Idaho Falls Post Register March 27, 2008

he first-time visitor to Camas National Wildlife Refuge was amazed Friday night.

"This is spectacular," he said. "I cannot believe I lived in Idaho Falls for over 30 years before I discovered this place."

With hundreds of geese and swan flying onto the refuge with a background of an orange sunset, the view was fantastic.

The swan and geese are about three weeks behind their migration through the area because of this year's heavy snow.

Last year, 15,000 snow geese showed up during the first two weeks of March and rested for a couple of weeks.

"With from six inches to a foot of snow on the ground, it is hard for them to find food this year," said Rob Larranaga, the Camas NWR manager. "We started filling the ponds with water last Wednesday to at least give them a place to rest."

Trumpeter and Tundra swans, snow and Canada geese and Sandhill cranes have been flying over the refuge, scouting for places to feed. By Friday night, there were about 50 snow geese, 300 swans, 200 Canada geese and a few ducks resting at the refuge.

The snow-covered ground had kept many of the waterfowl south of Idaho Falls.

There are 5,000 to 10,000 snow and Ross geese in the Blackfoot area. By next weekend, visitors to Camas should see thousands of migrating waterfowl as they descend on the refuge.

"We should have three weeks of good numbers of waterfowl coming now," Larranaga said. "I expect the snow geese to come in any day now."

Market Lake and Mud Lake, south of Camas, have had swans and snow geese land on the ice before heading back south to feed.

Waterfowl are not the only abundant wildlife to observe on the refuge.

Every evening just before dark, there are 30 to 45 eagles roosting in the refuge's large cottonwoods.

The key to observing the eagles are to be there from sundown to dark.

An estimated 200 white-tailed deer roam the willows along Camas Creek with several moose with them.

During March, the biggest draw for visitors has been a saw-whet owl perching in the trees just north of the headquarters.

Other owls like the Great Horned and long- and short-eared, nest and can be observed occasionally along with raptors. Northern harriers, ted-tailed and sharp-shinned Hawks frequent the marshes and surrounding agriculture land.

Early songbirds are also starting to make their presence known. Last week, a birder located and identified 34 species of birds at Camas.

Evening and early morning are the best times to observe migrating birds and animals. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets create breath-taking scenes of migrating birds as they move from feeding grounds to the ponds to rest.

As more ponds fill and the snow leaves, more birds will be coming, entertaining those observers who "discover" this oasis in the high desert.