Archive for the ‘Bureau of Land Management’ Category

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Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Have been enjoying traveling in Montana. The scenery along the I-15 from Idaho was incredible. Went through Helena and then the Great Falls area, where I visited the Benton Lake Wildlife Refuge. With fresh supplies and a full water tank in my trailer, headed on to Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Montana. The refuge helps protect the area around the Missouri River so the landscape is much like what Lewis & Clark saw (sans the buffalo, Indians, etc). It’s isolation reminds me of the Big Bend area in Texas. No internet access here. Miles and miles of rolling prairie.

Stayed at James Kipp Recreation Area run by the BLM. It is just off US Highway 191, where it crosses the Missouri River. The no-hookup campsites are in a large grove of old cottonwoods that were full of birds. A 20 mile auto tour route through the west end of the refuge starts on the other side of the Missouri. The dirt road is seen on the right side of the picture above.

Cliff swallows and an eastern  kingbird seen along the tour route. The bird in the bottom picture was seen in the campground. Finally identified it as a yellow-breasted chat. Also saw some cedar waxwings.

View of the Little Rocky Mountains in the distance, as seen from the tour route. They are an “island mountain range” that allow wildlife uncommon in eastern Montana to live. After leaving the James Kipp Campground, headed to the tiny village of Zortman to stay at Camp Creek Campground, also run by the BLM. It is filled with aspen and pine trees along a stream. Again, the trees were filled with birds. Just beautiful. Saw a wild turkey as I was leaving.

A catbird and a  flycatcher.

A beautiful church in Zortman.

Meadolarks are the state bird of Montana.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, Lewistown, Zortman, flycatcher, kingbird, meadowlark, wildlife refuge, yellow-breasted chat | No Comments »

Snake River Birds of Prey NCA

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

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.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, Marsing, kingbird, quail, squirrel, tanager | No Comments »

Carrizo Plain National Monument

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Have wanted to visit Carrizo Plain National Monument for a long time. One hundred miles north of Los Angeles, it encompasses an area 50 miles  north to south, bordered by the Temblor Mountains on the northeast and the Caliente Mountains on the southwest. It is managed jointly by the Bureau of Land Management, California Fish & Game, and The Nature Conservancy. The San Andreas Fault travels through it and the area is supposed to be one of the best places to study it.

Top picture, flowers seen driving over the Temblor Mountains to get to the Carrizo Plain.

Second Picture, dirt road looking back at the Temblor Range.

You don’t just happen upon the monument, you have to plan your visit. You are warned not to use a GPS. There is currently only one reliable road, Soda Lake Road. Eighteen miles of the road is paved, the remainder is dirt. The dirt road ranges from very good to areas of mild to moderate washboarding.

I stayed one night at their KLC Campground. A lot of people brought their horses and donkeys to ride. As usual, I managed to visit on a holiday weekend. It was not crowded, but I’m sure there were a lot more people than usual. Many were here to see the wildflowers in bloom.

You could hear meadowlarks all over. Saw one pronghorn elk, which are being reintroduced into the area.

The west entrance to the park (where I exited). The road on the left is Soda Lake Road. In the middle of the picture is Elkhorn Grade Road. The San Andreas Fault runs right next to Soda Lake Road here. The fault is supposed to be clearly visible near Wallace Creek, which I didn’t visit. Now that I know my way here, plan to return, hopefully in a less rainy year and not on a holiday weekend.

The way here: A blog I follow happened to mention a way to bypass a lot of Los Angeles Freeway traffic by taking the I-15 to the Cajon Pass, getting off on California 138 west to connect to the I-5 near Gorman. As it was the Friday before Easter, this was a good choice. As a bonus, it passed the poppy reserve in the Antelope Valley (picture below).

Posted in Airstream, Bureau of Land Management, Taft, meadowlark | No Comments »

Joshua Tree National Park

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Stayed at Black Rock Campground in Yucca Valley for a few days. Not sure when the next time I will be in the area during the prime winter, early spring time frame, so wanted to take advantage of it. This campground has great Verizon evdo coverage. Not sure when I’ve had a faster internet connection.

Ten miles south of the campground is Big Morongo Canyon Preserve. It is on an earthquake fault where a spring comes to the surface for a short distance. It is just beautiful and worth a visit. Their land borders on Joshua Tree National Park and is managed by the BLM. They have a goal of making a large corridor for wildlife, so they are not boxed into a small area surrounded by developed areas.

