May 15 - Camas NWR, Hamer ID

It was decision time today, to be discussed over breakfast.  We had one more target bird, the Pinyon Jay.

There were two options:

• go south into Utah, perhaps as far as Salt Lake City, 
• go north into Montana, there were recent sightings in Helena.

There was also a time constraint as Chris needed to be home by Friday May 17 if possible, earlier than planned. 

Salt Lake was about 3.5 hours due south, Helena about 4 hours due north. We decided on Helena as it was in the direction we needed to go to get home. After Helena, we'd continue on to Great Falls, another hour and a half further north.

Also, going north would allow us to stop at the Camas National Wildlife Refuge which was less than an hour away.

Upon arriving at Camas, we found it was a grassland area without much access. But we got the day started with a new bird for the trip and for 2019 for me.

Horned Lark - Camas National Wildlife Refuge, Hamer ID

2019 Bird #137

As mentioned in a previous post, Vesper Sparrows are quite common in this region.

Vesper Sparrow - Camas National Wildlife Refuge, Hamer ID

On the mammal front, there was a Pronghorn. They are not antelopes, but are often called Pronghorn Antelope. They were almost wiped out by over-hunting in the early 1900's. They were saved in the 1930's when Hoover and private interests set aside 100,00 acres of protected land for them.


Pronghorn -  - Camas National Wildlife Refuge, Hamer ID

I believe this was a lifer Mammal for Chris.

There was one last Horned Lark and then we drove for 5 - 6 hours to Great Falls.


Horned Lark - Camas National Wildlife Refuge, Hamer ID