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...