Talk about developed areas, houses have been built right up to Black Rock Campground. So glad Joshua Tree National Park has their land. Otherwise, you know houses would have been built all the way through the park and up to the hilltops.

An antelope ground squirrel.  Have wanted to get a picture of one of these small squirrels for a long time. This guy had a burrow under a yucca plant next to my campsite.

Black tailed jackrabbit.

Cactus wren

Male and female Gambel’s quail

Scrub jay. Also saw a large flock of pinyon jays. They are the only jay that travels in a flock. Didn’t get a picture. Drats!!

A titmouse, either a juniper or oak titmouse, not sure which.

Noticed that it became very quiet after around 3:00 pm most days. That must be predator time. A coyote walked through my camp one day during this time.

Stayed at Salt Creek Campground on the Salton Sea prior to coming to Joshua Tree National Park. Not many pelicans there yet. There is a 10-15 degree temperature difference between the Salton Sea area and Black Rock Campground at 4,000 feet elevation.

Posted in Airstream, Bureau of Land Management, National, Salton Sea, Yucca Valley, cactus wren, jay, rabbit, sunset, titmouse | Comments Off

Malheur Refuge & Steens Mountain

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

great_horned_owl

Have been at the BLM Page Springs Campground at the base of Steens Mountain in Oregon for about a week now. It is right next to the southern edge of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Have spent most of my time visiting the refuge, but have also driven Steens Mountain Loop. Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area was created rather recently, in the year 2000. The BLM is also doing a study on how to deal with the development of western juniper forests that have developed because of fire suppression. They have cut down a lot of juniper trees and will burn them after it snows.

Picture above: Surprised a great horned owl while driving through the refuge late in the afternoon. There is also an owl that perches near the visitor center. Wondered if they bribe it with mice to get it to stay there for visitors to see.

coyote_1

Have had four coyote sightings. They really look healthy.

merganser

Common merganser.

california_quail_male

young_quail

Top: male California quail. Below: a young quail.

Have surprised quail with a lot of young ones several times. Each time the male flew up to a bush to supervise while the female corralled the young ones into the brush.

Birds seen but not pictured: Three trumpeter swans, large flock of white pelicans, lots of great egrets, magpies, ring-necked pheasants, vultures roosting on an old fire lookout tower and a few sandhill cranes.

rattlesnake

A rattlesnake decided to sleep in the middle of the road by the campsite next to mine. Bad choice. The camp host came over with a shovel and decapitated it. Talk about nerves of steel!

sheep

There is a long history of Basque sheepherding on Steens Mountain. When I was driving past the ones above, they started to cross the road in front of me. A sheepherder and his dogs quickly came into play and returned them to the area they were supposed to be in.

Kiger_Gorge

There are four u-shaped gorges on Steens Mountain. Above is Kiger Gorge with a little patch of snow.

Getting here

Stopped at Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho on the way here. They water the lawn by the campsites one hour a day, 5 days a week. This, along with the naturally occurring water, makes it very buggy.

sunflowers

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, Burns, Rupert, State, merganser, owl, quail, sheep, wildlife refuge | 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 »

More from Southeast Idaho

Monday, June 29th, 2009

I am around 50 miles from Grays Lake, but I took the long way around to get here, going through Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Yellowstone was extremely crowded (what a surprise). They were also doing road work in two areas that made you sit in your car for a half hour or so before being allowed through. Had planned to camp in Yellowstone, but the campgrounds were full. Exited via the south entrance and headed to Harriman State Park, only to find they don’t allow camping. A mile or so south of Harriman, there was a sign for Riverside Campground in the Targhee forest. Was surprised to see nice paved campsites along Henry’s Fork River that could accommodate the largest rv’s.

Stayed 4 days at Riverside Campground. The first two days were beautiful, but the next two it became mosquitoland. Went hiking at Harriman Park after spraying myself with OFF! It worked pretty well.

Moved a little further south to Rexburg, Idaho to see Camas National Wildlife Refuge. Was pleased to see Camas has a stream and canals that create a lot of wetlands for birds. The land south of it is desert managed by BLM.

The waterfall above is Upper Mesa Falls seen on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.

A beautiful night heron seen at Harriman State Park.

A male, breeding ruddy duck seen at Camas. All the photos below were taken at the Camas Refuge.

Eared grebe.

A baby coot being fed by a parent.

A black tern. First one I’ve ever seen. My bird book says they are uncommon. They remind me of nighthawks, the way they flitter around. A weasel ran down the refuge road and a black tern dive bombed it. Weasels eat birds, among other things.

