Emma and I headed out before 8:00 this morning so we would have a better chance of seeing the wildlife at the refuge in the early morning light. Ha! It turns out we could have slept in until noon (like that would ever happen:)). The only wildlife we saw was one covey of California quail quickly dashing across the road in front of us. :(
This is one of the few views we had of 9000 acre Lake Lowell. The refuge encompasses the lake and a small strip of land surrounding it.
As you can see, most of the lake is surrounded by agricultural ranches, and the city of Nampa borders it’s eastern side. The 30 mile auto tour route takes you around the perimeter of the lake using roads that are not on refuge property. How odd is that? Fully one half of the auto tour is on a road named Lake Shore Drive. I guess I’m not very bright because by that name I assumed you’d see the shore of the lake. Not so. All you see are trees on one side and agricultural fields on the other. For being known as a birding hotspot, I was sorely disappointed. Of course, the brochure did say that the best time to come to the refuge is from September through December. Waterfowl has not begun to migrate yet, and the water is still too high for the supposed mud flats teeming with shore birds. This would be a great place if you had a boat, as I don’t know how else you’re going to see anything.
Oh well, it was a nice drive in the cool morning air. We were back to the rig by 10:30, and have been hibernating in the AC ever since. The last I checked the thermometer, it was 98*!Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later, Judy
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