When I first arrived in the Sandpoint area I noticed they did not have snow in the mountains to worry about. That is no longer the case. A cold front came through adding quite a bit of snow to the surrounding mountains. The rivers and lakes in Idaho, and I guess in Montana as well, are all overflowing. The governor of Montana said there will probably be another month of problems from flooding. Wish there was some way to pipe water to the southwestern states who are in a drought.

Above, the Kootenai River with a submerged bulletin board at a boat launch site. The lower picture is from a forest service campground above Bonners Ferry that I had planned to stay at. Ended up at a hookup site in Sandpoint where I didn’t have to worry about flooding or the cold temps.

On visiting the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge in Bonners Ferry, the movement of some coyote pups caught my attention. I was driving on the refuge tour route and the pups and their mom were on the other side of the Kootenai River. The 3 pups were exploring, while their mom rested in the sun.

When I returned to the refuge late the next day, after a night of rain, saw the wet female coyote in the second picture. It was walking on the same road I was on and looked like she was trying to find a place to cross the river (seen in the third picture). On looking at the coyote’s picture, I’m sure it’s the mother coyote I saw the previous day.

A bald eagle above a nest. It called out and was answered by another eagle that I didn’t see. Have had three eagle sightings, but they were either too far for a good picture, like above, or I was too slow on the draw with my camera.

A western tanager and a yellow warbler seen at the refuge.

Below, a quarter horse colt seen above Bonners Ferry. Talk about being all legs!

Visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota for a week. Teddy Roosevelt came to my attention in the Ken Burns National Park series and also the book The Big Burn. He was the first president to see the need for conservation and created the first national parks and national wildlife refuges. He came to North Dakota to heal after his first wife and his mother both died on the same day (of different causes). It was here that he saw the damage people were doing to the land and the wildlife.

Above, view of the North Unit of the park. You drive through grasslands to suddenly come over a hill and see this. This unit is less crowded than the South Unit, which can be seen and accessed from the I-94. The North Unit is below the town of Williston, North Dakota. The state is in the midst of an oil boom and it is very apparent in Williston. What was probably a quiet farming community is now overrun with Mack trucks carrying supplies and equipment. You either get sprayed with dust and dirt or water (depending on the weather) every time one passes you on the two-lane road to the park.

When I first drove into the North Unit campground, buffalo were walking through it. It was warm and humid, and I later saw them on a sandbar on the Little Missouri River.

I have avoided going to North and South Dakota because of their weather. My visit confirmed my fears. The first night I was there a ranger came by and said there was a severe thunderstorm warning with possible tornadoes. A woman died in a tornado in northeast Montana, but I just saw a severe thunderstorm. The following day it was freezing with some rain, but warm, humid weather returned the next day.

A thrasher, spotted towhee, and northern flicker after the rain. The flicker was taking a bath in some water in a small pothole.

The first red-headed woodpecker that I’ve seen.

The South Unit of the park has a lot of black tailed prairie dogs. I was surprised to read in the park newsletter that it is a misconception that they destroy the landscape. “Without the prairie dogs, the prairie would change dramatically”. They aerate and fertilize the land and keep plants under control; they are a source of food for a number of carnivores; and their burrows provide protection for a number of creatures. Prairie dogs were in the west before it was settled (before us in other words). Lewis and Clark took a pair back to Washington. Guess I’m going to have to rethink my attitude towards ground squirrels and gophers.

When I moved on to the South Unit campground I had internet access and was able to see all the severe weather alerts for thunderstorms, wind, and damaging hail. Fortunately I was spared the damaging hail. Each night there were severe storms though.

There are wild horses in the South Unit. The ones above were enjoying the sun after a rainy night. The white one kept bobbing his head up and down. I’ve tried to see wild horses elsewhere, but these are the first I’ve encountered. I’m sure the park knows how much tourists love seeing them.

The day I took the above picture, the sky was cloudless most of the day and there were no weather alerts that morning. At 6 or 7 pm clouds could be seen on the horizon. At around 10:30 pm lightening started, along with buckets of rain. Looked at the weather web site and at 10:30 pm a severe weather alert had been posted. The weather people must have a hard time, trying to protect people and at the same time not scare away tourists.

Visited the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge near Malta. The prairie areas on their 15-mile auto tour route are beautiful this time of year, a mix of grasses, wildflowers, and cactus on the verge of blooming. Above, female pronghorn elk with two young ones born in May. On driving through northeast Montana, have occasionally seen pronghorns. No large groups, just one or two on prairie or farmland.

A young marbled godwit. They initially don’t know what to do when they are on a road and a car approaches. They either don’t move and cry for help, or just walk slowly ahead of the car. They learn fast though.

Breeding American avocet

A young killdeer

Yellow warbler

Ring-necked pheasant

On the road near the refuge, saw these beautiful horses standing still as stone. Realized they were sleeping. Have never seen a group sleeping before. Must have had a hard day.

