Dickcissel & White-winged Crossbill

I heard about a Dickcissel in Ashton this morning. Dickcissels breed in grasslands of the midwest. This would be the first documented Dickcissel in Idaho. I got in the car and took a quick trip north. The bird showed up after a few minutes and hung out for the 45 minutes I was there. Here's a mediocre/poor photograph.


Dickcissel, Ashton, ID 2006

I came home for a while and then got a call from my friend Cliff. He told me that White-winged Crossbills, usually a bird of the far north, had been seen on sawtell peak (a fairly high mountain in Island Park). I wished I had found out about these birds while I was still in Ashton, but I didn't. I took off and had a nice evening enjoying the Crossbills and the scenery (there's still a bit of snow) of Sawtell.


View from Sawtell Peak, Fremont County, ID 2006

Chair

On the drive home from the Dunes we noticed this chair perched on a rise out in the middle of nowhere. It looked as if had been placed to take advantage of a nice view of the dunes. In reality it probably just got dumped there by somebody too lazy to take it to the landfill.


Chair, near Hamer, ID 2006


For some reason I agreed to this. I've probably got lice, ticks, and who knows what else now.

Sand Dunes

I rode with Mike out to the St. Anthony Sand Dunes this evening. Mike was out there last night, but didn't get the photograph he wanted. I was happy to come along. Even though the sand dunes are a wilderness study area, they are best known as a recreation area for off road vehicles. Enjoy:


Off Road Vehicle Tracks, St. Anthony Sand Dunes, 2006


Mike Photographing the Dunes, St. Anthony Sand Dunes, 2006


A Cliche' Side-lit Sand Ripple Shot, St. Anthony Sand Dunes, 2006


Waiting for the Sun, St. Anthony Sand Dunes, 2006


Mike Carrying the 12x20

Dubois

Dubois is a small town in Clark County in eastern Idaho. Here are some images from today.


Welcome, Dubois, ID 2006


No Snowmobiling, Dubois, ID 2006


Message on the Dubois Jail Wall - "On this day is vow my unconditional love for my true love"


Robin on Nest, Dubois Jail, Dubois, ID 2006


Uncle Sam Santa Claus, Dubois, ID 2006


Crossroads Motel, Dubois, ID 2006


Camas Creek and Cliff Swallows, Clark County, ID 2006

Some More Yard Still Lifes

Bleeding Heart


Fern Leaf


Fern with Spores


Robin Egg


Hornet Nest


Apricot with Fingers

What's Worse Than One Flat Tire?

Mike and I went back out to the Teton Canyon this evening to make some more photographs. We originally planned to photograph from the same spot we did last night. We got there a little early, so we kept driving up the canyon and sort of beat the bush. After driving for about a mile we saw a promising spot and Mike drove towards the canyon rim. Shortly thereafter we heard "clank, clank, hiss, hiss". So we blew a tire, no big deal Mike had a spare. However, we soon discovered we had two flats. We went back and found a harrow (a sort of plow with six inch spikes) hiding face up in the grass. We turned it on its end to help others avoid the same problem. Well, the light was good, so we made photographs until dark. Mike changed the front tire and we drove three or four miles out to the highway with one flat. Eventually the tire was so thrashed we had to drive five miles an hour. Tracie, my sister-in-law, was kind enought to drive us home. The Range Rover is parked out near the highway, and we'll get everything taken care of tomorrow.


Teton Canyon, 2006


Harrow, Teton Canyon Rim, 2006


Mike Changing the Tire


Driving on the Rim


Tire after the Drive


Rescued... Thanks Tracie

Teton River

Mike, my son Kevin, and I went out to photograph the teton dam site tonight. The light was sort of flat, it was windy, and there was a lot of dust in the air. Neither one of us got anything we wanted at the dam. At the end of the night though we took a drive on the canyon rim a couple miles upstream and discovered a nice overlook.


Teton Canyon, Fremont County, ID 2006

Night Photograpy Excursion III

I went out again this evening to photograph some night stuff. I'm getting quite a bit of noise when the exposures go over 10 minutes. Therefore I shot everything both digitally and with film. Next time I'll bring two tripods, which should cut my time in the field in half. There are a lot of weird radio programs on at 2:00 in the morning to pass the time though. Tonight I was listening to a program called Evolution, Creation, and Extraterrestrials.

Anyway, here are three photographs of the same subject. The first photograph was made with the ISO set to 1600, I added a bit of light from my headlamp. It's really noisy (or grainy, or however you define it), but it's cool to see the stars relatively sharp. The next photograph was a twenty minute exposure with no added light, during the exposure clouds rolled in and obscured most of the stars. The last photograph was a twenty minute exposure with a little bit of added light from a headlamp. I didn't even know there was lightning until I viewed the photograph on the computer.




