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Owyhee Canyonlands

Although I knew Idaho was famous for its potatoes, troust fishing and scenery, I didn’t know much about its mammals until 2008 when I started corresponding with Matt Miller.  It quickly turned out that not only was Matt a nice guy and knew his mammals, but Idaho was also a good place to visit, particularly if I wanted to see an American Badger.  I did. And Matt was generous enough to invite me to stay and try to show me one.  In September 2009 I had the opportunity to spend a weekend there during a work trip to Seattle.

Badger habitat, near the Snake River.

Matt, and his wife Jennifer, live in Boise, a pleasant city with a definite Australian feel to it. They live only 15 minutes from Boise Airport, and introduced Eastern Fox Squirrels are very common in their suburb.

Eastern Fox Squirrel

A farm, 5 minutes walk from their place, were battling Northern Pocket Gophers in their veggie garden and they were happy for us to poke around some of the Gopher holes.  The best way to see a Gopher, it seems, is to find a fresh mound, poke around with a stick until you find the tunnel then dig up the hole so the end of the tunnel is exposed to the daylight (the trick is to find a very fresh mound where the tunnel has not yet collapsed). The photosensitive Gopher will then emerge to fill in the hole. I set a live mole trap in one tunnel and returned a few hours later to find the hole I had dug gone and the trap had disappeared.  I thought someone had moved it until I dug up the hole again to find my empty trap.  The cunning Gopher had somehow avoided the trap – or gone straight through it - filled in the hole, and returened from whence it had come.

We caught several Deer Mice along the riverside trail near Matt’s place.  Raccoons, Mink, Striped Skunks and Beavers are all common along the river here, though I didn’t go looking for them.

We spent three evenings looking for Badgers in three separate areas.

Indian Creek Recreation Area
The Indian Creek Recreation Area is about 20 minutes from Boise aiport, east along I84.  Take exit 71 which goes to a truck stop.  There’s a cattle grid just past the truck stop and turn immediately right after the grid.  We set some traps and spent a couple of hours spotlighting here.  There were hundreds of Badger holes, but we couldn’t see a Badger.  But we did see a Mountain Cottontail, Coyote, Black-tailed Jackrabbits and a couple of Kangaroo Rats (probably Ord’s).  I had one animal among the 14 traps the next morning - a Deer Mouse and probably just the common North American Deer Mouse, though its large ears had us thinking to begin with that perhaps it was a Canyon Deer Mouse. But its tail was too short.

North American Deer Mouse

Owhyhee Canyonlands
Sunset at Owhyhee Canyonlands

We spent Saturday afternoon and evening in the Owyhee Canyonlands.  A beautiful area of sage brush and another good area for badgers.  The mammals were quite hard to find, even the Jackrabbits had disappeared.  A year ago it was apparently crawling with Blacktailed (lower down) and Whitetailed Jacrabbits in the higher elevations.  Spotlighting eventually produced a couple of Whitetailed Jackrabbits (a lifer) but no Badgers.  During the later afternoon we also saw a Pronghorn, a few Mule Deer, a Coyote, and what were probably Least Chipmunks.  In the summer this area is excellent for Ground Squirrels but they were all in torpor by now it seemed (despite the temperature being an unseasonably warm 30C still).Unfortunately the Ground Squirrel window of opportunity each year is quite restricted – late spring is the best time.  Had I been there in May Matt could have shown me several new species for me – Beldings, Idaho, Piute and Columbia Groud Squirrels all within a couple of miles of Boise.

Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation Area

The Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation Area is about 40 minutes from Boise (take I84 west and take exit 44 to Kuna and follow Meridian Road heading south, then after 8 miles turn left onto Swan Falls Road to enter the reserve). This area has a huge number of Ground Squirrels and so supports one of the highest densities of American Badgers anywhere.  But it took 6 hours of driving before I eventually found one at 9pm, just as I was leaving.  The area along the drive to Initial Point (8 miles after the Kuna visitor centre) is reputed to be one of the best places to look and this was where I saw one, about 70 metres off the road.  They have quite good eyeshine and are not particularly skittish.  But as I walked closer to try for a photo it disappeared (I guess down a hole).  But it was a lengthy and reasonably good sighting of an excellent animal.  Phew!

The only other mammal I saw was a Cottontail.

Badger hole

So mission accomplished and a big debt of thanks to Matt and Jennifer for their hospitality and expertise. And somewhere to return to for a Ground Squirrel fest one springtime.