Al Larson Photography

I traveled out into the Owyhee mountains a couple of days ago. The wild flowers were putting on their annual extravaganza. I always get excited when I see a bed of bitterrot. This flower seems to prefer dry rocky soil. It’s a wonder that it survives the extreme heat of the summer and cold of the winter. The scant foliage seems hardly enough to extract sufficient energy from the sun and atmosphere to support this beautiful blossom. Each flower in this photo measures approximately two inches across.

This certainly seems to be the year of the California Tortoiseshell . This morning I observed these butterflies gathered in clusters the full length of the foundation around the house.

The concrete was slightly moist and the sun was warm. When the butterfly’s wings absorbed sufficient warmth they folded them vertically so that they resembled little sailboats. This has been the most abundant species in our yard this spring.

Here we go into my photo files again. I captured this photo three years ago. This Mountain Chickadee is setting on her nest in one of my nestboxes. Nearly every year I have two or three chickadee nests on my “bluebird trails.”  Usually this species produce only one brood a year. However, after 31 years of observation I finally had a second brood in a box last year.

Last Saturday I had the privilege of leading a field trip of birders to the Sagehen Reservoir area. There were nine cars of us and the head count was 19 plus. We started out at Montour and worked our way up Squaw Creek, nooned just inside the Payette Forest boundary and ended up at the reservoir.

 The weather was very favorable as evidenced by the people in shirt-sleeves. Birdwise we were a little early in the season. Many summer bird residents such as the Western Kingbird were here but a few species were yet to arrive. Some of the highlights of the trip were nesting Swainson’s Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. A pair of Northern Harrier in courtship display performed over a grassy meadow. we observed a fledgling Great Horned owlet, still unable to fly, perched out on a limb while a parent perched in a nearby pine tree. Turkey Vultures occasionally soared overhead. Songbirds, though not plentiful, kept us on the alert. At our lunch stop a pair of Western Bluebirds entertained us by their antics around a parked vehicle nearby. Were they interested in their reflected image in the window? Perhaps the most memorable sighting was a flock of eighteen Eared grebe swimming in tight formation near the boat launch area. Occasionally they would all dive in unison and reappear still in a group.

It was also a great day for observing wild flowers. Blue camas was starting to bloom. Arrowleaf Balsamroot, desert parsley, larkspur, glacier lily and white trillium and many others were magnificent. Purple trillium and dutchman’s breeches were a rare sight for many.

One of the advantages of living in the mountains is that we are in the midst of wildlife. This morning I stepped outside the bedroom door and was greeted by this pleasant scene.  Although the Red-tailed Hawk was over a hundred yards away my zoom lens brought it in close.

On a recent trip to Long Valley in Valley county I was amazed at the number of active Osprey nests. It seemed as though a nest was in sight almost any where in the valley. This nest is on a power pole where one was placed many years ago when Osprey first returned to the area. It is located adjacent to the road and this photo was taken from the car window below.

At another location where a power line crossed the road there were five consecutive poles with nests on them. They were all Osprey nests except for the forth one which was occupied by a pair of Canada Goose. The goose in the nest was being strafed by a pair of Osprey. It is not uncommon for Canada Goose to nest in abandoned nests in high places. The next time I’m in the area I’ll check to see if the geese were successful in keeping their nest site.