Walking on a path near the visitor center at Camas National Wildlife Refuge saw two very large nests on the ground. As I looked closer, saw there was a young great horned owl in one of them. It didn’t seem to pay any attention to me, but on walking back by, saw that it had flown to a nearby tree. Online it says they fledge from the nest while still downy around the head and without noticeable ear tufts. Surprised they nest on the ground. There have to be coyotes in the area.

Lewis’s woodpecker. Don’t believe I’ve seen one before.

Ruddy duck

Juvenile northern harrier. Saw it harassing a lone Canada goose on the dirt road.

Came across two barn swallows nesting in an unused mailbox. It is in a hunting area on the refuge, so it’s probably used during hunting season.

Birds seen but not pictured: western tanager, a flock of cedar waxwings, juvenile meadowlarks, yellow warbler, marsh wrens.

Stayed at Bruneau Dunes State Park for a few days.

Part of the C.J. Strike Wildlife Management Area is just a mile down the road from the park. While walking down a path towards the Snake River and duck ponds, I heard a bird I could not identify or see. Finally, I looked above me to see a northern harrier who seemed upset by my presence. It started to dive bomb me. Most of my pictures did not turn out, because it was flying so fast the camera didn’t have time to focus (while I was simultaneously ducking). Luckily I got a few. Harriers often nest on the ground, so I assume it was protecting a nest. I retreated so as not to disturb it any more.

A bird so often heard, but not often seen, a meadowlark.

Below, lark sparrows near the campground.

Heading into my third week in Socorro, New Mexico. Had a cold spell this past week with it getting into the 20′s at night. Had to get out the long underwear. It’s warming back up now, in time for the Festival of the Cranes at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. A lot of work has gone into spiffing up the refuge. For one, they watered down the dirt auto tour route, so you can ride a bike on it without getting covered in dust from passing cars.

Sandhill crane with a mouse. He didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Another crane eventually took it from him.

Northern harrier

Poor owl was trying to sleep, but was surrounded by people taking its’ picture.

Mallard ducks taking flight.

Socorro, New Mexico is a nice small town between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. The reason I come here, however, is to see the sandhill cranes that winter here.

There are also thousands of geese.

Need to have a heads-up when thousands of geese fly over you.

Below, a northern harrier.

Traveled 100 miles from Tulelake to the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. I had driven over a 50 mile gravel road to see the east side of the refuge last fall. This time I entered on the west side. You drive up a 6% grade gravel road to get to the top of Hart Mountain and the park headquarters.

I camped at the CCC Campground at the base of Hart Mountain. While I could have towed my rv up the mountain, I didn’t want to. The Hot Springs Campground that is up there, while beautiful, is more suited to truck campers or small rv’s. The CCC Campground can handle about any size rv. There is no water or hookups and generators are not allowed. You also need to pack out your trash.

The refuge initially allowed cattle to graze on it, but after seeing all the damage they did, they were gradually removed. There is an interesting article on GORP about this.

I’m glad they have not paved the gravel road through the refuge. If it were paved, it would provide a shortcut to the town of Burns, Oregon and would get a lot more traffic which could not help but impact the habitat.

My rv against the base of Hart Mountain at the CCC Campground. I had it all to myself and really enjoyed it. Meadowlarks were singing all around me, hidden in the grass. When I returned from one trip up the mountain, a pronghorn was sniffing around my trailer. He ran when he saw me coming.

Hot Springs Campground. You can’t see the campground, it blends in so well. The hot springs is by the clump of trees on the bottom right. The campground is really beautiful, with wildflowers and a stream running through it. A single elk was also rambling around. The only negative, mosquitoes.

The hot springs at the campground. It is free to use, as is the campground.

There were a lot of these caterpillar filled sacks. Lots of butterflies will soon be in the area.

Barn swallow near the hot springs

Going back down Hart Mountain you get a great view of the Warner Valley Wetlands, an area of critical environmental concern (ACEC). This is a dry year, so you see mudflats circled with grass in the lakes. The sandy areas are interconnected dry ponds.

A northern harrier over the wetland area.

Below, a tree swallow nesting in a birdhouse in the wetlands area.

