Tuesday, June 16, 2009

It's nature

We have lived in Idaho for a year and a half now.  I have seen many animals here that I didn't see in Washington or Arizona.  Last year during winter we saw a mother moose and her baby running down a road.  This is a bull moose.  We have seen these too.
In our yard we have seen this kind of Yellow Tananger.  This is a male.  The males have brighter colors as most male birds do.  They say it is so they can dazzle the females:)  I would have to agree.  This is beautiful!
I have seen many interesting animals on my way to Twin Falls.  I go there every 2 weeks to do my shopping.  This is a Red Tailed Hawk.
On a Saturday we went out to Redfish Lake and we saw a beautiful Steller's Jay.
Believe it or not I saw a lone Grey Wolf.  It was on my way to Twin Falls of course.
Last summer when my brother Ron and family were here visiting we were driving up Bald Mountain and Wendy spotted a Black Bear.  He was hiding behind a tree close to the road and ran away as fast as he could go.
This is a Golden Eagle and they are common here and there is one on the way to Twin.  It's nest is close to the road and sometimes you can see the baby in it.
The Yellow Headed Blackbird live in the marshy area's we have here.  They are quite a bit larger than the Red Winged Blackbirds.
Here is a Red Winged
Elk are very common.  In fact last year one ran into Brent's brand new company car as he was coming home from work late at night.  Now the car says ox cable:)
Yellow Bellied Marmots are all over the place at Shoshone.  They love the lava flow areas where they can hide in the caves.
This is a flicker.  It is a type of Woodpecker.  Jess and I saw this on a bike ride.
Prairie Dogs are everywhere.
I have seen a Weasel by a train bridge. The bridge is on the way to Ketchum.  I saw this on a bike ride too.

This is the most unusual thing I have seen.  It is a Ringtail Cat.  Also called a Miners Cat.  Miners would make friends with them. They liked the mines because they are dark and cozy.  This is a nocturnal animal.  They are very rarely seen in the day time. It ran across the road in front of me when I was driving home one day from Twin.  I didn't even know what one was.  It was so cute.  It looked like a combination of a cat and a fox.  The colors were so distinct. I had to go home and look it up.  I love to see the wild life here.  It's nature:)