Island Park, Idaho

This is our second home, a place of natural beauty, where the lodgepole pine forests of most of Island Park give way to fir and aspen north of Henry’s Lake, around our cabin and near Raynolds Pass. 

Magnificent wildflowers carpet the fields and hillsides each spring. Early in June, delicate glacier lilies cover the ground, and flowers like the shooting star, western virgin’s bower, and sugar bowls bloom.

Glacier Lily

Shooting Star

              Western Virgin's Bower

 Sugar Bowls

The rare Calypso Orchid below was photographed somewhere in Fremont County. I have promised not to reveal where, as it is rare and endangered in large part due to the impact of human development on its habitat and growing requirements. The plant has very precise requirements regarding the soil and other conditions in which it grows, including the particular fungi in the soil. Even walking close to it can disturb the soil enough to jeopardize the health and reproduction of the plant. What a lovely, delicate flower.

Calypso Orchid

In contrast to the delicate beauty of the orchid is the showy, splashy bright yellow of the mules ears that bloom around early July. These are actually my favorite flower around our cabin, because they cover acres of the surrounding hillsides, and meadows throughout Island Park, with bright swatches of color. The acre and a half of wildflower meadow below our home is dominated by these flowers for a few weeks every summer - amazing us with the saturation of color that is almost more than the eye can take in, and defining my mental image of this place that I love.

Yellow Mules Ears

Interspersed in this bright wildflower meadow are sticky geranium, lupine, and paintbrush, along with many, many other flowers that will come and go in their natural sequence throughout the summer.

Sticky Geranium

Lupine

Paintbrush

The birds are all in their brightest breeding plumage in June, and the annual robin’s nest appears again under our deck. 

Breakfast for the babies!

We are cautioned by Forest Service flyers left at our door, and by the local newspaper, to keep bird feeders 10 feet off the ground and 4 feet from the nearest vertical support so as not to attract bears - or better yet, not to put out feeders at all! 

This season there have been more bears around homes and cabins here than in the eleven years we have been in Island Park, and our neighbors all have stories of a large black bear that had been regularly circulating through our area up to a couple of weeks before we arrived, climbing up on porches and decks and peering through windows. Two years ago we found big bear paw prints in the dust on our garage door, five to six feet above ground level. However, we have still only once seen a bear in our area in eleven summers, which is fine with us.

Some of the birds here are so bright and exotic looking they might look appropriate in the tropics.

Lazuli Bunting

Western Tanager

The tree swallow and mountain bluebird are both cavity nesters that readily build their nests in nest boxes provided by humans. The tree swallow seems to be more aggressive, winning out most fights over a nest box. But this one chose the more natural route, nesting in an aspen that faces the morning sun.

Tree Swallow

Mountain Bluebird

Other frequently sighted birds:

Rufous Hummingbird

Red-Naped Sapsucker

Black-Headed Grosbeak

About the third week in July, a blue-winged teal appears on the pond with 11 ducklings. In this photo they are about a week old.

Nearby, a spotted sandpiper hops along the bank, with the characteristic bobbing of its rear end.

Spring Break in Santa Barbara

Cachuma Lake Recreation Area, about 15 miles inland from Santa Barbara, California, is a lovely county park. 


In spring, the hills around the lake are a lush green, deciduous oaks bursting with new growth. These coastal hills have abundant wildlife, including deer, wild turkey, and many bird species. 

We camped among oaks filled with acorn woodpeckers.

European Collared Doves were common, as were wild turkey, Western Bluebird, California Quail, Scrub Jay, European Starling, and the little Yellow-Rumped Warbler - which I have always thought is a much less dignified name for this cute bird than the former name, "Audubon's Warbler."

Along the coast, Gaviota State Park "takes its name from the Spanish word for seagull, given to the area by soldiers of the Portola Expedition who supposedly killed a seagull while camping here in 1769." A dramatic railroad trestle dominates the way to the beach, and a long pier attracts fishermen and even has a boat launch hoist. The pier is a great vantage point for view of birds and the ocean.

Wildflowers grace every hillside, the most showy flowers being the California Poppy, Lupine, and Mustard.

We delighted in walking along the beach among the gulls, and especially in watching Long Billed Curlews feed in the receding waves, flaunting the unlikely proportions of their long bills, then flying gracefully over the surf.

Refugio State Beach and El Capitan State Beach, also operated by the California State Parks system, offer more miles of beach and hiking trails, and more shorebirds. All of these three parks and beaches are within 20 miles of Santa Barbara, itself a charming seaside town.