2006 Trips

The "Early Bird Special" on April 29 was a big success, with full boats and beautiful weather. Guests on the morning trip were able to observe a mother eagle drying off after her bath in the river, then flying up to her nest and babies. The afternoon session witnessed the male eagle repeatedly attacking a coyote that was in the wrong place at the wrong time!

On our first full day trip (May 6) there was so much raptor activity on the land portion of the tour that it was sometimes difficult to keep track of it all at once. After observing burrowing owls first thing in the morning we then discovered a nesting pair of Swainson's hawks that put on quite a show. Within the span of about 10 minutes, the female came off of the nest to the tree where the male sat, bred with the male, caught a mouse in the field below, ate it, and flew back to nest. Talk about multi-tasking!Later we moved into an area where all at the same time we had several northern harriers, Swainson's hawks, red tail hawks, and short eared owls occupying the same air space. It was difficult to know where to look to keep track of all the activity.From there we moved to a nest of young red tailed hawks that are possibly three weeks old. We had an excellent vantage point and were able to observe them as they tried out their wing flapping for the first time.We observed two active eagle nests, both with the female still on eggs. The young should be hatching anytime.At lunch, we had a visit from Morley Nelson's son, Tyler, who brought along Morley's eagle, Slim. Everyone was properly awed by seeing such a regal bird up close. Many of the group had their picture taken with Slim.Later, on the boat portion of the trip, we were able to spot several prairie falcons and to see a male eagle exhibiting an exciting courtship display.

All in all, a wonderful day in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, and it was made even more special by having Russ Terrell of Idaho Camera along to explain digital photography. Russ also took some striking photographs that we'll be posting here soon.

2005 Trips

May 27th to 30th, 2005 - Memorial Day Tour

May 14th, 2005 - Deluxe Full Day Land and River Tour

We continue to have great weather down in the canyon. Even though it has been a little drizzly at Boise, the weather has been perfect out in the Snake River Birds of Prey Area. Saturday, May 14 was a great day for birds, and our special guest was Tim Behr of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. Everyone on the trip benefited from Tim's knowledge of raptors and their identification. We continue to see good numbers of short-eared owls, (which we haven't seen for several years), and we are seeing ferruginous hawks where we haven't observed them for some time. Also, burrowing owls seem to be more numerous this year and the Swainson's hawks are back in the area. There are baby eagles on at least two of the nests that we regularly observe. The others will be along soon. We saw one female Cooper's hawk. In the non-raptor category, we also observed a sand hill crane, which is very unusual for this area at this time.

We ended up stopping so many places to look at raptors on the land portion of the tour that we were an hour late for lunch! Mike says that will never happen again, even if we spot a California condor or a pterodactyl!

May 8th, 2005 - Mother's Day Special Tour

The first two weeks of trips for 2005 have been very interesting and gratifying. First, the weather has been great. Even though rain has been forecast every time we've been out, we have managed to slip between storms. Only on Mother's Day did we get a little sprinkled on. We love the moisture and aren't afraid of a little rain. Anyway, it's supposed to be clear and sunny from May 12th on out.

Speaking of Mother's Day--what a bird day! From one spot where we stopped to set up scopes, we were able to observe red-tailed hawks, ferruginous hawks, Swainson's hawks, kestrels, harriers, and short-eared owls (lots of them), not to mention a lot of courtship antics of long-billed curlews. Later we came across several burrowing owls and, of course, the golden eagles and prairie falcons of the canyon.

Our boat support crew noted an osprey at the boat dock prior to the trip and a Cooper's hawk alongside the road on the way home. The birds seem to be moved around some this year and we are finding them back in places where we haven't seen them in awhile. Also, everything seems to be earlier than usual. An example is the baby eagles we spotted on the nest on the April 30th boat trips.

Please call us if you have any questions about the birds or about our trips.

We had several of the World Center for Birds of Prey volunteers on the Mother's Day trip. We really enjoyed their company and thank them for coming out! They do terrific work out there and it's definitely a place you should visit if you haven't already.