Salmon fishing with my son!

I am currently at Honeyman State Park camping with my eldest son. We have been salmon fishing on the Siltcoos lake. Friday thru Monday our catch was one 17 inch jack salmon.

We hooked several fish but never got them into the boat! Tuesday started the same way with a hooked fish that we lost trying to get in the net but about noon our luck change and we caught two monster coho!

One was 30 inches long and the other was 32. They weighed around 15 lbs each!

Today my son took his sister and her fiance out while I took a salmon carcass and went crabbing at Waldport.  Every pot had a dozen little crabs which consumed all the bait within an hour but among all those I did manage to get two keepers! I'll be feasting on seafood for weeks!

Cape Blanco State Park

I will be spending a week here at Cape Blanco SP. Cape Blanco is the furthest point west in the continental United States. The cape has a lighthouse which is a big draw to this area!

The southern Oregon coast is a bit different than the northern in that is has many large rocks just off shore.

The ocean was very turbulent making some spectacular displays as the waves smashed against these rocks.

I made a couple videos and here is one!

As a bonus, I picked up a couple nice King Bolete mushrooms on the way back from the lighthouse. I will use these in a soup or stew!

I placed my phone in the pic so you can get an idea of their size!

Not just birding

 I've always had an interest in nature. Not just birds but wildflowers, insects, reptiles and mammals. A phone app I have been using for over a year is called Seek. You can take a picture of any plant, insects, mammals, fish, reptiles, spiders and more and it will usually identify it! I have used it mostly on insects, plants and wildflowers. One insect I have always wondered about are those little hairy black and orange caterpillars you see all over the place in the fall. We always referred to them as Wooly Bear caterpillar. The length of the orange section is determined on how well it grew over the summer months. 

I used Seek to discover that they become an Isabella Tiger Moth.

I spotted this other moth on a wall and thought is was interesting and with the help of Seek I learned it was called an October Thorn Moth!

It was not that many years ago I had to spend hours going through insect books trying to determine what species I had seen! This is so much easier that I tend to look up more things than in the past!

Back on the Oregon coast!

 After a successful trip to Montana, where I was able to identify 9 new life birds, I made a quick trip to South Dakota to visit my cousin and tour their new home and town. I hope to spend a month on the coast fishing and crabbing. Last weekend my son came to visit. He brought his boat and we fished Eel lake where we caught our limits of trout.

Of course he caught the largest! Sunday we fished Tahkenitch lake where we landed 4 trout. 2 bass and 2 yellow perch. It was a fun weekend with great weather.

Yesterday I went crabbing in Winchester Bay off the high pier. I ended up with 11 keepers including an 8.5 inch beauty. The largest crab I have ever gotten!

It was 2 inches wider than the crab measure. Today I am making a seafood chowder with the trout, crab, shrimp and mushrooms I gathered locally! It is great to be able to harvest the bounties of the Oregon coast!

Lemmon, South Dakota

 I am visiting with my cousin and his wife who moved here from Oregon last spring. It is a small town with a population of 1100. This area has many fossils and petrified wood. So much wood that they created a park full on it!

They have various sized pieces with the larger logs just stood on end like to the right of the sign. Smaller pieces they used to build petrified spires.

They built the museum out of petrified wood as well.

I am debating where to travel from here. Maybe Arizona or back to Oregon.

Fort Peck, Montana

 I am currently staying at the Downstream Campground near Fort Peck, Montana. The campground lies alongside the Missouri River and just below Fort Peck dam. I have never been in this part of Montana and have never seen the Missouri River except from a plane seat while flying over the state! This is an Army Corp of Engineers campground so I get my federal senior discount. Only  $12.50 a day for an electric hookup site. They have potable water spigots scattered thru out the camp with flush toilets and free showers for campers! The sites are well spaced with lots of mature trees!

As you can see, it emptied out after Labor Day! There are play areas for the children and miles of paved hiking trails winding thru fishing ponds and along the river.

Today is the clearest day I've seen in a while. The wind changed and is blowing the Canadian forest fire smoke out of the area. The Fort Peck dam in huge!

If you look closely at the above picture you can see a semi truck and trailer on top of the dam to the right of the trees. The dam is about 21,026 feet long and 250 feet tall. Below are the power house buildings that hold the turbines that generate electricity. I could not find the height of the towers listed anywhere but if the dam is 250 ft high I would guess the towers are 400-500 ft. 

 If you are wondering why I am in this area, it is to see bird species I have never seen. Not only are there resident birds I want to see but it is the start of the southern migration so hopefully I will see some of those. Among the birds I hoped to see was the Blue Jay. I know people in Oregon call our Stellar Jays blue jays and they are blue but the official blue jay looks like the one below!

It is a beautiful bird even though it is not all blue like the Stellar. I have been here 2 days and added 5 new species to my life list. I hope to add more as the days go by.

Kiwanis Rest Area and Campground

 I am in Lewiston, Montana about 1/2 way between Billings and Canada. This rest area is maintained by the Kiwanis and they allow free camping but do encourage a donation.

They have potable water, restrooms and covered picnic tables. It is between the highway and an airport but is not very noisy. Across the highway is a grocery store with a fuel station just down the road. I am just here one night then on to the Fort Peck area where I hope to catch the southern migration. They have already reported a few!

Back in Montana!

I am now back at Clark Canyon Reservoir, the most northern point in Montana that I reached on my first attempt to bird in this state. 

The temps are in the 70's about 25 degrees cooler than in July! I was able to get the same campsite that I had on my first visit!

I will stay here until after Labor Day. Then I head to Fort Peck about 500 miles northeast of here where I hope to see new birds like the Blue Jay and Brown Thrasher.

Massacre Rocks State Park, Idaho

Well I'm back at Massacre Rocks but with the knowledge I gained from my last visit, I picked a campsite with a better view!

Last visit I was surrounded by Juniper trees close to the freeway. This spot is not as close to freeway so a bit quieter and the temps are 15 degrees cooler which makes for longer and more pleasant bird walks! It was fun to stand on the cliff and watch the pelicans fly by at eye level!

Despite the high temps, the sunflowers were in full bloom!

I also took time to notice the rock formations! 

I am not a geologist but I am confident those rocks are hardened lava! So much interesting and diverse beauty to be seen across our country!

Glenn's Ferry, Idaho

 I am back at Three Island Crossing State Park but this time I am headed east and the the temps are about 10-15 degrees cooler than a month ago! This location is truly an oasis with lush green watered lawns and trees surrounded by sagebrush and brown grass.

Even though my main focus, while traveling, is bird watching, I really enjoy seeing historical places like this one. This location was a main crossing for wagons traveling north and south. They still have one of the original ferries used to cross the Snake River. 

The ferry reminds me of scenes from old western movies like True Grit and The Outlaw Josey Wales! Still standing, on the north side of the river, is the tripod and pulley used in the crossing. 

In the background, beyond the tripod, you can see the wagon trail that angles down across the hill. When I think of the ease that we currently have when traveling, it increases my admiration the toughness of the men and women of that historic era!