Have visited Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge south of Missoula, Montana several times in past years. It has usually been in a drought. Not this year. Above you see snow still on the Bitterroot Mountains. The parking lot for a trail along the Bitterroot River was flooded and water was flowing over the main refuge road.

A bobolink.

Above, an eastern kingbird and a juvenile robin.

A muskrat in a marsh with clouds reflected on it.

Below, wild male turkey’s.

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!

Finally made it to the Bear River Migratory Bird Wildlife Refuge in Brigham City, Utah. They are just completing paving a 12 mile dirt road from their Visitor Center, near the I-15, to their old Visitor Center near a 12-mile unpaved loop around a freshwater impoundment. That makes a 36 mile auto tour route, counting the return trip back over the paved road. It really is an incredible refuge.

Above, a series of pictures of part of the grebe courtship ritual. Grebes carry their young under their back feathers while they swim around.

While some birds are just starting to nest, saw some young American avocets and killdeers.

A huge number of pelicans nest on an island on the Great Salt Lake. They come to the fresh water marshes at the refuge for food and water.

There was intermittent rain, along with snow in the nearby mountains my first few days at the refuge. The swallows (cliff I think) were swarming to get mud and build nests.

The rainy weather alternated with temps in the 70′s, causing concern for flooding from snow melting and adding water to the already saturated ground.

The warm weather also brought lots of bugs. After just driving the paved road during the rain, ventured out on the dirt road loop when it warmed up. Wanted to take a lot of pictures, but my truck was always surrounded by hoards of midges. Locals drove with their windows down and laughed at out-of-towners unnerved by the bugs.

Saw dozens of Western kingbirds. The kingbirds and swallows should have no shortage of food (bugs).

Muskrats are supposed to be a sign of a healthy marsh.

On an off-topic, happened to watch the movie Hereafter. While I didn’t really care for the movie, was surprised when the character played by Matt Damon was shown to like to listen to Charles Dickens’ books. I have just about gone through all of this prolific writer’s books, either listening to a free download read by my Kindle or to an Audible edition on my iPod. A lot of the same themes run through the books and they have happy endings, or at least you are told what happens to all the characters. People in England during this period seem to have drunk a lot of alcohol and eaten a lot of meat.

Visited the Salineño birding site near Falcon State Park that I always make a point to visit while I’m here. All kinds of bird food is put out for the birds, including peanut butter (mixed with lard to make it easier to swallow). There were so many blackbirds at the site this year, however, other birds often had to fight to get some of the peanut butter.

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Black-crested titmouse

Curved-billed thrasher

Male and female northern cardinals

The altamira oriole, above, was chasing a lot of birds away from the peanut butter.

Below, one bird not with peanut butter, an Audubon’s oriole.

Pictures from the last day of crane watching. You frequently see short-lived altercations between cranes, as seen in the second picture. They don’t last long, one walks away. It may be a personal space issue.

Geese coming in to drink and bathe in the water near the cranes.

A quail enjoying the sun after a night of freezing temps.

Below, bugling cranes. This is when fights often occur, as one crane interloper enters a family unit.

A congested corn field at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge filled with sandhill cranes and snow geese. The geese suddenly took flight. Looking at my pictures on my computer, saw a coyote in the background that I had not noticed when I was taking the pictures. The cranes stood their ground.

Northern pintails

Red-tailed hawk, light adult. It was fussing above some snow geese. Maybe it knew the geese would all take flight if it flew toward them.

Also saw a bald eagle, but it was too far away to get a good picture.

Gambel’s quail and a canyon towhee near my campground.

Below, three swans and sandhill cranes coming in to roost.

Have been staying close to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for close to a week. It’s been cold, as I guess it has been over a lot of the US, in the teens at night and the 40′s and 50′s during the day. Still just need the furnace at night.

Saw the coyote in the top picture wondering around the refuge on Saturday. Just a little earlier in the day had seen a coyote, possibly the same one, in a field with some sandhill cranes. It always surprises me that the cranes don’t fly away on seeing a coyote. They do have a weapon in their bill. They can stab a coyote with it, as long as the coyote doesn’t come from behind.

The last two pictures are from Monday morning. The coyote in the third picture has just nabbed a duck in the same area as seen in the picture with the cranes. On leaving the refuge, saw three young, healthy looking coyotes (one seen in the bottom picture).

Adult sandhill crane (top picture) and two juvenile cranes (bottom picture).

Northern shovelers

Below, photographers bundled up to see the cranes fly in to roost.

Sandhill cranes at the Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area north of Socorro, New Mexico.

Not many geese here, but there are supposed to be 20,000 of them at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, where I will shortly be heading.

Last year when I was here helicopter refueling flights took place over where I was staying. Saw it again this year. There are military bases all over New Mexico. Assume these are training flights.

A crane doing it’s version of dancing on a cold morning. It has been in the 20′s a lot of the nights here. Warms up enough during the day so the furnace is just needed at night.

Fields of sun baked corn in parched soil alternate with fields of alfalfa at Bernardo Waterfowl Management area. There is no flooded field or pond on the bird viewing road this year, which is disappointment. The cranes roost in water for safety and it’s fun watching their fly-in.

Have been at Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, New Mexico for about a week.  I have never been here during November and was really surprised at the thousands of sandhill cranes that winter here. The second picture above occurred after a helicopter flew over a hay field where there were a huge number of cranes. Most of the cranes return to Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge to roost at night. It is an incredible sight to see wave after wave of them fly in.

Getting here: Stayed at Brantley Lake State Park before coming to Roswell. Went through bird withdrawal there after all the birds at Rockhound State Park. Not many birds at Brantley. There is DDT in the fish in the reservoir and they also have a problem with blooming algae. There was no bird activity on the water. Where the Pecos River reconstituted below the dam, however, there were ducks and herons.

The campground at Brantley was nice with drip irrigation providing for some shade trees. The nearby town of Artesia is a former small farm town that is now overrun with the oil industry. Southeast New Mexico is divided up into oil fields and their home base seems to be Artesia. Have to wonder what is going to happen to all the artesian wells after the oil is gone.

Got an Amazon Kindle recently and was thrilled at finding all the free digital books you can get from Project Gutenberg. I’m rereading all the classics that I read as a teenager. Just finished War and Peace. Have to admit I use the read outloud feature on the Kindle.

Hawk seen along the road when I first arrived at the State Park.

A Say’s phobe flying around catching insects in the air. They are so intent on hunting they don’t pay much attention to nearby people.

A loggerhead shrike at the Bitterlake Refuge.

Below, scenes from Bottomless Lakes State Park. The camping area is on the left side of the second picture.

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.