Smoke on the Water

Tuesday July 9 2013

It is a regular presence near the mouth of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, where Lewis and Clark camped in November of 1805, near the end of their 2+ year expedition across the newly-purchased Louisiana Territory, over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

It is also the interpreted name ("smoke on the water") of Skamokawa, the chief of the Wahkiakum band of Tsinuk Native American Indians, whom Lewis and Clark met while wintering on the ocean at Fort Clatsop in December of 1805. This was back in the days when whites and Native Americans had friendly relations, and when the land was still wild: road-less territory, undammed rivers, untouched old growth forests, wild and prolific wildlife.


It is also a small town on the Columbia river near the Pacific (the Columbia river bar is "the most dangerous in the world to navigate"), and the site of 1 of my marbled murrelet surveys.


As I observe, the fresh-water tide falls down from the sandy beach, a fog bank floats along the upper reaches of the forested hills; bald eagles cavort, and great blue herons rove, and ospreys fish, in this Smoke-On-The-Water Lewis and Clark trail.

Yellowstone

Wednesday June 3 2009

Oh, the forest! I love the desert, but it's when I get into a forest that it all comes back to me. The sound, the feel, and most of all, the smell, of pine and fir needles on a snowy pass. There is nothing like it. Oh, I miss the forest.

On my way to Montana to cover the Fort Howes endurance ride, I passed through Yellowstone. It really seems a crime to whiz through such a grand National Park, a felony to stop for a few minutes at spots and quickly jump out and take a picture, of Tower Falls, or a resting big-horn ram, or a raging river, and not spend time, like a few days, or weeks, exploring the backcountry (which I have yet to do). What do we really understand of a place if we only run the tourist route? We never seem to have, or take, the time to do it right.

But as I have no other time right now, that's just what I did.

Does it really count seeing wildlife if you see it from your car or you get out of your car and walk to the shoulder of the road? Well, sure it does. Immediately upon entering the park I saw a bald eagle on its nest (a sign announced: "Bald eagle area: no stopping or parking for next 1 1/2 miles" - if they'd posted nothing, probably nobody would have noticed). Then came a coyote, trotting down the shoulder of a road, delaying traffic, on what was probably a well-used trail for his ancestors along the river, before man came and put a road in. There was the bighorn sheep resting in a meadow, (always stop at a crowd of people, to see what they are looking at), buffaloes out the ying yang, elk with some HUUUUUGE racks, and of course Ravens. I missed the antelope with a newborn fawn that was keeping a coyote at bay. This was at a little rock rise over a meadow - this must be a normal spot for things to happen, because there were just too many photographers hanging out up there. And there were some big, I'm talking HUGE, lenses, some about as big as my car. I don't think even my binos are that powerful.


On my way out of the park today, 3 bighorn sheep were gallivanting along the edge of some cliffs above me. They didn't have to be at the edge, right where I could see them... but they were. I have to think the timing and placement of me and the bighorns was all arranged for me, because nobody else saw them.

And what do you think the animals think of us humans scurrying to take their pictures and standing around and pointing at them? I always scan the ridges and look behind me to see what else is around. (I learned this in a game park in Africa: if you are stopped to look at a lion on the side of the road, you better look at the other side of the road because there's likely an entire pack of lions watching you.)

Do you think they pick a day for amusement, go hide behind the trees, and send Randy Ram to go out and graze in this meadow, to stop traffic so people get out to look, so the animals can have their own entertainment for the day? "Hey Randy - it's your turn to be the decoy today."

My path through Yellowstone was chosen by the name of the pass: Dunraven. How could I not drive over Dunraven pass with the Raven? We ended up in a big campground by a busy road (the good smaller quiet campgrounds were of course filled up early). I took a short hike up a hill near the campground near dark, breathing in the cold thinner air at 6500 feet, hearing the raging Garner river below, getting a whiff of the sulfur smell of the Mammoth Hot Springs nearby.


In the morning I beat some of the crowd to the Hot Springs, taking a hike early on the boardwalks, then whizzing through the rest of them like an armchair car tourist (felony).








Time to move on toward Ashland and endurance... but I'll be back to Yellowstone for a week with my backpack and my own two feet one day.

Good Eagle Day

Saturday May 30 2009

At the ride this weekend, retired bird biologist and endurance rider Karen S said to me, "Someone told me they saw some golden eagles on a nest near Lisa's down Bates Creek Road. Is that true?"

"Oh, Pshaw!" I said. "Those weren't eagles. That's a red-tailed hawk nest. They raised young last year, but this year I didn't see anything on the nest." Some people who aren't quite the bird fanatic I am tend to confuse eagles with hawks, turkey vultures, or even Ravens.

