Idaho - Birds of Prey, Sand dunes, and Craters of the Moon

Idaho's Snake River forms a canyon south of Boise that's home for 700 pairs of raptors. It's the highest concentration of nesting raptors in the world.

The raptors were a little scarce the morning that I visited, but the canyon was really striking:




The river cuts through this lava-based bedrock to forms the canyon:


Nearby, a state park preserves a set of sand dunes:


The dunes are huge. The two dots on the top of the dune are people.




A little farther east is a huge ancient lava flow area, called Craters of the Moon. But despite the soil being composed of lava sand, plants still flower there:


Killdeer and her family:


Horned Lark:




After 1,000 miles of driving through forests, it's not all that beautiful anymore...

Crater Lake

Crater Lake in Oregon is a very unique place. It's the only lake in the US that's filled entirely by rainwater - no streams flow into it, and none flow out:



And Crater Lake is actually a real crater - a volcano blew up here 6,000 to 8,000 years ago:


The lake is most famous for its deep blue color - no sediments or salt to muddy it up:


We were there in mid-June. But at an elevation of 8,000 feet, there were still 10 feet of snow on the ground:


The snow kept many park buildings buried:




The lake is almost two kilometers deep. The little island in the middle is the tip of the new volcano rising out of it:


The water level is kept stable because the amount of rainfall and evaporation is about equal. The total amount of water in the lake gets replaced every 250 years.


It's not often that one can see the top of a flying bald eagle:




A juvenile Clark's Nutcracker on the rim of the crater:


Waiting for his parent to bring something good:


And voila! The baby is above, the parent is below. You can tell by the length of the tail - the juvenile hasn't grown full tail feathers yet.




Female mountain bluebird:


Cassin's Finch: