A Boise Scene
I have visited southern Idaho on several occasions to see family and driven the states many other times. Often those “drive throughs” have involved a fair amount of lingering.
The first four volumes of “Birding The West” contain material which I recorded in Idaho. Photographs taken in Idaho have been added to the Idaho Photos gallery.
SNAKE RIVER BIRDS OF PREY NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA
On April 11, 2008, I stopped at the Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (Idaho, USA) hoping for nice shots of raptors floating along the cliffs above the Snake River. Not much activity in the avian sector, mostly Northern Raven and Northern Harrier, but I did have time to take some nice shots of Piute Ground Squirrel (below). Until recently the Piute Ground-Squirrel was lumped with the Merriam’s and Townsend’s Ground-Squirrels into one species, but each species has a different chromosome count and their distinctness has now been recognized. In the afternoon I stopped at the Birds of Prey World Wildlife Center. The Peregrine Fund does really nice work, including education, but the Center was just to zoolike for me.
Piute Ground-Squirrel, Urocitellus mollis
Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, Idaho
Birds of Prey National Monument, Idaho, USA
GRAND VIEW
On April 12, 2008, my daughter MeLinda and I stopped by a 42 MW wind generation project near Mt. Home (Idaho, USA) and in the afternoon she and her kids took me to a local museum with an incredible collection of artifacts from the 1870’s to the 1950’s. It is a private collection of a couple in Grand View (Idaho, USA) and is so extensive that it takes five main structures and more than 10 sheds to house it all.
SHOSHONE FALLS
On April 13, 2008 MeLinda and I ventured along the Snake River of Idaho, visiting Shoshone Falls. The water level at these falls is extremely variable and we were lucky to see a reasonable flow at both -- but at high flow they would be incredible.