One guy I once worked with came back from a hike in an aspen forest: "Ohmigod this eagle attacked me! It flew at me screeching and almost took off the top of my head! It was HUGE!" This was a guy who confused a hawk with a turkey vulture, and not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's unlikely an eagle would exhibit that behavior, or that an eagle would even be flying and maneuvering through a thick aspen forest in the first place. However, a bird screaming and diving at you might wig you out a bit. Especially if you were smoking something. And this is typical behavior of a goshawk who's defending his nest which is often in an aspen or fir forest (a goshawk did this to me a couple of times), dive-bombing a human while screeching, though a goshawk is considerably smaller than an eagle.

(And of course, I'm really no bird expert - I can't tell one LBJ - Little Brown Job - from another, and on the rare occasion, I couldn't tell a Raven from a crow - but don't tell anybody that!)

The next day after Pshawing to Karen about eagles down the creek, I was driving Tracy to the airport and almost had a wreck on Bates Creek road when I saw TWO GOLDEN EAGLES in a tree by that red-tailed hawk nest! Just knock me over with a feather!

They were sitting in a bare tree... only I thought perhaps the nest from last year had fallen over, since one of the trees around there had lost some big limbs, and the leaves are now so thick on the cottonwood trees it's hard to see into them.

I emailed Karen right away, and she emailed back "There's supposed to be a Bald Eagle nest between Bruneau and Grandview - let's go look at both of them." If the Bald Eagle nest was real, it's possible it would be the first one ever recorded in Owyhee County.

Today we met up, and first went to Lisa's. We immediately spotted a red-tailed hawk, and a nest, 50 yards down the creek from Lisa's house - that would mean there was no eagle nest right in the vicinity. However, it was still possible that where I'd seen the eagles further up the creek was far enough away that eagles would be nesting there (if indeed the old red-tail nest was still there).

Lisa took us in her big pickup truck, drove across the creek to near where the nest was supposed to be, and we got out and snooped around. No big birds in sight - but Karen did find a possible golden eagle feather, and we found plenty of whitewash where they, or a hawk, obviously spent some time roosting in that bare tree. There were some big branches that had split off a tree and fallen in the creek - possibly the nest had been on one of those, though impossible to tell for sure.


We were just about to leave, when Karen took one more look up - "Wait - I see a nest!" It was so well hidden in the leaves we'd almost missed it - the birds could've pooped on us we were so close! Karen put her scope on the nest from a couple of different angles - but it wasn't occupied. There were no fresh greens - "decoration" - that eagles and hawks decorate their nest with, though there were some from this year - a lighter brown color than the rest of the nest. There was also a kingbird flying in and out of that big nest to his own nest - which would be mighty brave of a little bird that would be nice lunch for a hawk or eagle.

So, no golden eagles there, (or hawks), but it is a good sign that several people have seen them, and it's possible they started to nest and quit, or they failed. Maybe they'll try next year. There's a TON of jackrabbits around - their main food source. Babies wouldn't go hungry, and the nest is quite well protected, and the road wouldn't bother them as it's far enough away, and with a low volume of traffic.

Next - down the highway past Grandview for bald eagles. The last couple of weeks I've been addicted to a live Bald Eagle Cam of a nest with three babies in Vancouver BC. I've been out with Karen the last couple of summers to see some golden eagle nests and babies around here, by car, on foot, and on horseback, but this would be my first Bald Eagle nest, if indeed it existed. Golden eagles are common in this area, but despite the Snake River full of fish nearby (bald eagles' main source of food) bald eagle nests are not common anywhere within a couple of hours of here.

We turned on a road toward the Snake River, going by specific instructions another biologist had given Karen: "The eagles were quite accommodating in that when the tree grove is viewed from the west, you'll see the bald eagle nest on outside branches of a tree."

We first came across a red-tailed hawk sitting on her nest in a tree right by the road. Karen wasn't sure how close together a bald eagle and red-tailed hawk would nest. We drove on to the west side of a grove of cottonwood trees, and there, nice and accommodating as you please, was an adult bald eagle in a tree. Karen found the nest quite easily (not as easy for me to pick out quickly! She has an eye for them). It was in about the middle of the cottonwood tree, a big nest supported by several branches off the trunk, and well-sheltered by leaf cover till probably later in the afternoons. (One study Karen has done showed that heat is the biggest killer of golden eagle babies, especially the ones in cliff nests.)

We were about 200 yards away, (the hawk nest probably less than that from the eagle nest), and with Karen's scope, we had a great view into the nest - and saw 2 babies. Big and black-feathered, and looked just about ready to fledge any day.


Then an adult flew into the nest; she (or he) had some dark feathers on her head, so she was possibly no older than 5 years old. Then the other adult flew into the nest, while the first one took off towards the Snake River, less than a half mile away.

We watched a while - our real live eagle cam - then headed home.

It was a Good Eagle Day.