My Great Basin Wildlife Safari

 

I told my husband I wanted to go on a wildlife safari. So we loaded ourselves and the dog up in the pickup on a Friday evening and headed down to the fields on the ranch. It was golden hour, and the lighting and the animals didn't disappoint! First we saw a bunch of mule deer bucks over in the meadow. 

Down in the field we saw a couple elk. They have been driving us crazy because they don't jump over fences well like deer or crawl under them like pronghorn. They pretty much just run over them, smashing the fences.

Then we had a mix of deer and pronghorn. The two pronghorn are together in the middle, looking at the camera.

Don't believe me how big elk are? They wandered over by the deer, and you can see below just how huge they are. It just begs the question, At what elevation do deer turn into elk?

Now it was time to turn to the birds. The Canada geese are starting to show up. The early birds are eager to head south. In the background, the ravens are having a party on the pivot.

We saw more geese flying in, with stormy skies in the background.

It was fun watching them land and join the gaggle of geese.

Some sandhill cranes have also started their journey south. I just love hearing their sounds!

My husband is really good at spotting wildlife from afar, and he glimpsed this great blue heron hanging out in a small pond.

On another morning I saw these two deer near a different field.

And this beautiful hawk on a wheelline.

I think it's a Swainson's hawk, These amazing hawks travel thousands of miles each year to winter in Argentina. Of course when it's winter here, it's summer there, so maybe it's more accurate to say that the Swainson's hawks know how to enjoy the long summer days!

See more at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Hawk/maps-range

You don't have to go far to have an amazing wildlife safari! It's fun watching how the animals move, interact, and feed.

My Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Challenge. My friend Edith told me about their "Lewis and Clark expedition" and I knew I had to give it a try. The objective: head up Strawberry Creek in Great Basin National Park and see Lewis's Woodpeckers and Clark's Nutcrackers.

Background. From 1804 to 1806 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were on the Corps of Discovery Expedition, traveling up the Missouri River, crossing the Rocky Mountains, and heading down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean and then returning. They had months of preparation, including learning more about natural sciences such as botany and ornithology. During the course of the expedition, they found hundreds of new species to science. Just two animal species were named for them: the Lewis's Woodpecker and Clark's Nutcracker. 

The Adventure. I started out sightseeing last night's flash floods along Highway 487. 

Then I turned off Highway 6 & 50 onto the Strawberry Creek road. Passing some campers, I drove along the road, which had a little water damage, but nothing too bad.

I paused at the park boundary to check out the signs.

Then I drove slowly, looking for birds. I didn't see as many as I expected, but I did see a chuckar and her babies.

At the trailhead I took the left trail for the Strawberry Sage loop so that I would be in the trees more. Almost immediately I was bombarded by the bubbling song of house wrens and even managed to spot a couple. They are adorable!

Continuing on, I kept looking and listening for birds.

A couple lazuli buntings caught my eye next. They are such pretty birds!

And then I got my first good view of a Clark's nutcracker. These loud members of the Corvid family are usually seen at higher elevations, so I was delighted to see a bunch of them.

I even saw a couple sitting still, preening. 

William Clark noticed this bird in Montana in August 1805. It was later given the name Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana). The bird is about robin-sized with a sharp bill, gray breast, and black and white wings. 

These raucous birds are experts at seed collecting and caching, feeding their youngs seeds cached from the previous year. They also eat insects. 

After the young have fledged (hatched and flown), Clark's nutcrackers form loose family groups, which probably explains why I was seeing a group of them flit about.

By now I was in the burned part of Strawberry Creek, where the wildfire occured ten years ago, in 2016. The drainage is making a good comeback.

It was here that I saw numerous Lewis's woodpeckers, generally a pretty rare bird, but they have been seen for many years now in the Strawberry Creek drainage. And, wow, they are magnificent! Meriwether Lewis saw this bird first in July 1805 in Montana, and it was identified in 1811.

At first glance they look like a dark woodpecker. But if you look closer, you can see hints of red.

And if one is so kind to turn around, you can see a reddish breast.

Some Lewis's woodpeckers aren't as reddish. But they still look a little different than other woodpeckers. They also move differently than other woodpeckers. Instead of pecking at trees to get insects under the bark, they'll glean insects on the bark or burned areas.

And they also take off from branches to catch insects mid-flight, like flycatchers. It's so fun to watch them! 

While I was watching, I saw one with something strange in its bill. It sort of looked like fish eggs, but this isn't the right season. So what is this? Edit: Probably raspberries!

Whatever it is, it was being delivered to chicks! I couldn't believe my luck to find a high hole in a tree with a little head poking out.

Then a parent swooped in to deliver a meal.

And flew off so quickly! The chick has its mouth closed--for a moment.

It soon started squawking again, "Feed me, feed me!"

While I was watching the birds, I run my Merlin app. And at one point, I was hearing both birds at the same time. I had to take a screenshot. 

Ready to take the Lewis and Clark Expedition challenge? I'm not sure how long both birds will be around Strawberry Creek, but right now they're pretty easy to find on the Strawberry Sage loop trail. And I'm sure this can be completed other places as well.

Although I was on the lookout for all birds, having a special target made this birding trip special and had me looking up history when I got home. If you have other fun challenges like this, let me know!

Here's more reading if you want to dig in:

https://montanakids.com/history_and_prehistory/lewis_and_clark/plants_animals.htm

https://www.nps.gov/lecl/basic-facts.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

Great Basin National Park Bingo

 Do you think you know Great Basin National Park well? Here's a Bingo card to help you deepen your knowledge and maybe see the park a little differently. It's not easy, but a Bingo could be done in as little as a day.

Good luck!