Challenge yourself to get outside more this winter

While winter is great time to plan for summer hikes, camping trips or hunting trips, don’t forego exploring the outdoors in winter because of the cold and snow. In addition to making a list for next summer, make a list of activities you want to do before the snow melts. Sure, you may not cross everything off the list, but at least you’ll have more motivation to get outside and enjoy the wintery landscape. 

Even if the valley is snow-free, one can head to the mountains for a fun-filled day in the snow

With the first day of winter last Saturday, it isn’t too late to compile a list. Here are some ideas.

Hike a trail in winter that you normally only hike in the summer. Copper Falls, Myrtle Falls or Snow Falls look vastly different with ice formations and they usually can be accessed in winter. 

Or go off-trail. Snow opens up areas that are brush fields in the summer but a playground to skiers, snowshoers and snowmobilers in the winter. 

A small creek can create impressive icicle formations

Learn to identify animal tracks in the snow. Snow allows us to see what animals have been around the yard or active in the woods. Are the tracks in your yard that of a raccoon or a skunk? Are the big tracks on the road those of a wolf or a cougar?

Go ice skating--just make sure the ice is thick enough. Frozen water allows us to check out places only accessible by boat in the summer. Many animals are active in the winter and if you learn to identify tracks, a light dusting of snow on ice provides an opportunity to see what is around the lakes or sloughs, such as otters. 

Both a wolf (left) and a cougar (right) were traveling on a Forest Service road frequented by snowmobilers and skiers

Stay in a backcountry cabin. The options may be more limited than in the summer but there usually is less competition for a cabin. Snowmobilers, skiers and snowshoers can access various cabins in the region. West Fork Cabin doesn’t require reservations but does requires a few miles (or more depending on snow depth) to reach it. 

If there is snow on the ground, going outside on the night of a full moon barely requires the use of a headlight. Skiing or snowshoeing under a full moon is a memorable experience, whether in an open field in the valley or on a Forest Service road. If the weather cooperates, plan for an outing around Jan. 16, Feb. 14 or March 16.

Then when there is a new moon, bundle up and go outside to look at the constellations. Find a constellation map off the internet and see how many you can identify. Look at the night sky through binoculars to see stars you can’t see with your naked eye. Stargazing may be warmer in the summer but in the winter you don’t have to stay up late. 

Sometimes reaching the trailhead is an adventure

If you have a GPS and haven’t learned how to use it, winter can be the perfect time to pull out the manual and master the basics. Use the GPS on walks, to mark a route or to geocache. Geocaching is an opportunity to play with your GPS, find hidden containers and explore new places (learn more at www.geocaching.com).

Winter can be full of activity if you don’t mind putting on a few more layers or wearing a headlamp to see where you are going. Challenge yourself to get outside more this winter by making a list of activities to check off. You may find that winter becomes your favorite season.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 26, 2013. 

More to a fire than flames and ashes

Staring into a campfire, watching the flames flicker and flare until the wood is reduced to glowing red coals can be mesmerizing. The warmth of a campfire is welcome on cool summer nights while camping or on cold, winter hikes during a lunch break. 

How does wood produce heat and light? Or even the wax in a candle? 

Fire is a chemical reaction between oxygen in the air and a fuel source, such as wood, wax or methane. In order for a fire to be sustainable, there needs to be fuel, oxygen and heat--the fire triangle-- and without all three the fire goes out. Put a jar over a lit candle and the flame will burn out. Throw water on a fire and the heat dissipates. 

Wood is reduced to ashes through chemical reactions that produce light, heat and gases

There is spontaneous combustion but most fires require an ignition source, such as a match or lightning. A match head contains chemicals that ignite at a relatively low temperature, around 360 degrees Fahrenheit. When a match is pulled across a rough surface, heat is generated by friction. If the match is struck fast enough, the friction will generate enough heat for the match to ignite because there is heat, fuel (chemicals in the match head) and oxygen. 

When looking at a fuel source, it is easy to assume the wood, wax or paper is burning. However, solids and liquids don’t burn--only gas burns. Heat is needed to vaporize gases from the solid or liquid. 