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge is the only refuge I have come across that has campsites where you can boondock (free) for up to 14 days. I stayed there for 4 days and was the only camper I was aware of. It was very quiet. Hunting season just ended, so maybe hunters scared all the wildlife away. The weather was perfect. It was in the 70′s during the day, did not have to use my fans, and at night it was in the 50′s, so the furnace was not needed.

The area is a semi-desert grassland with lots of mesquite trees. The refuge is trying to restore it to the way it was before cattle grazed here. They want to encourage masked bobwhite quail and pronghorns to return.

Airforce jets practice over the area. One day I had my back to the window, something made me turn and look out. Saw a Airforce jet coming right at me, I could see the pilot! By the time I ran to the door, it had done a 90 degree roll and was gone. It happened so fast. There were a lot of jets in the area the next day. Maybe the jet that flew over me was just checking out the area because of this.

This area is called “cocaine alley” because of all the drug smugglers that enter the United States through here. That may be why there is a helicopter landing pad on the refuge and a strong presence of border patrol. Also, I got the best internet connection I’ve had for a long time. A communications tower was nearby, out in the middle of nowhere.

Mule deer in a no hunting area of the refuge.

Saw what I think is a western harrier at Arivaca Cienega on the refuge.

Getting here

After leaving the Benson, Sierra Vista area, stopped at Patagonia State Park. There were a lot of pipevine swallowtails there (above). The park was crowded. You have to get there early in the day to get an electric spot. A lot of people were on a hunt to see an elegant trogon. Unfortunately, I never saw one.

Black phoebe.

While Big Bend and the Buenos Aires Refuge are trying to repair damage caused by cattle grazing, Patagonia State Park allows ranchers to graze cattle at the east end of the lake, near some marsh and the Sonoita Creek (prime birding area). People swim and catch fish in a lake that cattle go into. Along with going into the lake, the cattle eat and trample tree saplings. You would also not want to walk along the trail at night, with cow droppings all over the place.

Sleeping bull, with muddy feet.

Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve is a unique reserve created in the 70′s to protect the rural landscape of this area in the middle of Whidbey Island. Most of the land is privately owned, but the government purchased the development rights from the owners. This is to keep the landscape very much like it was in the 1800′s. Approval is needed for any new construction. You just have to look to Oak Harbor, the next significant town north of the reserve, to see what Ebey’s Landing could have become without the reserve.

This area of Whidbey Island seems to be the most tourist friendly. There is a a driving and bicycling tour route that takes you through the reserve area. There is not a dedicated bike path, but there is not a lot of traffic, so it is pretty safe to ride on the roads.

The second picture above is Ebey’s Landing, where settler’s came ashore and first settled.

The top photo is of a 3.5 mile trail that goes up from Ebey’s Landing to a bluff above Perego’s Lake, then down to the beach and back to the starting point. I had to lean to the right, the trail is so narrow and the bluff so steep.

A northern harrier seen from the trail.

View across the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards the Port Townsend area. The mountains always have a blue haze in this area of Washington.

The farmland directly inland from Ebey’s Landing. There has never been trees in this prairie area, so no trees needed to be cleared to farm.

There are three campgrounds in the reserve. Fort Ebey was built in World War II as a coastal defense fort. It has a reservation campground. Fort Casey was built at the turn of the century to guard Puget Sound. It is next to the Keystone ferry landing for the ferry coming from Port Townsend. It is a first come, first served campground (yea!). Rhododendron County Park Campground is a small, no hookup campground under a grove of tall trees.

The Ebey family donated land on the bluff for a cemetary. Both early settlers and recent residents are buried there. The grave site with the heron caught my attention.

Of course, Deception Pass is the main draw on Whidbey Island. It is so crowded now, I’m going to visit it in the fall.

One cormorant and lots of turtles.

Lots of cormorants and one turtle.

Think this is a northern harrier. There are two of them that fly over the marsh area.

Western grebe, the one on top with a fish. They can dive and stay under a long time, just like the cormorants. They go under water and you don’t know where they will surface. Their black and white markings give the illusion of their having a triangular shaped head.

The cyclic clearing, burning, and flooding of fields.