Environment
Spring Has Sprung In SW Idaho Hills
March 21, 2009 
The GUARDIAN got away from the city on the first day of Spring–armed with a camera and 300 mm lens. For the safety and comfort of the nesting pair of eagles, we won’t disclose the location, but it was in the foothills where the grass is turning green.
A little wildlife photography tip: your car is a great blind. Pull safely off the traveled portion of any road and quietly lower the window ( us old timers “rolled down the window). Shoot with the engine off and use your digital camera at the longest telephoto zoom setting you have and fire away.
You can find deer along Highway 21 near Lucky Peak, the high bridge and all the way to Arrow Rock Dam. Also in the Garden Valley area past the ranger station. Birds are also beginning to get active–Albertson Park and Ann Morrison are both good bets for geese and ducks. American wigeons, mallards, and wood ducks can be found right in the city.
Any of you bird watchers willing to share good viewing spots and techniques are welcome to comment.
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Comments & Discussion
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Mar 21, 2009, 8:55 pm
Great picture!
Mar 21, 2009, 9:36 pm
The thousands of migrating Snow Geese at Fort Boise are really a site to see right now, especially between 10 and 11 in the morning when they are flying in.
EDITOR NOTE–
Ft. Boise is the Fish and Game refuge along the Snake River NW of Parma. Go to Parma on Highway 20 from Caldwell. Go through Parma and follow signs toward Nyssa/Ontario. Watch for F&G brown sign and turn left (west) off the highway.
Mar 21, 2009, 10:35 pm
I love North Fork Mountain in West Virginia.
If you can find the road going toward smoke hole you can drive up to the North Fork Mountain Trail and there is an uninhabited road that winds up the mountain range for miles.
Your right, using your car for a blind is excellent cover and when you come back down the hill if you have enough strength in your legs you can turn the car off and use manual brakes to coast back down the road slowly and you can spot all sorts of wildlife along the way.
But watch out the road is narrow and there are no guard rails. Not much room for error!
Mar 22, 2009, 12:37 am
Our yard in Emmett — heard and saw meadow larks today; quail everywhere; deer and cottontails sometimes. Also Payette River where it intersects with Plaza.
Mar 22, 2009, 6:37 am
….And that is why we live here! Beautiful pic—majestic scene. Thanks for sharing it.
Mar 24, 2009, 1:38 pm
COOOL picture!
Apr 2, 2009, 9:18 pm
While fighting predatory cats –one neighbor has 3 and none of them are in-house cats–this year produced a gorgeous Downy Woodpecker at one of my feeders and the occasional nuthatch bold enough to snatch a few black oilseeds and dart away before the pine siskin mob gets him.