For example, when a lit match touches a piece of paper, the flame from the match heats up the paper until flammable gases are given off, whether from being vaporized or from the heat breaking down the paper molecules into gases. These gases then combust when a certain temperature is reached. The heat generated by the combustion causes more flammable gases to be released and the fire is sustained.

When certain gases released from wood reach 450 degrees Fahrenheit they ignite, but some gases don't ignite until the temperature is near 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Each fuel source has a certain temperature at which it ignites. A piece of paper is a lot easier to ignite with a match than a piece of plastic. At the ignition temperature, the fuel can rapidly unite with oxygen. 

The chemical reaction that takes place during combustion combines hydrogen molecules with oxygen molecules to form water molecules, carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide, and energy (released as heat). 

For example, when methane (CH4), the main component of natural gas, burns it reacts with two molecules of oxygen (O2) to form two water molecules, one carbon dioxide molecule, and heat.

If a component needed in the reaction is minimal (such as not enough oxygen), the combustion is termed incomplete combustion. If there isn’t enough oxygen present when methane is burning to fully oxide the carbon, carbon monoxide forms instead of carbon dioxide. 

Incomplete combustion also creates soot. Soot is microscopic particles of carbon  that didn’t have any oxygen to combine with during combustion. Soot creates flame, such as a candle flame. When soot becomes hot enough, it begins to glow and the glow of hot soot creates a yellow or orange flame. 

Smoke is also the result of incomplete combustion. Smoke is the suspension of small particles in the air leftover from incomplete combustion of a fuel. 

Wood with a moisture content higher than 20 percent will burn but will produce a lot of smoke, such as when burning conifer boughs.

Not everything in a fuel source is combustible. The ashes remaining after a campfire are minerals in the wood that didn’t burn, such as calcium and potassium. 

From wood to flame to ash, the chemical reaction behind fire can be mind-boggling enough to let oneself just enjoy the flames as they flicker.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 19, 2013. 

Eurasian collared-doves a relative newcomer to Idaho

When thinking of invasive species, one often thinks of weeds. But some birds also qualify as invasive, most notably European starlings, house finches, English sparrows and rock pigeons. In the last few decades, another bird has invaded and colonized the United States faster than any other bird species--the Eurasian collared-dove. 

Slightly larger than a mourning dove, Eurasian collared-doves have a broad, square tail and a black collar. The rhythmic coo of the Eurasian collared-dove is slightly lower in pitch than a mourning dove. Both the male and female Eurasian collared-dove are similar in appearance.

Eurasian collared-doves can be identified by the black collar on the back of their necks

The Eurasian collared-dove has a long history of being an invasive bird. Originally native to the Bay of Bengal region (India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar) in the 1600’s, the Eurasian collared-dove spread towards Europe and by the 1900’s was found throughout Europe. 

Then in the 1970’s, the Eurasian collared-dove was introduced to the Bahamas (either by the escape or release of pets). By the 1980’s, the dove had dispersed to the Caribbean and southern Florida. 

From there, the Eurasian collared-dove invaded the United States in a northwesterly direction and reached Oregon by the end of the 1990’s. By 2005, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count recorded the dove in 32 states and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario). 

Eurasian collared-doves spread quickly because they prefer urban and suburban areas which have been expanding with the growth of the human population. The doves favor highly-modified landscapes over forested landscapes and feed on seeds, grains and occasionally berries and small invertebrates.

Their dispersal method is described as “leapfrog” or “jump and backfill”. Instead of gradually expanding their range, Eurasian collared-doves fly, sometimes hundreds of miles, to a suitable location. Then as the newly established population grows, it expands and eventually colonizes the area between the two locations. 

Mourning doves have expanded their range across North America but in a gradual fashion. Mourning doves are native to North America and have gradually expanded northward into the northern United States and Canada.

Eurasian collared-doves are relative newcomers to Boundary County, Idaho and are frequent visitors to bird feeders

Eurasian collared-doves can rapidly expand because of their prolific breeding. Depending on the climate, doves can raise three to six broods annually with two eggs per brood. 

They readily feed at bird feeders, in barnyards and around silos with spilled grains. Unlike other invasive species, Eurasian collared-doves haven’t negatively impacted native dove populations in warmer regions according to Cornell Lab of Ornithology researchers. With the recent expansion to colder regions, researchers are waiting to see if they compete with native doves.

