Twin Falls Idaho - More Natural Beauty Than You Might Expect

I must have driven past Twin Falls Idaho at 65 MPH at least 40 times in my life without ever considering stopping. This weekend I really wanted to get away from people, email, and the crush of life in this technology driven world - so of course, Twin Falls seemed perfect. I wanted to discover someplace new and off the worn tourist path. We set up headquarters in the Fillmore Inn - an amazing place to relax and spend a weekend reading a book.

The Snake River Gorge and the South Hills turned out to be full of natural wonders. The dry Idaho farmland transforms as you descend the gorge into a land of cliffs bursting with waterfalls and springs cascading into the Snake River. We spent a day at Niagara Spring NWR and state park. The birding was great with surprises like a Great Blue Heron at the springs and Bullock's Oriels everywhere. We saw our first Wood Duck swimming on the river (too far for a photo).

Our second day we ventured to the South Hills in search of the South Hills Red Crossbill. A House Wren greeted us as we entered the canyon and we picked up our second new bird - a Yellow-breasted Chat. At the Eagle trail we began our quest for the crossbill. There were lots of mountain birds like a beautiful Red-naped Sapsucker, but no luck seeing any crossbills...until we were hiking back t the car in defeat when a single crossbill flew into the top of a lodge-pole pine - Eureka! This is the only place in the world to see this sub-species and we had a great view while it sat and sang before flying off.

I wonder how many amazing places like Twin Falls I've driven past without ever knowing what a few hours in the area would reveal. I think that's what I love about birding. It's allowed me to discover so much more of the world around me.

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First Lazuli Bunting of Spring

Great Salt Lake from Dooly Knob, Antelope Island

Yes, that's a Rock Wren in the last pic. Anything is better with a wren.

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Lake Ponchetrain North Shore - Warm, Wildlife, Woodpeckers…and 2 new Wrens

5 days in the natural areas around New Orleans was exactly the escape from winter that we needed. At the Barataria Preserve in Jean Lafitte National Park we saw the obligatory Louisiana alligator and started out Louisiana woodpecker list with Downy Woodpeckers and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We had a great morning birding the bayou and getting great new birds like the Eastern Phoebe. Fontain Bleu State Park had great views across the wetlands to Lake Ponchetrain and the 23 mile causeway bridge, but not the wetland birds we hoped for. We picked up a Vermillion Flycatcher and added Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers to our life list. The next day in the pine forest of Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge we added a swamp sparrow and an endangered Red-cockaded woodpecker... and a Sedge Wren brought me oh-so-close to my goal of seeing every wren species in North America (Winter Wren, I WILL find you).

We stayed in Mandeville and visited the relatively new North Shore Nature area. It's a great place to get that big cyprus tree Louisiana swamp feel - and you just might see a Tufted Tit Mouse. At our B&B in Mandeville every morning we woke to an amazing morning chorus of Carolina Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Mocking Birds and Inca Doves. I think we picked up 7 new life-birds from the porch. We will definitely return to Louisiana. It was as close as we've come in the U.S. to the excitement we got from birding Belize. Many thanks to the New Orleans birding folks for the great tips you sent to guide us.

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January Meadowlark and a Rock Wren (just cuz Wrens are the best)

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Sharp-shinned Hawks in the yard

We had juvenile and adult Sharp-shinned hawks in our yard this week. The adult took a junco as prey and consumed it on the front walk right outside our front door. As a bird watcher it was both terrible and fascinating to watch. Observing the juvenile a few days earlier was much more peaceful and gave us a good opportunity to closely study the markings, size and behaviors of a Sharp-shinned. It was a great way to really learn how to better distinguish this little fury from the Cooper's Hawks we sometime see around here as well. It was amazing to get up close and extended opportunities to see both juvenile and adult birds within days of each other in the exact same spot - all without leaving my warm living room.

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Learning to photograph raptors in flight

I marvel at nature photographers who can get action shots of animals. I struggle just getting a bird sitting on a branch in focus. The raptors were so active today on Antelope Island, I decided to just try my hand at getting some flight shots. By pure luck I ended up with these shots (Rough-legged hawk soaring and a Northern Harrier taking to the air). My first self-learned lesson in raptor flight photos - don't photograph the bird, photograph the spot of sky where the bird WILL be and you just MIGHT actually end up with the subject in the frame. The next lesson will need to be how to focus on an in flight bird (tips welcome). I'll never be a Jerry Ligouri (whom I had the pleasure of meeting on a roadside a couple of weeks ago), but I'll just be happy to eventually capture some decent representation of the inspiring sight of a hawk in flight.

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Common Goldeneye

Rather than shopping the day after Thanksgiving we headed out birding with Tim Avery. In a pond next to the city dump this great little Common Goldeneye gave me a great look (I love the mirror reflection. A Rough-legged hawk sat nice for me too. We got 4 new life birds: Red-breasted Merganser, Horned grebe, Cackling goose and a Greater White-fronted goose. We never would have picked out those geese without Tim's expert eye.

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I've been to the desert

We avoided the November cold and grey in Salt Lake City by heading south to St. George, Utah. A couple of days in this warm western desert on the Joshua Tree Road and Snow Canyon State Park gave me such an appreciation for stark beauty, the play of light on the desert and the abundance of life out there. We picked up 5 new life birds: Greater Roadrunner, Canyon Wren, Cactus Wren, Crissal Thrasher and Gambles Quail.