Boise, ID - May 23rd

Driving on I-84 in Eastern Oregon, we spotted these Sandhill Cranes from the freeway.   There was no place to pull over so we took the next exit and were able to see these from a short road inside the bird refuge.

 

This appears to be either a Northern Harrier or a Red-tailed Hawk.

 

Near the same spot a Black-billed Magpie perched on another post.

 

He didn't stay long.

 

This was a different Black-billed Magpie several days later at Eagle Island State Park.   He was scolding a house cat, which looked quite distressed at the attention he was getting.

 

Two Ospreys in their nest on a power pole platform seemed unconcerned of the road traffic below them.   Also unconcerned about any threat from the Ospreys are the House Sparrows who appear to have built nests on both sides of the lower parts of the Osprey nest.   Four sparrows can be seen in the photo, and they were quite active flying in and out of their nesting areas while we watched them.

 

We had never before seen Killdeer in a grassy field.

 

 

A Western Kingbird was a new species for our log.

 

The rest of our spottings on this trip included a duck, most likely a Mallard hen except she has a black bill...

 

a European Starling...

 

a Yellow-headed Blackbird...

 

and a Mourning Dove.

 

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