The Eurasian collared-dove is anticipated to expand farther into Canada and New England as the population expands, leading researchers to believe it may become the “beige starling” of the United States.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 12, 2013.

Molt, snowfall don’t always coincide for snowshoe hares

A flash of white darts across the road into a brown thicket of leafless vegetation. The snowshoe hare typically blends into its surroundings but with no snowfall at lower elevations in November, the white-coated hare stood out like a sore thumb.

The length of daylight triggers snowshoe hares to molt from brown to white in the fall and white to brown in the spring. The molting process takes between 70 and 90 days to complete. 

Snowshoe hares take 70 to 90 days to complete their molt

When low elevation snow is late, the white-coated hares are extremely vulnerable to predators. Even though snowshoe hares are active between dusk and dawn, being white against brown ground makes them easier targets for a myriad number of predators.

Not only do snowshoe hares have to avoid terrestrial predators, such as bobcats, lynx, foxes, weasels and coyotes, they also have to avoid the sharp eyes of predators overhead, including owls and hawks. 

In most portions of their range, snowshoe hares molt into a white winter coat. In the southern portions of their range, some hares remain brown year-round.

When camouflage doesn’t work, snowshoe hares deploy other tactics to avoid predators, such as speed and agility. Snowshoe hares can run nearly 30 mph and can quickly change directions. They also can leap over 10 feet in a single bound to confuse predators. 

During winter, their large hind feet help them stay on top of deep snow (hence the name snowshoe hare) when smaller-footed predators cannot. 

A snowshoe hare's large feet enable it to stay on top of the snow. Their hind feet can spread as wide as 4.5 inches to increase surface area.

Despite their speed, agility and camouflage, only 15 percent of snowshoe hares live to be a year old. The snowshoe hares that survive into adulthood (over a year old) multiply rapidly to keep the population afloat.

A female produces one to four litters a year and each litter consists of one to six leverets (baby hares)--meaning she could raise up to 24 young a year.

Leverets are born with hair, eyes open and the ability to move shortly after birth, unlike cottontail rabbit young. Hares also don’t make underground burrows like rabbits but instead make a nest of soft material and fur plucked from her fur coat in a shallow depression or in a hollow log. 

A mountain cottontail rabbit doesn't molt into a white coat for winter and has shorter hind feet.

Camouflage is important for leverets because they are not quick enough to outrun predators. Instead, leverets remain motionless to avoid detection. 

Predation seems to rule the life of hares and causes them to feed rapidly while exposed to the threat of predators. They eat green plants in the summer and woody vegetation in the winter.

To digest all the nutrients from their food, snowshoe hares are coprophagous--meaning they eat their feces to extract additional nutrients. The cellulose in plants is hard to digest and animals need a long digestive tract to extract all the nutrients. To compensate for a shorter digestive tract, snowshoe hares produce two types of pellets-soft and hard.

Hares eat the soft, jelly-like pellets directly from their anus (which is why we rarely find soft pellets). After the second time through the digestive tract, hard pellets are excreted. Unlike deer that excrete a pile of pellets at once, snowshoe hares deposit one pellet at a time, which is why there is often one pellet in a snowshoe hare track. If a pile of pellets is found, the snowshoe hare most likely was stationary for awhile, either resting or eating.

Snowshoe hares deposit one pellet at a time but if they are in one spot for awhile they may leave several pellets.

In the winter when hares are hard to see against the snowy backdrop, the “runs” they create between resting and feeding areas help us and other predators clue in to their presence. A presence that is in a continual state of uncertainty, especially if there is a late onset of snow. 

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 5, 2013.

Eileen Dam a reminder of early mining days

Ninety years ago construction began on a monumental project that never came to fruition--the Eileen Dam. A rock failure caused the entire project to be left standing as a monument to the area’s early mining days.

The Eileen Dam was an early attempt to harness the Moyie River for energy but it never had the chance to generate power

The Eileen Dam was constructed to provide electricity to mines in the Deer Creek area owned by Cynide Gold Mining Company. Mining activity started in the Deer Creek area around 1896 and included mines such as Hoosier Boy, Buckhorn, Boston, Keystone, Lucky Three, Scout, Last Chance and Wee Fraction. 

