Bald eagles return to Camas National Wildlife Refuge
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For many years, bald eagles have flown in from around southern Idaho each evening to roost in the large cottonwoods near the Camas National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. They usually start arriving an hour before sunset and usually leave before sunrise the next morning to hunt for meals. They may fly up to 50 miles away from the refuge to hunt the rivers or visit ranches during the lambing and calving operations.
The Friends of Camas have scheduled its “Come to Roost event” on February 22 from 5 p.m. to sunset to hopefully watch the eagles fly into the cottonwoods to roost for the night. They will have spotting scopes set up for visitors to watch the eagles through and they will also be serving hot drinks and light refreshments.
The number of eagles that fly into the refuge are determined by the weather; the colder the temperature the more that will show up. According to refuge personnel, during the recent cold snap, between 50 to 60 showed up, but those numbers have dwindled to about 20 to 30 per night. Last Saturday, I visited the refuge at sundown and only six were roosting. With the changing weather, the numbers may change, but there is a lot more to see near Camas NWR than just the bald eagles coming to roost.
Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon traveling from Rexburg via the Egin/Hamer Road and then north of Hamer, I traveled North 2375 East. Then I drove down each road that had been plowed. It was a wonderful trip full of wildlife viewing and photography.
Along the Egin/Hamer Road, I saw seven mule deer, a coyote, horned larks, a bald eagle and a pair of golden eagles working on their relationship. At the Rigby Produce potato plant, I went north until I came to the junction at 2375 East and headed north on it. When I came to 2700 North, I traveled east about four miles and saw several large herds of elk scraping out a living by digging up the old corn stalks. Most of them were cows and calves with some spike bulls, but no large bulls.
Back on 2375 East, I ran into two elk herds also feeding in the harvested corn fields. Some of the fields looked like elk had plowed the fields with all the digging they had done with their feet. While watching them, I saw two cows boxing each other.
Several miles north of a cattle feed yard, I hit the highlight of my trip. There was an unnamed road that ran along side of Camas Creek, which was frozen over. On the ice were two tracks made by a pair of otters. I decided to hike along the rim of the creek to see if I could find them.
In the fresh snow, I soon found where a pair of coyotes had also started following the otters. I saw where the otters made a series of ice caves next to some caves in the rock banks. As I was trying to figure out where the otters had gone and where they might emerge, the coyotes exploded out from some sagebrush. One crossed the creek and posed for a picture while the other ran down the creek but stopped to check on my progression. On the way back to the truck, four mule deer crossed a field and hid in some willows by the creek.
A road connected the one by Camas Creek to Potato Road. As I was traveling along the connecting road, I saw a badger run into a recently dug hole. I parked away from the hole and watched for an hour, but it did not come back out. Several rough-legged hawks flew by and a golden eagle landed on a power pole next to me.
On my way home, I stopped watching the eagles fly into the cottonwoods. The six that came in were a disappointment. If you are expecting more than you see, broaden your search. There are many things to see and witness in that area.
It is almost March and there will be a lot of changes in the wildlife kingdom in our area. Stay tuned for the migrations just around the corner.
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