Henry's Fork Audubon

We are starting a local chapter of the National Audubon Society for the Fremont, Madison, and Teton counties in Idaho. Our first meeting will be April 28th, 2011 at 7:00pm at the Rexburg Senior/Community Center 40 South 2nd West Rexburg, ID. Bill Schiess a local school teacher who also writes for the Rexburg Standard Journal will be presenting on Sage Grouse Leks. Email me at 1goodgeocacher@gmail.com for more info.

Sage Grouse Lek 04-13-2011

It started about 6:15 this morning, I was driving along the Red Road past the Saint Anthony Sand Dunes watching for any signs of Sage Grouse. About 2 miles past the turnout for the civil defense caves I spotted a Sage Grouse Cock in the middle of the road strutting his stuff.  I stopped the pickup backed up and sat and waited, pretty soon as the light started to fill the sky they started to gather some flew in by themselves others came in groups.  There were about 15 cocks and 25 hens altogether the cocks put on the show while the hens watched the spectacle. I was not able to stay long enough to watch much, but I did see cocks chase each other and fight back and forth. On the way home I spotted two more leks on the way back both further off the road.

A Lek is a display area a ritual area the breeding grounds.

Sage Grouse Lek

The fighting stance.

The fight.

The Strut.

The Strut.

Market Lake Idaho 04-08-2011

Today I set a record for myself in the number of bird species I have seen in one day and recorded. My final count was 35 I know there was more out there that I either did not recognize or that were unidentifiable to me in the brief time that I saw them. 

I first stopped close to Beaver Dick Park and counted about 50 pelicans. This is the first time that I have seen them this year and the most that I have seen at anyone time before. In this same area I also saw Mallards, Northern Pintails, Canadian Geese, Trumpeter swans, and after the day was over I swung back by and counted 9 Great Blue Herons. 

American White Pelican, 04-08-2011 Rexburg, ID.

Northern Harrier, 04-08-2011, Market Lake ID.

These are Redhead ducks I saw both Redhead and Canvasbacks today and the color pattern in remarkably similar. The big difference lies in their body shape and beak color and shape.

Redhead, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

These Northern Harriers were putting on quite a show for us, there was actually 3 pair that were all in the same area doing the same thing.

Northern Harrier, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

Red-tailed Hawk, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

Northern Shoveler, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

Red-breasted Merganser, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

 

Red-breasted Merganser, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

The American Coot was in mass numbers today with other ducks mingled in with them. It was amazing that when ever I would stop every duck beside the coot would all take off at the same time leaving only the coot.  Having so many of the coots around it was easy to watch them, they are funny to watch swim and even funnier to watch as the waddle on the land. This seems to be a very awkward bird.

American Coot, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

I have seen so many sparrows and usually label them all as a house sparrow out of convenience. Recently I decided that I would start differentiating between the different sparrows and labeling them correctly. This will be quite the task considering that there is at least 20 different sparrows. 

Song Sparrow, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

I was hoping to see this bird all day then as we were leaving I saw close to 25 different ones. In order to correctly identify this bird look at the name and find one that matches the description.

Yellow-headed Blackbird, 04-08-2011, Market Lake, ID.

I was quite surprised to 9 Blue herons all in the same place I have never seen more than one at a time so to see ten all at once was quite a treat.

Great Blue Heron, 04-08-2011, Rexburg, ID.

After looking over all my pictures I cant wait for spring to really be here, right now the only color in any of my pictures is due to the bird in the picture.

My neighboring owls 4-6-2011

I have been watching and listening a couple owls behind my house for about a month and they were finally in the open enough to get a couple pictures.  They put on quite the show for me tonight as they flew back and forth across the road and called constantly back and forth to each other.

Mystery bird identified 04-03-2011

 

I believe it is a Rough-legged Hawk

Patience pays off 04-01-2011

Today was another day in Madison and Fremont Counties out to Warm Slough over to Beaver Dick Park, and back out to Salem. It was nice to see more than just birds out, I saw 3 moose today but none were in a good place for pictures as well as a few other mammals.

The four pictures of the Bald Eagle below took some patience but it paid off, these our four of many that I took as the Eagle left its perch.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

I have seen Red-winged Blackbirds all over the place close to where I live outside of Rexburg, ID I have seen flocks of hundreds of them flying around. But this is how they are usually seen just one at a time hanging out in his territory.

Red-winged Blackbird, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

One, two, then three, that is how many Muskrats were swimming around. One of them did not notice me as he swam around but the other two did and were under the water and gone in a second. Waiting on this one to get close enough for a decent shot took some time, at one point I thought it was gone then it turned around and came pretty close to where I  was at.

Muskrat, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

While I was taking pictures of the Muskrat a goose flew in and landed in the water. It didn’t take much time for it to notice I was there and it took off. I had to lighten the image up because of how dark it was since it was a quick shot that I was not prepared for.

Canada Goose, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

I have heard and seen a few Great Horned Owls in the last few weeks but I was actually able to get a decent shot with some daylight. I must say that the owls eyes are my favorite feature they are almost haunting.

Great Horned Owl, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

More to a Mallard than just its head, the mallard is quite a beautiful bird. I have been trying to get a good picture of one in flight and this is the best I have done so far. When the mallard is flying so much more detail and color is visible in both the male and female.

Mallard, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

To end the day when I got home we had this little cotton tail waiting for in the driveway.

Looking for the Mystery Bird 03-29-2011

I traveled around parts of Madison and Fremont counties looking for a mysterious bird and instead saw everything but what I went looking for. The bird that I was looking for is one that I have seen about three different times, main features white tail front and back and a mostly white head, I thought it was an osprey at first but I don’t know. Hopefully next time I see it I will have my camera with me.

This is another example of a Red-tailed Hawk, if you look at some of my previous posts you will notice how different each one can be.

Red-tailed Hawk, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.

When I first came across this Great Blue Heron I thought it was a Sand Hill Crane, it was the first time that I had ever seen a Blue Heron stand erect. When I have seen Blue Herons in the past they have always been in their “stoop” with the curve in the neck.

Great Blue Heron, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D

If you read my last post you saw a picture of two different Mergansers this is another one the Common Merganser. 

Common Merganser, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.

There was three moose out at Warm Slough two calves and a cow, looking at the cow she came out of the winter in rough shape.  The picture does not show it the best but she was quite skinny and her ribs were quite visible.

Moose, 3-29-2011, Canon 60D.

Moose, 3-29-2011, Canon 60D.

Moose, 3-29-2011, Canon 60D.

I got lucky catching this series of pictures of below, I was also lucky that there was no cars coming. I had to flip around real fast stop the car in the middle of the road and snap a few pictures.

Moose, 3-29-2011, Canon 60D.

Moose, 3-29-2011, Canon 60D.

Moose, 3-29-2011, Canon 60D.

I forgot to change the settings on my camera as I was taking some picture of a Red-tailed Hawk and they turned out pretty well. I brightened the image a bit to bring out the sky on both the pictures.

Red-tailed Hawk, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.

Red-tailed Hawk, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.

Red-tailed Hawk, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.

This is the first Swainson’s Hawk that I have seen, one detail to note compared to the Red-tailed Hawk is how pointed the wings are.

Swainson’s Hawk, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.

First Turkey Vulture that I have seen this year, notice the broad wings.

Turkey Vulture, 03-29-2011, Canon 60D.