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New Photos: Idaho Spring Birds & Wildlife 2017

On my way to Yellowstone this year, I made a detour.  It was the Memorial Day Weekend, which meant the national park would be swamped with holiday visitors.  In 2016 I successfully avoided these crowds by checking out a couple spots nearby in eastern Idaho: Camas National Wildlife Refuge and Market Lake Wildlife Management Area.  The visit proved to be fruitful and quiet, with hardly anyone around.  So I chose to begin my 2017 spring Yellowstone adventure there.

Though the owl action was nowhere near as good as last year, it was still a successful visit, with plenty of good bird sightings, and a few mammals thrown in (a brief glimpse of an otter and my best photo to date of a North American porcupine).  I’ve added the images from this visit to the ongoing PNW Parks & Reserves 2017 photo gallery.  A short preview of the new spring photos is below.

Red-Winged Blackbird

I had fun photographing the active and territorial Red-winged blackbirds at Camas National Wildlife Refuge.

Sandhill Crane with Chick

A pair of Sandhill cranes made a brief appearance with two colts at Market Lake.

Northern Harrier

A Northern harrier flies in with nesting materials.

Brown-Headed Cowbird

Brown-headed cowbirds were making territorial displays and calls in the wetlands at Market Lake.

Trumpeter Swans

This was my first opportunity to photograph newly-hatched Trumpeter swan cygnets.

Trumpeter Swan Cygnets

The cygnets cautiously tested the depths of a small puddle.

American Bittern

This was my best encounter to date with the elusive and shy American bittern.

Marsh Wren

Marsh wrens are tiny, but passionate about announcing their presence.

Tree Swallow

Tree swallows sport a beautiful shade of iridescent blue plumage on their back and wings.

View all of the new spring photos from Idaho in the PNW Parks & Reserves 2017 gallery.  And remember, you can order prints of nearly any image in the photo archive!

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