An impressive display of elk, geese and other animals at Market Lake Wildlife Management Area this week - East Idaho News
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An impressive display of elk, geese and other animals at Market Lake Wildlife Management Area this week

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About 20 head of elk forced me to stop as they ran across the road between Pond No. 2 and 3 on Market Lake Wildlife Management Area on Monday evening. I was worried that they would jump the fence near Interstate 15 and get hit by the busy traffic, but the lead cow stopped momentarily before leading the herd south along the fence.

The small herd had come from a large herd of 300 to 400 elk on the east of the WMA where they had been spooked by two antler hunters who were working the sagebrush near the edge of the marsh. The men quickly disappeared to the south and I watched as the main herd of elk moved to the north onto the agriculture fields and began grazing.

During the last week of February, the elk had moved from the BLM lands north of Idaho Highway 33 onto Market Lake where they have been setting up homes in the desired food store. In the next week or two, they should start moving north through the sagebrush corridor as the snow melts.

I returned to Market Lake on Tuesday morning to try to get better pictures of the elk. They were not there, but I did find about 100 Canadian geese with 17 snow geese in the stubble field about a mile south of Market Lake. These are the first snow geese that I have seen in Idaho this year and it could have been a scouting party checking out the conditions. I took a drive out through the Osgood area and did not find any out there, but did find several flocks of migrating ducks and swans.

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A few migrating Snow geese joins a flock of Canadian geese in a stubble field near Market Lake. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com

On returning to Market Lake, I saw three Western meadowlarks — the first sightings of the year. I also counted 14 Northern harriers hunting the marshes and observed several of the males showing off for the females. In a week or two, the acrobatics of these killing machines will be in full swing as they start pairing up for the nesting season.

By 10:30, I noticed the elk were moving out of the sagebrush and onto the grass near the edge of the cattails and the bulrushes. Soon there were several hundred working the agriculture fields while the Canadian geese kept dropping in on the ice of the ponds. Some sandhill cranes were also starting to display.

The Idaho Fish and Game have asked birders to remove the bird feeders because of the salmonellosis disease spreading in the Western States. This multi-state disease, which is always present among wild birds, have hit epidemic numbers in the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, along with British Columbia, Canada.

The Fish and Game are recommending that we not only take down our feeders but also do a deep cleaning on them with a 1-to-10 ratio of household bleach to water. They also recommend that we attempt to clean up the waste from the feeding, including the droppings, as best as we can.

It appears to be affecting the finch-like birds even though I have not seen any evidence of the disease at my place, but I will do as asked and resume my feeding after the snow melts and the ground gets somewhat dry. Then I will switch to a shelled feed to keep the waste down.

I’m frequently asked about this and I had a long conversation with Josh Rydalch, the manager of the Deer Parks Wildlife Management Area. The fields that are planted with sunflowers also contained seeds from ten other seed-producing plants. Those fields are now being systematically mowed down to produce extra food for the migrating birds.

The “pinnies” (Northern pintails) are now coming in great numbers and there are also flocks of 5,000 to 7,000 male Red-wing blackbirds working the fields. Crows are eating the white interior of the broken sunflower stalks and this week, I saw my first flock of wild turkeys that I have seen at the WMA.

Rydalch will be experimenting with different types of food plants and will be mowing and/or planting in strips to allow more access for the different species of birds.

Get out in the outdoors to observe and enjoy the change from winter to summer. It can be very exciting.

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One of three Western meadowlarks found at Market Lake this week. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com

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