In the initial assays, Scout Mountain showed good prospect for iridium and platinum while the Keystone tunnels samples indicated good amounts of iridium, platinum, silver, lead and gold ore. 

Mining camps were established and a setback occurred in 1904 when a forest fire swept through the Buckhorn Camp and destroyed all the buildings, tools and supplies. The mining must have been too good to abandon and the Cynide Gold Mining Company rebuilt. 

In 1923, the company completed plans to construct a dam and power plant below a box canyon on the Moyie River near the mouth of Skin Creek. Over ten miles of transmission line were planned to carry electricity from the power plant to the Scout and Buckhorn mines.

The abandoned power plant just below Eileen Dam

The nearby crossing on the Union Pacific railroad line, named Eileen, provided the name for the dam, which was also called the Buckhorn Dam at times. A construction camp with a depot for postal and passenger service at the crossing also carried the name Eileen.

In 1923 and 1924, workers constructed the 50 foot high (one source says 58 feet) dam that is 150 feet long for $100,000. Within the concrete, railroad rails create a mesh on two-foot centers both horizontally and vertically. Engineers designed Eileen Dam as an arch dam because arch dams are not suppose to fail-- and it didn’t fail.

An engineering design error placed the eastern abutment against shale rock. In the spring of 1925, the dam held back a spring’s worth of snow melt ready to produce power. However, in May the high water’s pressure was too great and the Moyie River broke through the weak spot--the shale rock at the eastern abutment. The spillway canal on the east end was also destroyed. 

For thousands of years, the Moyie River had slowly carved away at the shale to create the canyon at the mouth of Skin Creek. However, when a stronger concrete structure blocked the flow of the Moyie River, the shale formation’s weakness was highlighted in a few moments.

Old newspaper clipping report witnesses saying “that water pressure from the Moyie flaked shale rock off like shingles from a roof in the windstorm”. When the rock gave way, a ten foot rise in water levels was felt four miles downstream at the Bonners Ferry power plant. 

River rafters run the rapids through the gap on the east end of the dam (right side)

The blowout of the rock was a major disappointment for the Cynide Gold Mining Company. The company couldn’t sell enough stock to finance repairs of the dam, so they sold off the salvageable equipment.

Just as the forest fire didn’t set back the Cynide Gold Mining Company, neither did the Eileen Dam project. In 1930, the company installed a mill, tram and power plant on one of its properties. 

The early attempt to harness the Moyie River’s energy is now a monument that bears the history of earlier mining days and provides a challenge to rafters racing the rapids through the washout. 

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Nov. 27, 2013. 

Carpets of moss similar to miniature forests

From five feet above cushions of moss look alike but down on my hands and knees I can see the intricacies of the inch tall moss. Carpets of moss are like miniature forests that provide habitat for other plants, insects, worms, frogs, fungus and other small mammals, but moss is vastly different from the trees in a forest.

Moss holds in moisture and helps other organisms grow, like tree seedlings

Moss is a plant, however, the structure of moss varies from what we typically think of for a plant. A tree has xylem and phloem tubes that carry water and nutrients between the roots and leaves. These tubes characterize trees as vascular plants. Mosses don’t have xylem, phloem or any other tubes which makes them non-vascular plants (bryophytes). 

The outer structure of moss is also different. Trees have roots, leaves, stems, flowers, fruit or seeds. Mosses have rhizoids, spores and leaf-like structures. Moss is only a few inches tall at most because it lacks the lignin-fortified tissue required to support tall plants.

Like roots, the rhizoids (small, branched filaments) anchor the moss to the substrate it is growing on, whether the north side of trees, rocks, soil or concrete. However, rhizoids don’t absorb water and nutrients like roots, they only anchor the moss.

Instead, the leaf-like structures absorb moisture. The “leaves” are only one cell thick and absorb rain water as it flows over the plant and as water droplets from dew or waterfalls land on the plant. Numerous plants create a carpet of moss which produces a spongy quality that enables all the plants to absorb and retain water.

Carpets of moss act like giant sponges and soak up rain which reduces runoff and helps prevent flooding

Without a root system to spread out to obtain water, moss is limited to where there is sufficient moisture. Over 12,000 species of moss grow from Arctic regions to the tropics and from around hot springs to the bottom of lakes.

