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.

On arriving at Lake Walcott State Park found lots of birds and millions of midges. Took a spot in the sun, away from the lake, where there were not so many midges. The next day it was windy, which seem to blow away most of the bugs.

Above, a Bullock’s oriole (top) and a yellow warbler (bottom). There were lots of warblers.

There were also lots of robins. I saw one robin’s nest with newly hatched chicks inside. Magpies were flying around searching for nests to plunder.

Black-headed grosbeak at a park employee’s bird feeder.

Birds seen but not pictured: swallows and kingbirds enjoying the bugs, cedar waxwings.

On the first day at the park, I braved the midges to walk near the lake which is stocked with fish. Large fish, as shown above, could be seen from the trail. Was amazed that there were so many midges they sounded like a swarm of bees

On leaving Lake Walcott passed by some white pelicans on the Snake River with snow seen on the mountains near Pocatello, Idaho.

The magpie fledglings were all on the ground this morning, hopping around. A parent called from a nearby tree, trying to get them to fly to them. They eventually were able to fly up to low branches on a tree.

Regret that I waited till after Memorial Day to head east to Idaho. In any event, finding lots of nesting birds.

A Bullock’s oriole feeding babies in nest. Their nest is like a sack hanging from a branch.

Downy woodpecker

Yellow warbler

Have seen a few grebe here. Think they may be Clark’s grebe rather than western grebe.

Every evening a pair of nighthawks circle around with rapid, flapping movements to catch insects in the air. They move so fast, it’s hard to get a good picture of them.

Drove a little more than 100 miles from the Hart Antelope Refuge to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which I visited last fall. Just stayed one day. Did not see any large flocks of any one bird, but rather a large variety of nesting birds.

Above, two cliff swallows in their mud mansion.

Think this is an ash-throated flycatcher.

Long-billed curlew

Yellow warbler

After leaving Prado Park, traveled a little over 100 miles north to Red Rock Canyon State Park. It is on highway 14, just before it merges with 395. The no hookup campsites are up against red rock formations. There were a lot of yucca plants about to bloom.

June 5: Drove up 395 to a little north of Little Lake, about 40 miles, to Fossil Falls BLM campground. I had it to myself. . .there are only 3 campsites for rv’s. The one mile dirt and gravel road is really bad, with a lot of embedded rocks sticking out. I was lucky, it was a nice day in the 70′s or low 80′s the day I was there. The next day, when I left, it was in the 90′s, and without any trees, it would be pretty warm. There were a lot of spent wild flowers around that were probably very pretty in April/May.

The name “Fossil Falls” comes from where volcanic flow and water combined to form a cascade of rocks that rock climbers and kids enjoy climbing.

June 5: Independence, California is a nice little town just above Lone Pine. Stayed at a small Inyo County Campground about a mile west of town. They have a lot of campgrounds along #395 that are really a bargain. For people 55 and over, a 15 day stay at any combination of their campgrounds can be had for $70.

June 6: Horten Creek BLM Campground just above Bishop is incredibly beautiful, with lots of hiking, biking, and off road opportunities. This BLM camp also had very bad roads:  half asphalt and half large potholes. The white speck, left of center above, is the last rv site before the road turns around.

Above is the view looking down from Horten Creek. On the left side is #395 as it starts its steady incline up to more than 7,000 feet. On the right side of the picture is Owen’s River Gorge.

Flowers along the creek at Horten Creek.

June 7: Went on to Mono Lake. Stayed at an rv park in Lee Vining. The first time I’d had hookups since leaving Prado Park.

Above, a violet-green swallow. They nest in the tufa towers.

American avocet

One of my blurry pictures of a yellow warbler.

After leaving Mono Lake, a little north of Bridgeport, passed two large herds of sheep. Each were tended by a sheepherder and 4 dogs, 2 Australian shepherds and 2 large white dogs (their breed escapes me for now).

Beautiful wildflowers that were near where the sheep were. Later saw the same flower throughout the Northern California forests. Don’t know if it’s an invasive species or indigenous.