A short eared owl. They are also uncommon and are less nocturnal than other owls. The picture was taken around 6 p.m. Not a great pic, but it’s all I got.

Saw a few sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, National, Rexburg, State, coot, grebe, owl, ruddy, swan, tern, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Snake River Birds of Prey NCA

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

The Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Southwest Idaho is managed by the BLM. It is supposed to have “one of the world’s densest concentrations of nesting birds of prey”. The World Center of Birds of Prey is located nearby in Boise.

Above, the Snake River near Swan Falls Dam in the conservation area. There is a dirt/gravel road (shown in the picture) that goes 4 miles along the river with pullouts for camping. The dirt/gravel road is pretty good, but the pullouts in the sandy dirt have been damaged by rain. I didn’t see any rv’s, just tents. Also, the road down to the river has one mile of, at the minimum, an 8% grade.

A hawk (not sure which one) with chicks on a telephone pole in the prairie above the river valley. I could see and hear hawks in the cliffs on the right side of the river, but they were so far away and blended in so well with the cliffs, I couldn’t get any pictures.

There are the largest squirrels along the river. When I first saw one, thought it was a beaver. They are really large and lumbering in their movements.

Fellow travel blogger, Lloyd, with a wonderful site at wandrin.us, is probably right that the above rodent is a yellow-bellied marmot.

In the parking lot at the Birds of Prey Center saw the above bird. Came to find out it’s a chukar. When I was at the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, their refuge map said chukar hunting was allowed at the base of the mountain. Chukar’s are not native to the U.S., they were brought in as a game bird for hunting. Don’t see how anyone could shoot one, they are so cute.

Below, a bald eagle on display at the Birds of Prey Center.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, Swan Falls, chukar, eagle, squirrel | 1 Comment »

Bandon, Oregon

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Moved a little south to Bullards State Park in Bandon, Oregon. It is really nice staying at the Oregon coast state campgrounds this time of year—there are no crowds. The downside is, it’s cold! The temps are in the 50-60′s during the day, but the wind chill makes it feel a lot colder.

There are two chestnut-backed chickadees (bird shown above) working on enlarging a hole in a tree for a nest across from where I’m camped. For such a small bird with a small beak, they are really working hard.

Cranberries are the main crop grown in the area.

New River is managed by the BLM as an area of critical environmental concern. The river is “new” because it was formed around 120 years ago. It runs parallel to the ocean. There is a beautiful circular trail that takes you through woods, wetlands, and dunes. Dry sandy areas and the dunes are off limits in the summer to protect snowy plover nesting sites.

Saw the azalea below growing wild on the New River trail.

Below, Steller’s jay and a spotted tohee.

Posted in Bandon, Bureau of Land Management, State, chickadee, jay, towhee | No Comments »

Southeast Arizona

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Have been in southeast Arizona for about two weeks. Have never really explored the area south of the I-10 freeway. It has either been too hot or I was in a hurry to get to New Mexico or Texas. Boondocked a few days at the Escapee rv park in Benson (they were full). The top picture is of a cow pasture next to the park. It was watered late in the afternoon and it got to freezing during the night. The weather has been in the 70-80′s during the day, with intermittent freezing at night.

The second picture is a rock wren that lives in a wood pile in the park. It flies out 5 or 6 feet from the pile to search the ground for food, then quickly scoots back into the wood pile. At times it looks like it is doing deep knee bends on top of a piece of wood.

About 40 miles south of Benson, or 20 miles from Sierra Vista, Arizona, there is the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. This is the first spot in North America to be designated a Globally Important Bird Area. The first time I visited it there was hardly any one else there and there were birds everywhere. On a beautiful trail that goes along the river, I saw the above two birds. The first one is a white-breasted nuthatch. It was circling around the trunks of trees to get insects. The second bird is a cactus wren.

Found some wintering sandhill cranes at Whitwater Draw Wildlife Area, about 20 miles southeast of Tombstone, Arizona. They are starting to head north and are usually gone by March 15th. This is an unusual place, as it allows rv’s to camp (boondock) up to three days! There is room for maybe 7 or 8 rv’s. You can bet, if I travel through this area between October and February, I am going to try to stay here.

Posted in Benson, Bureau of Land Management, Escapee, Sierra Vista, State, Tombstone, cactus wren, hawk, nuthatch, rock wren, sandhill crane | No Comments »

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