Bill Schiess

Tuesday evening, after spending the morning picking huckleberries, I drove out to the south side of Mud Lake to see if I could see some birds beginning their fall migration. The first birds I ran into were a small flock of Loggerhead shrikes, a songbird that tries to feed on other songbirds. This small flock […]

Labor Day found me without a fishing partner due to illness, so I headed to Ririe Reservoir to observe how the fishing was going for both man and birds. Before the sun came up, the sky was busier than the boats with 11 Ospreys and two Bald eagles looking for breakfast. An osprey successfully harvested […]

Last Tuesday, I ran up to the Kilgore area to check to see if the hawks had started gathering for their fall migration and found a few Ferruginous hawks and many Red-tailed hawks. The hawks appear to be shattered, and the red-tailed hawks are still babysitting their kids. After driving down a few of the […]

Waking up to alarm clocks can be a real bummer, but when the alarm comes from a bugling elk at 5:17 a.m. while staying in a cabin at Mammoth, in Yellowstone National Park, it can be quite exhilarating. As I listened closely, I could hear three other bulls answering the wake-up call. I slipped out […]

“Do you think we are going to find any horned larks today?” asked my birding partner for the Rexburg Christmas Bird Count of 2025, Danae Romrell. “Without any snow on the ground, they probably won’t be on the roads.” “We have hit every spot but one where they usually are,” I replied, “So we still […]

Talk about a weird winter: almost no snow on the ground at our home, some of the lakes still haven’t frozen over, I’ve been hunting rocks in December and January, and some birds forgot to migrate south. This week, I have seen a snow goose, a canvasback, hundreds of American robins at Ririe Reservoir, a […]

Last Friday afternoon, Jan. 23, I received a message containing five photos of ice forming on Ririe Reservoir. They came from Bob Johnstone, manager of the Juniper RV Park near the dam. By Sunday, there were still some open pockets of water straight out from the boat ramp. I drove over to the reservoir on […]

ST. ANTHONY — With temperatures pushing 50 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, I decided to visit the Henrys Fork of the Snake River to see how different the wildlife may be acting from what we normally see in February. Starting at the now-destroyed Fun Farm Bridge, replaced by a fancy new one that the farmers can […]

HAMER — I spent last Saturday afternoon watching and photographing wildlife along the Egin-Hamer Road, in Fremont and Jefferson counties, and the agricultural lands north of Hamer. I timed my travels to end at Camas National Wildlife Refuge so I could watch the bald eagles fly into roost for the night. Eight eagles flew in […]

I have been watching three burrowing owl nests for two weeks and saw my first nestling on June 8. Early Thursday morning, I checked that nest again and watched as three came out of the burrow, and another three just showed the tops of their heads for a brief moment before diving for cover again. […]