Went back to Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel for a few days. The cranes and geese have finally arrived in force at Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area that is right across from the park.

Cranes usually will not go into a corn field because of the threat of predators. Corn stalks are pulled down for them, sections at a time. This year at Bernardo, however, the cranes were going into one field in a mass assault. This is disappointing for photographers in that you can’t see the action. The cranes are most active and photogenic when they are eating. When standing around just outside the corn stalks they are resting and not very active.

Geese joined the cranes in the morning, but not in the afternoon.

I went into one corn field out of curiosity. The ground is bone dry and the stalks break like dry twigs. When I walked out of the field, some cranes across the road were watching me. After I drove down the road they walked over to check out where I had been. This was a small group waiting for the stalks to be pulled down.

Mule deer grazing with the cranes in the late afternoon.

Have become very fond of the horses and donkeys at the rv park. The horse on the right is the alpha horse of that corral. I was visiting with the donkey next to him and he came over and bit the donkey on the neck to make him run away. The donkey’s have their own weapon. When I walked fast along the fence, the donkey started to run in my direction while kicking his back legs to keep the horse away. There are 3 or 4 other horses and donkeys in that corral who always stay in the background and don’t want to mess with the alpha horse. The little male donkey, however, takes his place right  along side of him.

Wanting some treats.

I have returned to the Socorro, New Mexico area to see the sandhill cranes. A little dismayed that I arrived a little early. The Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area that I visit prior to moving on to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge has some cranes, but nothing like I saw last year. They flood some fields with water around November 15th and that brings in a lot of cranes and geese. I am moving on to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in a few days. I’ll have one week, then the Festival of the Cranes starts with the attendant crowds. So being early getting to the area has complicated things. Oh well.

When I left Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona, had planned on stopping at Homolovi Ruins State Park near Winslow, Arizona. Found that they have closed the camping area there and just have it as a day use park certain days of the week. At my next planned stop, Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico, found it closed for the season. While many rest areas in Arizona have been closed due to budget cuts, the ones in New Mexico are open. Ended up staying one night at the New Mexico Visitor Center in Gallup.

Have stayed close to a week at the Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel that I have stayed at in the past. They rescue horses, donkeys and other animals. Last year when I fed carrots and apples to some of the donkeys, the brown horse in the top picture bit me on the shoulder. The two horses looked so robust and healthy I hadn’t given them any of the treats. Didn’t make that mistake this time. Both horses followed me around the corral wanting more.

The “largest donkey in the world” is still there and doing well (second picture).

A Eurasian collared-dove on a fountain at the rv park.

A coyote watching for movement in some brush at Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area. There are sandhill cranes in the background at the top of the picture.

Noted a number of changes in Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge from my visit in June. Snow was gone from the mountain tops, the lake/marsh seemed to have more water, most of the wildflowers were gone, and the marsh had a copper color. There are a lot more sandhill cranes visible, often with juvenile cranes. Most nesting birds have moved on. Did not see any Franklin gulls. They are most likely on their way to South America.

Stayed at Blackfoot Reservoir Campground this time. It is a beautiful BLM campground about halfway between the refuge and Soda Springs. The first night discovered there were lots of flying bugs there. The same “midgies” that I saw in Klamath Falls in August of 2007 that were brought from France because they eat mosquito larva. To their credit, there were not many mosquitos! Also, there were a huge number of swallows nearby that seemed to appreciate having the bugs to eat.

Saw lots of hawks and fledgling hawks in the farmland around the refuge.

First sighting and pictures I’ve gotten of trumpeter swans. Thought they were pelicans from a distance.

There is a very large colony of breeding Franklin’s gulls. I’m not seeing as many blackbirds as I have been. Wonder if the gulls are taking over spots that would otherwise have had  blackbirds.

Western tanager. First one I’ve sighted and gotten pictures of.

Common snipe. First one I’ve seen and gotten pictures of.

American kestral. Have seen quite a few, but they are quick to fly off when you approach.

Tree swallow. There are bird houses for them on a lot of fence posts.

Think this is a Swainson’s hawk. There are lots of red-tailed and Swainson’s hawks here. Hard to tell them apart.

Came upon some horses walking down the middle of the refuge road. A rancher in a pickup soon drove past me, turned the horses around, and herded them back by me into a corral. There were only 4 horses in his pasture the next day. The others were probably sold.

The day after the horse event, further down the road, I slowly passed a few cows in the road. In looking in my rearview mirror, saw lots of cows joining the few that had been in the road and they were following me! I had to speed up to get them to stop.

Talk about butting heads! These two were affectionately pushing against east other to see who was the strongest.

Red, yellow, and blue wildflowers in foreground. The beige near the top are bulrushes in Grays Lake marsh. This was the one and only cloudless sky I had (for part of the day).