Potato Cellar at Night, Walker, ID 2006

Night Photography Excursion II

I got my electronic cable release the other day and have been anxious to try it out. So, last night I set out to make some photographs. The first stop was the Teton View (our local drive-in movie theater). I only had three dollars in my wallet and movie tickets are five dollars. I convinced the kids in the ticket booth to let me in for three bucks since I only planned to be there for a little while. It was pretty neat. I hope to get back a few more times this summer to photograph.


Ice Age 2, Teton View Theater, Rexburg, ID 2006

After photographing the movie I got ahold of Jon and we went out on the farm fields SE of Rexburg and photographed until 1:00 am.


Corrugated Potato Cellar, Rexburg, ID 2006


Dirt and Straw Potato Cellar, Walker, ID 2006


Grain Silos, Walker, ID 2006

Long Day

Friday morning I was scheduled to do a breeding bird survey in Dubois. The survey is to start 30 minutes before sunrise (5:15 am). Since Dubois is ca. one hour from Rexburg I needed to leave Rexburg by around 4:00. Mike agreed to come along and record the data. So, I woke up at 3:15, picked Mike up around 3:30, made a stop at Maverick for beverages and hit the road at 4:05. That was the first of these surveys I had done. It went pretty well I thought, although I had a hard time identifying a couple different sparrows by song. I hope to do it some more. Mike was a good sport and it was nice to have him along. We found this mailbox somewhere along the way and Mike wanted to hop on for a ride.


Mike on Mailbox, Dubois, ID 2006

On the way home we stopped in Dubois to show Mike the Dubois Civil Defense Caves and to have some lunch at the gas station deli.


Dubois Civil Defense Cave, Dubois, ID 2006


Mike Photographing Raven Chicks

I got home around 1:00. After a quick nap I loaded up the car with camping gear and went to meet up with the scouts at 3:00 for a campout. We went up to Buttermilk Campground in Island Park. The campground is on the shore of Island Park Reservoir. It was a lot of fun. The scouts went swimming, we sat around the campfire, and when it was dark we caught a few crawfish. After catching 20 or so crawfish, we came back to camp and boiled them. I was pretty impressed that most of the scouts ate, and even liked them. I finally got to bed at midnight and slept in until 9:00. The kids complained about my snoring, I didn't hear a thing.


Buttermilk Campground, Island Park, ID 2006


Campfire, Buttermilk Campground, Island Park, ID 2006



Crawfish Before and After Being Cooked

Fun Farm

Mike and I went out to Chester Dam and Fun Farm Bridge last night. Mike wanted to rephotograph chester to make a better negative for platinum printing. I just sort of tagged along. After photographing at Chester we stopped at a little diversion dam near Fun Farm Bridge. There was a pretty good caddisfly hatch and the fisherman were out in droves.



Caddisflies at Fun Farm, Fremont County, ID 2006


Fun Farm Diversion Dam, Fremont County, ID 2006

Night Photography Excursion

Last night the moon was full (or maybe one day past full). I was feeling a little restless after a day of being home, so I set out at 11:00 to make some photographs.

My first stop was a little corrugated storage shed in Rexburg. There were three different sources lighting the structure. There was as red stop light, a mercury vapor light, and the ambient light from the full moon. I made a few exposures, this one worked out pretty well I thought. I photographed it with the camera set on 200 ASA, f/7.1 @ 5 minutes.


Corrugated Storage Structure, Rexburg, ID 2006

I then drove up in the farm fields SE of town, I didn't really find anything to photograph. Since I was fairly close to the south fork of the Snake River, I decided to go there and try to find a Screech Owl for Madison County. I waited around and played tapes for 15 minutes or so, but never got a response. I then drove back into town.

On my way home I passed the LDS temple under consturction. I haven't made a lot of temple photographs, but the light was pretty interesting so I gave it my best. I really wish I had been photographing the temple for the entire construction phase, oh well. I made these photographs with 200 ASA, f/6.3 @ 4 minutes.



Rexburg, Idaho Temple Under Construction, 2006

I then saw some young trees lit by mercury vapor lamps in a church parking lot that I thought looked interesting. When I got closer though I realized they wouldn't make very interesting photographs. However, a big pile of dirt on the adjoining lot seemed to have some promise. I got low to hide the full moon (which would have been severly over-exposed), and made a few photographs that I really like. I set the camera to 200 ASA, f/6.3 @ 4 minutes.


Dirt Pile, Rexburg, ID 2006

While waiting in the car during the last exposure I was surprised to see that it was nearly 2:30. Anyway, it was a fun evening. I may go out again tonight if Susan lets me.


2:27 am

Teton Dam Spillway

Mike, Jon, and I photographed the Teton Dam Spillway last night. I don't think it was ever used (the dam broke before the reservoir reached capacity). There is a lot of "interesting" grafitti, most of it about sex, rebelling against authority, and references to homosexuality. It's pretty juvenile, but funny stuff. It was fun to be out with those guys.


