Here is what the rocks looked like, layered and eroding sandstone.

More rock art was seen in a side canyon.

Cyndi spotted a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes on a sandstone formation.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch and these Antelope Ground Squirrels kept getting closer and closer to us, and at one point erupted in a frenzied tussle.

The scale of the landscape can be hard to convey, but if you can spot Cyndi in the middle of the picture, you'll get the idea. Go ahead and click on the image to make it larger as that may help you to find her.

On our way toward Utah we drove across a corner of Arizona, and this is the Virgin River. It had quite a flood event recently that left rocks and sand and tree limbs scattered in the bottom of the wash. We wandered around here until it was too dark to photograph and bats were flying overhead in the dark blue sky.

The next morning we drove past this big bird. The ranch was selling Ostrich eggs. I entered it as a note on my birding list, but speculated that it was likely a captive so not one to count toward my Life List.

In the trees was a wild, unconstrained, native species, the Ferruginous Hawk, our largest hawk. What a magnificent raptor! I think I've only seen them a few times before, and never this close.

The Eurasian Collared-Doves are a recently introduced species that has spread across North America very quickly. It remains to be seen if they will disrupt other populations, but they're like a Starling or House Sparrow as far as ability to barge into an area and reproduce quickly with a rapid population growth curve. These are in a Pecan tree, at a nut orchard in Hurricane, Utah where we bought some fresh pecans.

We drove through Zion National Park. I'd never visited this park. The road is at the bottom of some beautiful canyons, so one can look up the steep walls painted with desert varnish (the deposits left after water runs down the face).

I snapped this picture out the window while Cyndi was driving. There was just too much beauty to stop and see it all. We were too late to arrive at Cyndi's brother's home in time for dinner, which wasn't the most polite we could have been. *sigh* There just were not enough hours in our days to see and do everything we wanted to, and once in an area like this it was very difficult to leave.

There was snow at the higher elevations, but it was beautiful, warm and sunny in the canyon.

The different sandstone layers represent different epochs and were laid down by wind and water over geologic time.

See the road down at the bottom left, in the shadow? That's where we just were. The road progresses up and out of the canyon as it heads northeast, toward our rendez vous with Cyndi's brother in Salt Lake City. (OK, so the road is actually going somewhat away from Salt Lake City ... but we'll backtrack northwest over a high mountain pass where the snow is still five feet deep and make it there before midnight).

Here's a Spotted Towhee who visited us as we ate lunch.

And, last but not least, on the way home from Salt Lake City (after a wonderful brunch with Derek) we stopped at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah and saw hundreds of migrating Tundra Swans. An Ermine was spotted at dusk, too, but didn't pause for a photograph.

We stopped at Cyndi's mother's home and stayed the night. In the morning we went to the Carmella Winery and Three Island Crossing State Park on the Snake River in Idaho and finally arrived home quite tuckered out and happy with all the memories and photos and fresh pecans and local wine.

Thanks for the great hospitality Bob, Kathy, Derek, and Mary!

Red-tailed Hawk

I've not been very good at posting of late. I suppose it deserves a quick explanation. I've started taking classes at Western Governors University. It's never too late to learn some new tricks. The classes are challenging, and I just made it past a big hurdle, passing my Cisco Certified Network Associate exam. There will also be classes in business and management, web design, programming and much more. If I can make it all the way through I'll have (another) accredited degree in Information Technology, this one with an emphasis on Security.

So, to celebrate, I did something I've really missed while studying so hard and long ... I went birding. Yesterday Cyndi and I drove down to the Birds of Prey National Conservation Area on the Snake River. We saw Golden and Bald Eagles (including a pair at their nest), Prairie Falcons, Red-tailed Hawks, and American Kestrel. Here's the best photo of the day, a Red-tailed Hawk landing on a utility pole.

Lunar eclipse, Winter Solstice, 2010

Schoodic Mountain

On nearly the final day of our vacation we set off through the Maine woods to climb Schoodic Mountain, which rises on the mainland with a commanding view past Mount Desert Island and beyond to the open ocean. Looking north, one sees unbroken forest canopy and in the far distance Mount Katahdin, Maine's tallest peak and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

Large boulders, decaying logs and colorful leaves made this a wonderful hike.

Here a piece of bark from the White Birch tree rests among the leaf litter on the forest floor.

Beech trees were turning a golden yellow.

Amazingly, even this fungi was a bright yellow.

This log had many shelf fungi displaying concentric lines of brown and white.

There were even some of the "classic" variety of toadstool, with stem and cap.

We saw lichens, liverworts, and mosses galore. This image shows browning leaves among the Reindeer Moss (Cladonia rangiferina). It is actually a lichen, not a moss. And, yes, Reindeer do eat them (though there are not Reindeer in Maine).

These colorful fungi were peeking through the leaf litter as well. It was as if even the fungi wanted to get in on the colorful autumn celebration.

Overhead, a Hairy Woodpecker was hard at work on a decaying tree. I was initially disappointed when it took flight, but then became elated as it landed on a closer trunk with this gorgeous background of golden foliage framing it.

These Puffballs are inhabiting a rotting Birch trunk.

Cyndi often lagged behind, as I hurried toward the summit. I'd look back to see her prone on the ground, taking another photo of some unusual fungi. I'm not showing you all the different types I photographed ... and Cyndi found and documented even more than I did! The trail itself was gorgeous, and wild, and would serve well as an example of how to manage a wilderness resource. The trail was easy enough to follow, but largely untrammeled, with an outstanding opportunity for a primitive, unconfined type of recreation. I want to thank the State of Maine for preserving this area in such a pristine condition.

As a youth, I attended a meeting in which citizens had come together to try to formulate a plan to preserve this unique and beautiful area. Though we were warned of the dangers that it could be "loved to death" if its beauty was too well advertised, I'm pleased that it did not become a woodlot or gravel pit.

The natural inhabitants of the area thank you all for your support, and for keeping the wheels of progress off their backs.

And from the summit of Schoodic Mountain, here's a view over the lakes and forests of inland Maine. Looks rather flat, doesn't it, compared to the Northern Rockies? The ponderous glaciers of the last ice age rested heavily on this land, and ground inexorably south as far as what is now Manhattan Island in New York. That slow grinding polished some of the rock like mirrors, and sheared off most anything that stuck up toward the sky. This region of Maine rests on a solid batholith of pink and gray granite.