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U.S.A. -- NEVADA & IDAHO
Birding by Car and Canoe
30 May - 14 June 2001
by George West
A trip to McCall, Idaho provided an excuse to do a little birding and
fishing in the cool air of central Idaho after several weeks of heat in
southeastern Arizona. We drove northwest from Green Valley to Las
Vegas via Phoenix and Kingman and then northeast on I-15 a short
distance to connect with Route 93 that runs north along the eastern
border of Nevada the entire length of the state. Our first day
took us to Caliente, NV with many stops on the way. The only
sighting of interest in Arizona was a Common Black Hawk north of
Wikieup on Route 93. Once out of the congestion of Las Vegas, we
made better time.
In Caliente, we found a clean and reasonably priced place to stay at
the Shady Motel. Dinner at the pizza place on the corner was
good. Breakfast at the Brandin' Iron Café (closed Mondays,
open at 6:00 A.M.) was convenient. Around town we found a
hummingbird feeder that was supporting a number of Black-chins.
The trees had many Bullock's Orioles and Western Kingbirds. Just
north of town in a canyon is a marshy area with Red-winged and
Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Cinnamon Teal, Mallards, coot, and a
Phainopepla at the northern edge of its range.
The road to Ely (pronounced Eelee) is relatively straight. Parts
are bordered by wet grasslands to the east and a gradually sloping
hillside to the west - some of which is pasture and some
sagebrush. Along here, we saw three Golden Eagles on the power
poles, along with Northern Harrier, Ferruginous, and Red-tailed
Hawks. The fields had nesting Horned Larks, Lark Sparrows,
Long-billed Curlews, and Sandhill Cranes. We found Sage Thrashers
in the brush. Just south of Ely is a small lake - perhaps called
Steptoe Lake. The road crosses the northern end of the lake, but
birding is best at the south end. There is one access
through the fence from Rt. 93 just to the north of the south end
of the lake. With a high clearance vehicle, you can drive this
dirt tract to the lake margin. Here we saw the following:
Redhead, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Cinnamon
Teal, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Killdeer,
Black-necked Stilt, Long-billed Curlew, White-faced Ibis, Forster's
Tern, Ring-billed Gull, Eared Grebe, American Coot, Great Egret,
Black-crowned Night Heron, Sandhill Crane, Cliff Swallow, Savannah
Sparrow, Red-winged, Yellow-headed, and Brewer's
Blackbirds. Route 93 north of Ely to Wells is mostly over
6,000-feet elevation. Snow is visible on the surrounding peaks
that reach over 11,000 feet. The wide valleys are covered with
sagebrush.
Idaho
After entering Idaho, we left Route 93 and turned west on highway 30
towards Boise. This is the Thousand Springs road that parallels
the Snake River and ends up on I-84. Near Hagerman is a rest stop
that gave a good variety of birds. This is on the north side of
Route 30 just after some marshes visible on that side of the
road. It is clearly marked. A short trail leads to marshes
where there were blackbirds, Canada Geese, Ruddy Ducks, Redhead,
Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, and Mallards. We found
three Common Nighthawks sleeping in the trees right over the rest
room. There were also a number of Eastern and Western Kingbirds,
Yellow Warbler, Common Yellow-throat, Western Wood-Pewee, Cedar
Waxwing, and Song Sparrow. We drove a back road down to the Snake
River in the evening and found flocks of Tree and Cliff Swallows,
Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron,
Canada Goose, Spotted Sandpiper, Belted Kingfisher, Ring-billed Gull
and Forster's Tern along the river. Common Merganser and Western
Grebe were on the river. Bullock's Oriole, Ring-necked Pheasant,
California Quail, House Finch, Song Sparrow, and Canyon Wren were along
the hillsides.
Interstate 84 to Boise and the lower section of Route 55 north can be
passed quickly. However, most of Route 55 winds up through the
canyon of the Payette River ending up in Payette Lake in McCall,
Idaho. The southern portion of the North Fork of the Payette from
Banks up to Cabarton are white-water rapids used by very daring
kayakers. The northern portion of the same river from Cabarton
Bridge to the town of Cascade is flat and good for canoeing.
In McCall, we stayed in a condo for a week and met friends Ronni and
Bob W. from Olympia, Washington. McCall is one-mile-high
elevation and cool in early June. Around the condo were several
mule deer and a family of red fox. Apparently the latter are very
common here as we saw several here and there in the area. Walking
the pine and fir forested areas around Payette Lake gave us the
following species: Canada Goose, Common Merganser, Common and Barrow's
Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, Spotted
Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Ring-billed Gull, Calliope Hummingbird,
Northern Flicker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Tree,
Violet-green, Cliff, and Barn Swallow, Steller's Jay, American Crow,
Red-eyed, Cassin's and Warbling Vireo, Black-capped and Mountain
Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robin,
Hermit Thrush, Mountain Bluebird, Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warbler,
Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Fox, Song, and Chipping
Sparrow, Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco, Lazuli Bunting, Western Meadowlark,
Brewer's, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbird, and Brown-headed
Cowbird.
