I’m visiting Camas National Wildlife Refuge along the I-15 in Idaho, southwest of Yellowstone Park. Eared grebes at the refuge are pictured above. Last year when I was here, there were baby eared grebes riding on the backs of a parent and baby coots. I’m earlier this year though, and winter weather is continuing longer than usual. The corridor along the I-15 between the small villages of Roberts, Hamer, and Dubois, remind me of the Bishop area along #395. It is a desert area with snow capped mountains to the east, west, and north. I plan to stay here till after Memorial Day. Hopefully by then the winter weather will be gone, along with most of the snow from the mountain passes.

Besides Camas National Wildlife Refuge, there are two wildlife management areas here that I hope to visit: Mud Lake and Market Lake.

Yellow-headed blackbird

A hawk holding on to a branch in 30-35 mph winds.

At my campsite, there are two killdeers that use the broken wing ploy every time I step outside, most likely to draw me away from where they have a nest. Would love to see some baby killdeers. They start walking around as soon as they hatch.

Driving home from the refuge on a rural road late one windy day, two sandhill cranes flew in front on my truck, making me slam on my brakes. I was the only one on the road and was driving slow, so I didn’t hit them. Have seen 3 or 4 pairs of cranes and one pair of swans.

Below, clouds passing through the area. They did not bring any rain, just snow to the mountains and cold temperatures at night.

Made a quick visit to the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. It is listed as an Arizona refuge, but it’s along the Colorado River and the border with California. I stay on the California side, below Blythe.

Saw some sandhill cranes, but most of them were out of range of the refuge tour route. The visitor center said they start to leave in March when the winds pick up. There were lots of Canada geese and other assorted waterfowl. They know they are safe on the refuge, but can be hunted when leave that sanctuary.

The American kestral above has to be one of the calmest I’ve seen. They usually are gone by the time I point my camera in their direction.

A huge ball of yellow-headed blackbirds were in a cleared corn field.

Traveled another stretch of a little over 100 miles to Southwest Idaho to visit  Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. This area, outside Boise, is made up of farmland and housing developments along the Snake River. There are many developments with roads put in and maybe one or two houses surrounded by weeds. The race to cover all the land with housing developments appears to have come to an abrupt halt.

The predominant birds in the area seem to be blackbirds and quail. Above, a male and a female yellow headed blackbird. Below, quail posing for me at the rv park I’m staying at.

Started seeing magpies in Southeast Oregon.

Osprey nest at the refuge.

Wild rose seen all over the area. They have a cinnamon-like smell.

Below, American goldfinch.

I came to Tulelake, California to visit the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge, the two refuges in the Klamath Basin that are in California. I am staying at the local fairground’s rv park because I can get a full hookup site for just $13 per day with my Passport America discount card. It is nice, facing out to farmland. This is a very small farming town with no housing developments, no Walmart, no big grocery chain, or fast-food outlet, and hardly any traffic. People in town park their rv’s in front of their houses with no problems.

As you can see above, I got my first picture of a wild bald eagle! Saw it on the auto tour of the Tulelake refuge. Think the tall posts like it is on are put out to attract raptors, as there are no wires attached to it. Seeing eagles is common in the area. They have more eagles in the Klamath Basin than any where else in the U.S., except Alaska. Nearby Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge is there to protect a major nesting area of eagles. Visitors are not allowed, but I’ve read where on winter mornings you can often see hundreds of eagles fly out to hunt for food from the highway near the refuge border.

A breeding adult eared grebe.

A western grebe, one of my favorites.

American avocet

As soon as these white pelicans saw me, they flew off to join a large group of pelicans on the lake.

A male ring-necked pheasant. The female was very quick to run off, while the male just took his time.

When I passed through Klamath Falls last year, I was bugged. The bugs are still here. On visiting the Tulelake refuge in the morning, there were bugs swarming all over near the water: midges, mosquitoes, gnats, moths, etc. They covered my truck cover. I had to brave them to get my pictures. Think the midges outnumbered the mosquitoes, as I didn’t get any bites. When I returned later in the day, there were much fewer bugs, but fewer birds too! So I’ll just be sure to dress appropriately and take along repellent.

Birds seen but not pictured (so many): night herons, blue herons, egrets, ducks (many different kinds), geese, cormorants, red winged and yellow headed blackbirds, white faced ibis, black necked stilt, killdeer, and many more I can’t recall.

Second morning trip to Tulelake refuge.

The eagle was there again, just on a different post.

There were a couple of hawks by the Visitor’s Center.

Pelicans fishing as a group.

Some midges on the back of my truck.

Burrowing owl that nests and roosts in underground burrows.

Cattle egrets and yellow-headed blackbirds on farm near refuge.

This looks like a shrike, which is listed as uncommon and declining in my bird book.