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7/10
The day promises to be a bit cooler & with cloud cover. Ted & Gary are ready to use this perfect day for fishing. On the road at 6:30 for Montana to float the Kootenai once again. They embark at 8:00 am hoping for plenty of angling & catching. On their return at 3 pm, they had fish stories to tell. Ted caught a 13” cutthroat trout, a threatened species, &, as with all catches, he carefully returned it to the river. He also caught a variety of other fish. Gary caught a young 13” sturgeon, a species reintroduced to the river as part of an intense program started this year to have this native species successfully able to live here once again. He will be reporting this catch to Fish & Game. He, of course, carefully returned this lively fish to its home. Catching sturgeon while fly-fishing is a bit weird. They are not normally surface feeders. Gary’s fly had gotten a bit sodden & sank a bit. That’s all it took for this little guy to chomp down on the fly. Gary reeled it in & couldn’t figure out what he’d caught. They’re a bit different looking from the fish normally found in the waters he fishes. Gary thought he’d caught some sort of mutant monster. Ted came to the rescue with the answer. Gary also had some other catches. Alongside the river are train tracks. Trains pass the guys several times when they floated this route today & 3 days ago. The train engineers waved to them as they passed by. One leaned out the window and holding his arms wide apart, shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘How’s it going?’ Gary gave him the thumbs up & the engineer returned the gesture. The landscape they traveled through is absolutely beautiful. A great day all around. After resting a bit, Gary & I took off for the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. Located just a few miles from downtown Bonners Ferry, it is a lovely setting for the wildlife smart enough to hang around there. It began to rain in earnest as we entered the Refuge. We saw deer, moose, a pheasant w/kids and a number of species of ducks & Canadian geese. We also got a picture of a VERY large bird that we cannot identify. (Kind of like the sturgeon, strange looking) There are hiking trails that don’t appear too difficult and take you to some interesting spots in the Refuge. We didn’t try them as it was raining. There is a 4.5 mile auto loop that takes you through marshland and grassy fields. In spite of the rain, we did enjoy our time there. End of a special day.
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On our way to the Refuge, just outside of town, we are seeing a real threat of rain. Happened quickly.
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Part of the driving loop is this marsh is part of the center of the loop. Many, many ducks out there hiding in the tall water grasses.
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Mom is busy munching on the left while the youngster is very curious about the car in front of us. They soon scooted away.
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This poppa pheasant is looking for his two young’uns that scooted into the grass. He was so focused on locating them, he didn’t realize how close our car was. Once he did, he squawked & ran into the brush on the other side of the road. He then commenced more squawking, calling his children, no doubt. Sounded just like a chicken.
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In the background is mom. She & her chicks were having a fine time in the grasses. The walked like quail with their bobbing heads, but I could not locate them in my bird books. Anyone know?
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7/11
Sun is out & sending strong rays. We decided to revisit the Wildlife Refuge to see what we could find. Such a peaceful place with very nice views throughout. Now a short word about the native population.
The Kootenai Indians have lived in their aboriginal home of Idaho, Montana & British Columbia for thousands of years. Known for their unique sturgeon-nose shaped canoe and their linguistically isolated language, the Kootenai refused to leave their land for reservations back in the day. Individual Kootenai were given allotments. Many years of hardship followed. In 1974, the Kootenai declared war on the U.S. government for a land base in Idaho. The war continues. A Supreme Court decision ordered the gov’t. to pay the Kootenai millions of dollars for the land grab. The Kootenai have refused the money. They want the land. Meanwhile, the judgment sits in the bank accruing interest. They insist on having the land. On a side note: I wonder if they took the money, if they couldn’t use it to buy the land. It’s probably the principle of the whole affair rather than the money. Sad.
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Ted took several pictures & ‘stitched’ them together to give a great overview of the campground and the Kootenai River running past it. To the left of the river there is a large green area. To the left of that are the campsites. Toward the left in the picture is a ‘loop’ shaped road. Camping sites are there as well and there are others not seen from this view. The zigzag on the mountain shows 2 of the 4 switchbacks of the road into the campground.
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While Ted was photographing the campground, a little bird came to sit on his camera. Ted slowly put his finger to the chest of the little guy. The bird hopped on. Ted took his picture & he flew away. An amazing moment! It appears to be a juvenile sparrow.
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