On June 2 we drove to Hell's Canyon of the Snake River. In the
canyon were Bald Eagle, White-throated Swift and Canyon Wren.
This is an interesting place to visit with lots of good birding and
picnic spots. You can take a jet-boat ride in the canyon below
the dam, but we ran out of time. On June 3 and 4 we visited
the Cambridge area along the Weiser (pronounced Weezer, despite its
spelling) River and its tributaries. Flyfishing below Cambridge
was moderately successful with some rainbow trout caught on both wet
and dry flies. Caddis flies were hatching but there were few
rises. Birds in this area included: Bufflehead, Ring-necked
Duck, Swainson's and Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Long-billed Curlew,
Spotted Sandpiper, Common Snipe, California Quail, Ring-necked
Pheasant, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Western Wood-Pewee, Warbling
Vireo, Black-capped Chickadee, Black-billed Magpie, Northern
Rough-winged and Barn Swallow, House Wren, Gray Catbird, American
Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bullock's
Oriole, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, and Bobolink.
It was snowing when we got up on June 5, but this turned to light rain
as we drove south down the Payette River on Route 55 to Banks, and then
east along the South Fork of the Payette River to Lowman. Again,
this is a beautiful wild river with some flat water and some good
kayaking rapids. There are well-marked accesses to the
river. However, to the east, the canyon walls are very steep and
once on the river, it is a long way through some good rapids before you
can get out again. We did see American Dipper on the rocky
rivers, a Red-naped Sapsucker, and a few Evening Grosbeaks in the
pines.
On June 6 the weather lifted but it remained cold in the higher
elevations of McCall. We drove west on Route 55 to New Meadows
(good place to eat is the Sagebrush Barbecue Café) and then
south to Council and on a dirt road to Goodrich. Here the weather
was partly cloudy but the temperature had risen into the 60s. We
put the canoe in on the Weiser River and floated about six miles to
just north of Cambridge. The river was lower than normal and
there were many rocks to avoid. With four of us in the canoe,
there was little free-board. We only partly swamped once and had
to line the canoe through the white water. However, fishing was
good. We got about 10 rainbow trout with two good fish at 16 and
18 inches. These latter two were caught on a large marabou fish
imitator fly. With the banks of the river lined with cottonwoods
and willows, there were many birds. Of interest was the large
number of Lewis's Woodpeckers and Eastern Kingbirds. I estimated
at least 40 of each of these two species in the six miles of
river. Other species not seen earlier were Yellow-breasted Chat,
Great Blue Heron, and Belted Kingfisher.
On June 7, we decided to float the North Fork of the Payette from
Cascade to the Cabarton Bridge. This turned out to be a l3-mile
and three-hour paddle. Despite the current, the wind slowed us
down. There were no rapids. The bottom was sandy with few
places for fish to hide. We saw the following species of birds
not found earlier: Many Osprey, Swainson's Hawk, and a pair of nesting
Sandhill Crane on a grassy river bar. We fished the fast water
below the Cabarton Bridge and caught a few rainbow trout.
Bob got one 19-inch beauty. The fish were feeding on a recent
hatch of salmon flies. June 8 and 9 took us east and north
to Missoula, Montana, and then west and north to Coeur d'Alene,
Idaho. This route follows the Salmon and Bitterroot Rivers north
and then the St. Regis River west along interstate 90 to Coeur
d'Alene. Here we visited our friend Terri D. who has a
spread in the pine and fir forests above Coeur d'Alene Lake. In
her yard were the following birds of interest: California Quail, Hairy
Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Violet-green
Swallow, Steller's Jay, Common Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatch,
Black-capped and Mountain Chickadee, American Robin, Townsend's
Solitaire, Swainson's Thrush, Spotted Towhee, Chipping Sparrow,
Dark-eyed Junco, a flock of about 40 Red Crossbills, a pair of Cassin's
Finch, Pine Siskin, Evening Grosbeak, House Finch, and Brown-headed
Cowbird.
On June 11, I fished a small portion of the St. Maries (pronounced
Mary's) River between Fernwood and Clarkia along Route 3. I
managed to get three nice cutthroat trout and some other strikes using
dry flies (mostly green-bodied humpys). The only bird species
seen here and not other places was Northern Waterthrush.
June 12-14 brought us back to Green Valley along the same route we had
taken earlier. The distances from Coeur d'Alene to McCall, ID is
275 miles along very windy roads. From McCall, ID to Caliente, NV
is 623 miles, and from Caliente to Green Valley is 625 miles. The
total distance of 1,520 miles (same distance as the Alaska Highway from
Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks, AK) is a tough three-day drive allowing
little time to stop. Next time we may drag the little trailer
along so we can make the trip in a more leisurely fashion.
Dr. George C. West
BIRCHSIDE STUDIOS
Wildlife Clip Art and Wildlife Jewelry
http://www.birchsidestudios.com
Green Valley, AZ
kbaybird@aol.com