Moss needs sunlight to create food but it is often found on the north side of trees to avoid the intense sunlight that can dry it out. If a moss dries out it won’t die. Moss needs moisture to live but not survive. Some mosses can be dried out for up to 20 years and spring back to life once moisture is present. 

When exposed to direct sunlight without moisture, moss dries out but doesn't die

Moisture is needed for moss to reproduce. Reproduction is vastly different from trees with flowers, seeds and fruit. Mosses reproduce using spores like ferns and mushrooms. Spores are similar to seeds but they are single-celled and more primitive than a seed. 

During certain times of the year, upon close inspection you can see the carpet of moss sprouting tiny stalks with little capsules on the end. These capsules often hold more than 50,000 spores each. When the spores are fully developed, the capsule opens and the spores are dispersed. 

Stalks support small capsules that hold spores for the next generation

Like a seed, a spore has to land in the ideal location to germinate. However, some spores are viable for up to 40 years waiting for the right conditions. 

Moss isn’t solely dependent on spores to spread. Moss can spread by sending out new shoots in the spring from last year’s plants or by fragmentation. If a piece of moss is broken off and moved by wind or water, a new plant can start from that piece if enough moisture is present. 

In ideal conditions like on the rocks next to a waterfall or in the damp reaches of old-growth cedar groves, vast carpets of moss can form over time into intricate miniature forests that we just have to get down on our hands and knees to see.

Moss thrives in moist conditions

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Nov. 21, 2013.

Animals prepare for winter by caching nature’s bounty

As gardeners were harvesting the bounty of their summer’s garden before the first frost, animals were harvesting nature’s bounty. Stockpiling food for winter is important when an animal’s food source will be hidden by snow. Just as gardeners follow specific instructions for preserving, animals have their own techniques to prevent spoilage. 

Squirrels stash mushrooms in trees or on stumps to dry for a mid-winter meal

With a bumper crop of mushrooms this fall, squirrels have been harvesting and stashing them for winter. You may have noticed random mushrooms tucked in the crotch of a branch, on top of a stump or in a hollow cavity of a tree. Being off the ground helps the mushrooms dry quickly and become tough and brittle. These dried mushrooms resist decay, unlike mushrooms still on the forest floor, and are a meal for squirrels during the winter.

Squirrels are also known for their caches of cones, called middens. While squirrels could leave the cones on the trees to harvest as wanted, they don’t because the cones become less palatable as they dry. 

To prevent cones from drying out, squirrels store them in the cool, damp depths of their middens which are covered by heaps of cone scales. During the winter, the squirrels bring a damp cone from inside the midden to a perch above the midden for a fresh meal. 

In a midden, cones are buried beneath a pile of cone scales that the squirrel removes to eat the seeds

Keeping seeds from spoiling is important for animals to survive the winter. Clark’s nutcrackers supposedly check every seed before they cache it. They cache seeds in hundreds of different locations so one bad seed doesn’t spoil the whole food supply. 

Beavers use water to keep their food source available during the winter. Beavers cut and store cottonwood and aspen saplings in their pond so they can access them when the pond is frozen. Some beavers bury the branches in the bottom sediment while others construct floating caches. Beavers begin a floating cache with less palatable species because those will be frozen in the ice. The desired cottonwood and aspen are then placed beneath to feed on.

For many animals, their food source is best left intact to be found when needed. Numerous berries stay on plants through winter and offer a food source to the first animal that finds them. Variable distribution makes the berries and seeds unlikely candidates for caching because of the energy needed to cache them and the distance between food sources.

Bright red mountain-ash berries remain on the tree through winter and are an important food source for songbirds, upland game birds, small mammals and even grizzly and black bears in the fall. Pine grosbeaks and Bohemian waxwings are two birds that frequently flock to mountain-ash and quickly consume all the berries on the tree. 

A pine grosbeak feeds on mountain-ash berries

Snowberries, kinnikinick berries and rose hips also remain on the plant into winter and provide food for many birds. Flocks of pine siskins and common redpolls can be seen flying from tree to tree feasting on the small seeds of birch and alder. 

