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!

Midway Geyser Basin

Found one place that was not super crowded, Fairy Falls trail. Rode my bike on the gravel trail, but really needed a dirt bike. Great bird watching area: bluebirds, northern flickers, and a western tanager (seen above).

Juvenile bald eagle seen next to the Madison River by my campground. Two adult eagles were in a tree just out of camera range.

A lone bison bull was walking along the road two days in a row. They aren’t stupid. It’s a lot easier traveling on the road than through the woods.

Two days in a row, on leaving the park around 8:30 pm, found myself in a huge traffic jam. Just turned the motor off several times. Subsequently found it was two elk bulls with massive antlers in the Madison River that were causing people to stop for pictures.

Still in the Camas National Wildlife Refuge area. Seeing all the rv traffic on the nearby I-15 over the holiday weekend, was relieved not to be in it. Saw quite a few people towing trailers and a cart with atv’s. It must be legal to do this in Idaho.

Above, a western tanager in a flowering tree.

Above, another northern harrier came after me after I stopped my truck on the road not far from where it was nesting (top picture). The truck gave me protection this time, but I didn’t stay long.

An adult and juvenile harrier flying and playing in the wind (bottom picture).

Swan (trumpeter?)

While I haven’t seen a lot of sandhill cranes, did pass one pair that had two young ones. So some are nesting here.

Young barn swallow

This looks like a Swainson’s hawk. It was on farmland near the refuge eating a mouse. Have seen a lot of these hawks in the area.

The weather has been ever changing, with winds blowing a continuous stream of clouds through. For the most part it has been partly cloudy with clouds shrouding the mountains. Snow is down to 7,000 feet. The valley is a little over 4,000 feet. Had one day with mostly rain. Made use of it by installing new hard drives in my computer, along with the mac’s Snow Leopard operating system.

Visited the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area near Boise, Idaho. In the picture above it was sunny where I was, but there was snow and rain in half the sky, towards the mountains.

A Say’s phoebe (top) and a Brewer’s sparrow (bottom) near Dedication Point.

On the plateau above the Snake River there are “extraordinary numbers” of Townsend’s ground squirrels because of the unique soil and abundant food. Above you see a homeowner’s nightmare: all the light colored areas are squirrel burrows. There are miles and miles and miles of them. These are the small squirrels that run into the road in front of your car and then stop and maybe turn around.

The largest concentration of nesting prairie falcons in North America occurs in the NCA and feeds mainly on ground squirrels. When summer’s heat drives the ground squirrels into their burrows for summer hibernation, most prairie falcons leave the NCA in search of other prey. (Text from a sign at Dedication Point.)

I heard gunfire while I was at Dedication Point. On looking at the NCA’s web site found that target practice using squirrels is ok in certain areas. Urban sprawl from the Boise suburbs is inching very close to the NCA. Wonder if that will change the policy of allowing gun use.

Western kingbird seen along farmland on the way to the NCA.

Young male and female California quails near where I stayed along the Snake River. There are a lot of them in the area.

Below, a Western tanager. Not a great picture, but I see so few of them, wanted to post it.

Birds seen but not pictured: juvenile northern harriers, red-tailed hawks, swallows, kestrals, tundra swans, an osprey with a fish in it’s talons.

Have been in Heyburn State Park in Idaho for close to a week. Had a hard time finding an rv spot. They are doing a lot of construction work here and visitor’s are kind of on their own. After about an hour, I did find a nice spot. It has been warm, but being surrounded by trees cools things off. Have not had to use my air conditioner.

One thing the park has going for it is the 73-mile Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes paved trail that passes through it. Above you see the path crossing Chalcolet Lake. There are three osprey nesting near this crossing. The one in the top picture is right over the path. It was not happy with my walking under it’s nest.

An osprey doing some redecorating with a long branch.

Cedar waxwing with a berry it subsequently swallows whole.

Western tanager with fledgling.

Pretty dragonfly and a beaver in a marsh area.

Parent, on right, the same osprey as in the top picture, with a soon-to-be fledgling on the left.

Below, campsite at Heyburn.

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).