Jon photographing in the Spillway


Repent


Teton Dam Spillway, 2006

More Yard Still Lifes

Here are a couple more photographs of things found in the yard.


Rhubarb


Toadstools

Susan's Saturday, My Saturday

So, Susan and Tracie participated in the Teton Dam Marathon by running a 5k. It was cool to go down and see them finish. They finished somewhere in the middle of the pack. There were a few vendors and different activities for kids and families, including a rock climbing wall courtesy of BYU-I.


Susan at the finish line


Tracie and Susan after the race


Kevin on the rock climbing wall

After Susan's race Jon and I went to Idaho Falls, he had to pick up some stuff at Lowe's, and I wanted to look at plants, window wells, lumber, and stuff. We found a great place for lunch. Tom's Gyro and Hamburgers makes a pretty mean Gyro. As excited as I was for Susan and Tracie, I was almost as excited about that Gyro.


Tom's Gyro and Hamburger's (I'm not sure why hamburgers has an apostrophe)


Gyro and Onion Rings

Shooting with Mike

Mike and I went photographing last night. Mike wanted to make a photograph of the Teton River from the Teton Dam looking upstream. So, we took his Range Rover 2/3 of the way to the top of the dam and made photographs. I scrambled up the last 1/3. That was the first time I had been to the top. It was pretty cool but violent thunderstorms were rolling in, and since I was the tallest thing in the canyon at that point I cut it short.


Teton River from the top of the Teton Dam (Downstream View)

We then wanted to take advantage of the dramatic skies, so we drove to some nearby potato cellars. Just as I got my camera and tripod situated, the front of the storm hit with high winds, blowing dust, and rain.


Me trying to photograph in the storm (photo credit Michael Slade www.tawayama.com)


Dust Storm, Newdale, ID 2006

On the way home I showed Mike a few other Upper Valley spots such as Monkey Rock, the Hog Hollow Bridge, and a couple of dilapidated potato cellars. We finished of the night of shooting by trying to capture lightning strikes in photographs of the cellar.



Potato Cellar with Lightning, Hog Hollow, ID 2006

Bird Banding and Hot Wings

I did my last set of point counts at Mud Lake this morning. I thought it might be fun to have Kevin along, he's now out of school for the summer, and then go over to Camas NWR and let Kevin see some birds up close. The Idaho Bird Observatory are banding birds at the refuge to monitor migration. Kevin had a good time and really enjoyed holding and releasing the birds. Afterwords, to celebrate a finished year of school, we went out to lunch at Kevin's favorite restaurant, Wingers. He ordered a plate of hot wings and the manager told us he must be the youngest kid they've seen who likes hot wings. Kevin thought that was pretty cool.


Jay showing Kevin a Robin


Kevin with a MacGillivray's Warbler


Kevin with a Western Tanager


Kevin licking his fingers after a few hot wings at Wingers

White-winged Dove

I got a phone call this evening at about 5 o'clock from Don, a former english professor and part-time birder. He told me his son had a White-winged Dove at his feeder. White-winged Doves are birds of the Southwest and Mexico. I think there have only been one or two other sightings for Idaho. I did see one in Idaho Falls a few years ago, but decided to try for this one as well. Don's son lives in Labelle, about 15 minutes south of Rexburg. I got out there and met Mike, Don's son, and he let me sit on his deck for a while looking for the Dove. I had a church function at 7 o'clock, so I had to leave no later than 6:40. Around 6:35 I was ready to give up and drive the neighborhood to look for the dove. As I was saying goodbye to Mike the bird flew into the feeder and I got a good look and several decent photographs.



White-winged Dove, Labelle, ID 2006

Sand Dune Photographs

After dark I made a few photographs of the stars and moon with the digital camera.


Moon from St. Anthony Sand Dunes, 2006


Night Sky from S. Anthony Sand Dunes, 2006

Sand Dune Campfire

Last night we were at our place playing some basketball with Jon, Kristi, Tracie, and Katie after our regular saturday barbecue (nothing fancy this time, just hot dogs, brats, veggies, and pineapple). We then decided it would be fun to head up to the sand dunes to have a fire and roast marshmellows. So, we got up there, the girls lit the fire while Jon and I photographed, and we had an enjoyable evening. About 10:45 the kids were getting grumpy, so we began the process of putting out fires and cleaning up. Jon was still sort of making photographs, so Susan, the boys, and I didn't wait and headed for home. At about midnight I got a call from Jon's mother (for some reason Jon couldn't get through to me) who informed me that Jon had left the keys to Krisi's car in our car. I found the keys and made the 35 minute drive back up to deliver the keys. I found Jon, Kristi, Tracie, and Katie walking down the dirt road about two miles from their car. Despite that little mishap it was a great evening.


Kristi, Tracie, and Katie Starting the Fire


Ethan and Kevin at the Dunes



Sitting around the Fire