Archive for the ‘wildlife refuge’ Category

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More from Minidoka Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

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.

Posted in grebe, magpie, nighthawk, oriole, pelican, Rupert, State, wildlife refuge, woodpecker, yellow warbler | Comments Off

Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Have been staying at Lake Walcott State Park in south-central Idaho the past few days. The park is unique, in that it is located within the Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge. This allows parts of the refuge to be used by the public for boating, fishing and camping.

The weather has been nice. It usually ranges from the 50′s at night to the 70′s in the day. Clouds and light rain blow through at least once a day, but does not stay long. Have not had any thunder or hail yet.

Above, the old main highway that runs parallel to the Snake River (and the refuge) and the new I-84. Had the good luck to see the hawk while driving the road.

There is a large flock of white pelicans here. The one above is diving for a fish in an area of rapids on the Snake River.

Bullock’s oriole. Have also seen a cedar waxwing.

Eastern kingbird.

Magpie fledgling. There are five of them perched inside a small pine tree near where I am camped.

Robin fledgling following one of it’s parents around.

Think this is an Eastern kingbird fledgling.

The way here: Stayed two days at Bruneau Dunes State Park. It has sand dunes, small lakes, and an observatory. C.J. Strike Wildlife Management Area is also right next to it and has no hookup camping areas. I found some nice areas in the wildlife area, but no place I’d want to take my trailer. Really got my truck muddy driving through parts of it and had to use my 4-wheel drive at one point. Made me thankful to have it.

Western (top) and eastern (bottom) kingbirds seen at Bruneau Dunes State Park.

Posted in falcon, kingbird, magpie, Mountain Home, oriole, pelican, robin, Rupert, State, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Traveled another stretch of a little over 100 miles to Southwest Idaho to visit  Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. This area, outside Boise, is made up of farmland and housing developments along the Snake River. There are many developments with roads put in and maybe one or two houses surrounded by weeds. The race to cover all the land with housing developments appears to have come to an abrupt halt.

The predominant birds in the area seem to be blackbirds and quail. Above, a male and a female yellow headed blackbird. Below, quail posing for me at the rv park I’m staying at.

Started seeing magpies in Southeast Oregon.

Osprey nest at the refuge.

Wild rose seen all over the area. They have a cinnamon-like smell.

Below, American goldfinch.

Posted in black bird, goldfinch, magpie, Marsing, quail, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Monday, June 1st, 2009

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

Posted in Burns, curlew, flycatcher, pelican, swallow, wildlife refuge, yellow warbler | Comments Off

Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Traveled 100 miles from Tulelake to the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. I had driven over a 50 mile gravel road to see the east side of the refuge last fall. This time I entered on the west side. You drive up a 6% grade gravel road to get to the top of Hart Mountain and the park headquarters.

I camped at the CCC Campground at the base of Hart Mountain. While I could have towed my rv up the mountain, I didn’t want to. The Hot Springs Campground that is up there, while beautiful, is more suited to truck campers or small rv’s. The CCC Campground can handle about any size rv. There is no water or hookups and generators are not allowed. You also need to pack out your trash.

The refuge initially allowed cattle to graze on it, but after seeing all the damage they did, they were gradually removed. There is an interesting article on GORP about this.

I’m glad they have not paved the gravel road through the refuge. If it were paved, it would provide a shortcut to the town of Burns, Oregon and would get a lot more traffic which could not help but impact the habitat.

My rv against the base of Hart Mountain at the CCC Campground. I had it all to myself and really enjoyed it. Meadowlarks were singing all around me, hidden in the grass. When I returned from one trip up the mountain, a pronghorn was sniffing around my trailer. He ran when he saw me coming.

Hot Springs Campground. You can’t see the campground, it blends in so well. The hot springs is by the clump of trees on the bottom right. The campground is really beautiful, with wildflowers and a stream running through it. A single elk was also rambling around. The only negative, mosquitoes.

The hot springs at the campground. It is free to use, as is the campground.

There were a lot of these caterpillar filled sacks. Lots of butterflies will soon be in the area.

Barn swallow near the hot springs

Going back down Hart Mountain you get a great view of the Warner Valley Wetlands, an area of critical environmental concern (ACEC). This is a dry year, so you see mudflats circled with grass in the lakes. The sandy areas are interconnected dry ponds.

A northern harrier over the wetland area.

Below, a tree swallow nesting in a birdhouse in the wetlands area.

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Posted in Airstream, antelope, Northern harrier, Oregon, swallow, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

More from Tulelake

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Yesterday afternoon, found the eagle at the same spot again. It had been sunny in the morning, but a thunderstorm swept through in the afternoon with rain and some hail. Just lasted around 20 minutes. You could see areas in the valley were sunny and some were getting rain and lightning.

Thunderstorm moves across the refuge road.

Western grebe, one of my favorite birds.

Eared grebe in the rain.

Cinnamon teals, a favorite duck of hunters.

Pelicans, cormorants, and terns resting and grooming after the rain. Have seen some juvenile pelicans, but no real young ones. There is a large group of white pelicans towards the middle of the lake.

