2007 Idaho trip

18 August 2007 - Steve and I took our second ever vacation sans kids 18 - 25 August. This year was my turn to choose the place we'd go and I picked Idaho. I had enjoyed my time here in June with the Laidlers, and I wanted to see what the northern panhandle region was like. We flew to Boise and stayed the night there before heading north the next day. We arrived early enough to try to get some birding in before sunset and so we headed over to Deer Flat Wildlife refuge.



We saw some grebes, several species of shorebirds, raptors, and a few other species. One of the sights was this smoke plume rising above the mountains north of Boise. Forest fires were going on all over Idaho during the week we visited.








We saw several California Quail at the refuge. They sure are cute birds.











A great tailed grackle and a couple of regular ones, too.













Caspian Tern.
















This was an interesting effect. The view is toward the east near sunset time. The smoke in the air was playing tricks with the low light angle.