May 14 - Sand Creek WMA, St. Anthony ID

We only had an hour's drive to get to St. Anthony and it was early afternoon. We decided to go past the town and visit the Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area.

We soon realized that there was no real place to stop and look for birds, we were just birding from the car on a gravel road. But we did see some birds.

The first was a Vesper Sparrow, a common, but striking bird that can be seen in the Okanagan in BC.


Vesper Sparrow - Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area, St. Anthony ID - 2019 Bird #135


Vesper Sparrow - Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area, St. Anthony ID

This sparrow would become the most common sparrow seen for the next couple of days.

Much more uncommon was the next bird Chris spotted, a Grasshopper Sparrow. It was a lifer for me. Chris had seen it on a couple of occasions back east. As a bonus, it was close enough to get some good shots.


Grasshopper Sparrow - Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area, St. Anthony ID
Life Bird #433               2019 Bird #136

Grasshopper Sparrow - Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area, St. Anthony ID

A bonus bird about 15 minutes later was a Sage Thrasher, our last bird of the day.

Sage Thrasher - Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area, St. Anthony ID

We drove back into the town of St. Anthony and had dinner. We had some decisions to make about where we should go on the following day.