Animals out of sight feasting on their harvest include pikas, mice and voles. 

During the sunny days of summer, pikas harvest grass like farmers, dry it beneath rock overhangs and then place it in their burrows to eat during winter (since they do not hibernate).

Deer mice and meadow voles dig extensive tunnels under the snow to access caches of seeds, sedges and other food they stored away when conditions were prime. But living under the snow doesn’t protect them from other creatures looking for meals. Weasels, coyotes, owls and raptors can hear mice and voles scurrying beneath the snow and pounce for their mid-winter meals.

By the signs left on the snow, a coyote probably heard a rodent beneath the snow and excavated the rodent's nest for a meal

Whether food is on the move or stashed in a cache, animals have various means of capitalizing on nature’s bounty to survive the winter. 

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Nov. 14, 2013.

Canada geese can be migratory or residents

As the temperatures cool and the leaves fall, the familiar “a honk, a honk, a honk” can be heard overhead as Canada geese fly in their signature “V” formations. Many birds migrate in the fall but the loud call of Canada geese makes them highly noticeable.

Flying in a "V" formation enables Canada geese to conserve energy, maintain visual contact with other geese and avoid collisions

Before they migrate, Canada geese gather in staging areas. Each migrating flock consists of several family groups and individuals. The goslings born last spring stay with their parents until they return to the breeding grounds next spring.

When ready to depart to their wintering grounds, older geese lead the way. By having one leader, the flock can easily change direction or speed without confusion.

Flying in a “V” formation allows each bird, except the leader, to take advantage of the slipstream created by the bird ahead of it, similar to bicycle racers. This saves the birds energy and enables them to extend the range they are able to migrate. The leader can easily drop back into the line to take advantage of the lift. 

In the fall and especially in the spring, the flocks migrate slowly by stopping along the way to refuel. This ensures they reach their destination in good shape which is extremely important in the spring when less food is available at the breeding grounds. 

Canada geese are highly adaptable to what food is available and will eat grass, leaves, flowers, roots, seeds, berries, and crops such as barley, wheat, beans, rice, alfalfa and corn. They also eat aquatic plants and the occasional insect, snail or tadpole.

Canada geese flock to fields to forage on waste grain and tender plants

Many geese don’t migrate as far south as they once did because some farming practices make waste grain more available in the fall and winter.

Not all geese migrate the same distance. Canada geese breeding and nesting in northern Canada may migrate to the southern United States while those nesting in southern Canada may only migrate to the northern United States. 

Each subspecies of Canada goose inhabits a specific range and migrates to certain areas. The number of subspecies varies depending on the source, but Ducks Unlimited recognizes seven subspecies of Canada geese: Atlantic, Hudson Bay/Interior, Giant, Moffitt’s/Great Basin, Lesser, Dusky and Vancouver. 

The Great Basin subspecies breeds in the inter-mountain regions of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado, and also in Montana, Saskatchewan and northern Ontario. They then winter in places such as Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana. 

As social birds, Canada geese flock together all year except when nesting

Not all geese migrate either. Some Canada geese are considered resident geese because they stay year-round in places with open water and available food. A goose is taught to migrate by its parents and if the parents don’t migrate then the young don’t migrate. 

The geese that spend the summer here may winter here or fly south. Wintering geese may be resident geese or migrants from farther north.

Canada geese don’t search for mates every year, they mate for life unless one dies. The strong family and pair bonds permit the family to return to the natal home area to nest. Many pairs even reuse the same nest for several years. 

After nesting is completed, the family stays together. Before the young fledge, the adults undergo a molt to grow new feathers to replace worn, frayed and lost feathers. Therefore during mid-July, the entire family is grounded. 

Goslings stay with their parents until the next spring 

Despite their noisiness and ability to make 13 different calls, the Canada goose still has several predators. When molting, sitting on the nest and as eggs, the geese are most vulnerable to coyotes, raccoons, skunks, bobcats, foxes, gulls, eagles, ravens, magpies and crows.

Humans are another predator during hunting season. Some 2.6 million geese are harvested annually by hunters but the harvest doesn’t impact the population. The Canada goose population is more stable than it has been in previous decades, ensuring we will hear their familiar call overhead as they seek out food.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Nov. 7, 2013