sandhill crane « westernviews.us

Archive for the ‘sandhill crane’ Category

Camas National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

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.

Posted in Airstream, Dubois, Hamer, Roberts, black bird, grebe, sandhill crane, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Into the corn

Friday, November 27th, 2009

cranes_geese_corn

cranes_and_corn

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_cranes

Mule deer grazing with the cranes in the late afternoon.

2horese_and_donkey

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.

2horses

Wanting some treats.

junco_socorro

sparrow3

flying_crane

Posted in Bernardo, deer, donkey, horse, sandhill crane, snow geese | No Comments »

More cranes, ducks, and other birds

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

crane_take_off

Have been in the Socorro area for three weeks now. Had planned to stay in the area a few more days to avoid some of the Thanksgiving crowds, but it has gotten cold here again. Weather Underground is saying it could get down to 19 degrees tomorrow night, while weather.com has it 10 degrees warmer. Who to believe? I’ve had a single propane tank filled three times since I’ve been here. That’s more than I’ve done in the last six months! Went out and got a ceramic heater today. The furnace needs to be kept on to keep the pipes from freezing, but the portable heater can be useful to quickly heat an area. The downside is the ceramic heater draws a lot of power.

sleeping_crane

Have seen a number of sandhill cranes sitting down this visit (to the right of the standing one). Maybe the ground provides some warmth and/or they are really tired after a long flight.

ball_of_black_birds

A “ball” of black birds above cranes eating in a corn field.

geese_and_mallards

Mallards surrounded by geese.

lesser_scaup

northern_pintail

Lesser scaup (top) and Northern pintail (bottom).

2gambels_quail

A male (upper) and female (lower) Gambel’s quail.

kestral_socorro

Kestral

solar_hawk

sunset_cranes

Posted in American kestrel, Northern pintail, Socorro, hawk, quail, sandhill crane, scaup, snow geese, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

two_sandhill_cranes2

3_sandhill_cranes

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_mouse

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_2

Northern harrier

owl_nm

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

duck_takeoff

Mallard ducks taking flight.

flying_geese_nm

crane_flying

Posted in Northern harrier, Socorro, geese, mallard, owl, sandhill crane, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Cranes coming in to roost

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

sandhill_crane_landing

At Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge people gather at locations where they can see sandhill cranes and/or geese either come in for the night or fly out in the morning to find food.

sandhill_cranes_landing

sandhill_cranes_water

The first thing the cranes do on landing is to get a drink of water (they hold their heads up to swallow). Water is scarce, that’s why the refuge is important. They then walk or fly to where they want to roost. Some take a short nap before doing anything else (it’s been a long day).

sandhill_cranes_sunset

Posted in Socorro, sandhill crane, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Cranes, Sandhill

Friday, November 13th, 2009

sandhill_cranes_socorro2

sandhill_cranes_socorro3

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.

sandhill_cranes_grass

sandhill_cranes_socorro4

geese_socorro

There are also thousands of geese.

geese_droppings

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

Below, a northern harrier.

northern_harrier_socorro

Posted in Northern harrier, Socorro, geese, sandhill crane | No Comments »

Socorro, New Mexico

Monday, November 9th, 2009

two_horses

large_donkey

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).

eurasian_collared-dove

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

coyote_and_cranes

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.

hawk_bernardo

Posted in Bernardo, Socorro, coyote, donkey, hawk, horse, sandhill crane | 2 Comments »

Cosumnes River Preserve

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

sandhill_crane_lodi

Made a brief stop in Lodi, California, at the Cosumnes River Preserve. The area is supposed to have an influx of sandhill cranes in the fall. The town of Lodi holds a sandhill crane festival in November. Saw small groups of cranes, as well as waterfowl. If there were affordable rv parks in the area, I might have stayed a few days.

Would also love to visit the Point Reyes National Seashore and other birding spots in the San Francisco area. Here, again, it is hard to find affordable places to stay.

On my way down the #101, about half way between Crescent City and San Francisco, found that gas prices started to be more in line with what I had seen in Oregon. That was a nice surprise.

3ducks

heron_lodi

great_egret_lodi

Posted in Lodi, egret, heron, sandhill crane | No Comments »

Revisiting Grays Lake Wildlife Refuge

Monday, August 24th, 2009

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.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, National, Soda Springs, hawk, horse, sandhill crane, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge is in a high mountain valley (6400 feet) in southeast Idaho. It is a large, shallow marsh, rather than a lake. Water that should go to it is diverted to farms. This is where sandhill cranes and many other migrating birds pass through or stay in the spring migration. In the fall, it is a staging area for birds migrating south.

The weather has been more significant here, with clouds and intermittent rain. My mud shoes have been put back into use. There has been a 4 or 5 hour window of sunshine every day that has allowed me to go to the refuge. Visitors are not allowed into it’s interior, but can circle the periphery on a dirt road. One article I read said the refuge is a great bird habitat, but not so great birding spot because of this. I have had great luck though. As the summer goes on, however, the grass will get taller and birds will be harder to see.

The sandhill cranes above were seen on ranchland adjacent to the refuge. The second picture shows courting behavior. In the bottom picture there is a crane fledgling between the two adults.

I can hear and sometimes see cranes in the refuge, but you really need at least a 600 mm lens to get pictures of them.