Below, my campsite at the Tulelake Fairgrounds. This would be an idyllic  place except for all the chemicals used by the farmers. A crop duster flies over farmland almost every day. Hate to think of all the chemicals in the water at Tule Lake.

Posted in Airstream, cormorants, eagle, grebe, pelican, teal, tern, Tulelake, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Drove from Sutherlin to Tulelake, California, to visit the Wildlife Refuge there. Have been here a number of times. Along with great bird viewing, the fairground rv park gives a Passport America discount and it’s located just a few miles from the refuge. Just one other rv is here now. Last time I was here it was full of duck hunters.

Saw the eagle above at the same spot where I have seen eagles during other visits.

A breeding pair of American avocet’s defend their territory from a stilt.

Breeding eared grebe.

White faced ibis

Meadowlark with a worm. Saw a small flock of them. They are supposed to be a common bird, but this is the first picture I’ve gotten of one.

Below, a tern.

Posted in American avocet, eagle, grebe, Ibis, meadowlark, tern, Tulelake, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

Eureka

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

I came to Eureka to see the Humboldt Bay Wildlife Refuge. Noticed a lot of egrets and saw that there was a rookery across the road from the refuge on private property in a grove of tall trees. The egrets are going to the refuge for food and water and then flying back to the trees with one twig. It will take a lot of trips to make a nest at that rate. There was constant traffic to and from the rookery. I walked up to the trees, but you can’t see much, the egrets are so high up. You can hear a lot of activity going on. While they are safe from ground predators, there are eagles, hawks, crows and vultures circling above the trees.

Barn swallow at the refuge visitor center.

Song sparrow

Went to visit the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary that is part of their wastewater treatment system. The marsh wren above was singing away. Did not seem to mind my presence.

Posted in egret, Eureka, goldfinch, marsh wren, swallow, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

I have been in the Riverside area for two weeks getting routine maintenance done on my truck, trailer, and myself. Spent one day at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach while my trailer was being serviced and was really impressed. There was a twenty year court battle with a land developer to create this refuge along the coast where almost every square inch is developed. My hats off to the people who fought this battle.

Above: An adult breeding snowy egret wrangles a fish.

On walking along the trail at Bolsa Chica, an adult killdeer got my attention by running to the side of the trail and looking like she was nesting (top picture). When I started to move on, the killdeer ran back to the trail and seemed to try and get my attention. Then I saw two young killdeers exploring the side of the trail. The mother seemed to have been trying to divert my attention from them.

Greater scaups.

Yellowlegs (greater or lesser).

I spent most of my time at Rancho Jurupa Park in Riverside. There are two pairs of herons nesting in tall trees there. Also saw a lot of western bluebirds (below).

Stayed at Prado Regional Park a few days, where I saw the peacock below. There are around 25 of them that stay around the park office area.

Posted in bluebird, County, egret, heron, Huntington Beach, killdeer, lesser yellowlegs, peacock, Riverside, scaup, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge is the only refuge I have come across that has campsites where you can boondock (free) for up to 14 days. I stayed there for 4 days and was the only camper I was aware of. It was very quiet. Hunting season just ended, so maybe hunters scared all the wildlife away. The weather was perfect. It was in the 70′s during the day, did not have to use my fans, and at night it was in the 50′s, so the furnace was not needed.

The area is a semi-desert grassland with lots of mesquite trees. The refuge is trying to restore it to the way it was before cattle grazed here. They want to encourage masked bobwhite quail and pronghorns to return.

Airforce jets practice over the area. One day I had my back to the window, something made me turn and look out. Saw a Airforce jet coming right at me, I could see the pilot! By the time I ran to the door, it had done a 90 degree roll and was gone. It happened so fast. There were a lot of jets in the area the next day. Maybe the jet that flew over me was just checking out the area because of this.

This area is called “cocaine alley” because of all the drug smugglers that enter the United States through here. That may be why there is a helicopter landing pad on the refuge and a strong presence of border patrol. Also, I got the best internet connection I’ve had for a long time. A communications tower was nearby, out in the middle of nowhere.

Mule deer in a no hunting area of the refuge.

Saw what I think is a western harrier at Arivaca Cienega on the refuge.

Getting here

After leaving the Benson, Sierra Vista area, stopped at Patagonia State Park. There were a lot of pipevine swallowtails there (above). The park was crowded. You have to get there early in the day to get an electric spot. A lot of people were on a hunt to see an elegant trogon. Unfortunately, I never saw one.

Black phoebe.

While Big Bend and the Buenos Aires Refuge are trying to repair damage caused by cattle grazing, Patagonia State Park allows ranchers to graze cattle at the east end of the lake, near some marsh and the Sonoita Creek (prime birding area). People swim and catch fish in a lake that cattle go into. Along with going into the lake, the cattle eat and trample tree saplings. You would also not want to walk along the trail at night, with cow droppings all over the place.

Sleeping bull, with muddy feet.

Posted in Airstream, Arivica, cow, deer, National, Northern harrier, Patagonia, phoebe, State, wildlife refuge | No Comments »

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