Ruby Lake

["judy jordan" <thane at accesswest dot com>]

We just returned from a trip to McCall, ID to visit children.
On the way home we camped along the way through the Sawtooths.  First of 
all I was delighted to see Eastern Kingbirds every where.  There is too 
much to tell about all the birds we saw but I have to share Crystal 
Springs in S  ID near Bellevue on route 75 south of Sunvalley.  It is a 
Nature Conservancy and world renowned for trout fishing ( we saw 18" 
trout from the bridge) no barb hooks,  and bird watching.  There are 
trails and board walks and one could spend days there.  The best bird I 
saw was a first year Bald Eagle.  Ugly with great big yellow legs and 
feet.  I had seen plenty of Ospreys on the trip to know it wasn't one.  
A few days latter and closer to home we decided to take a detour and see 
what this Ruby Lake NWR was in NV.  What a treat!  Has anyone been 
there?  Very deep wet land with canals and dikes to drive on.  It's run 
by the Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, and the State of NV.  It is 
the second most remote NWR in the U.S..  And remote it is.  After 
leaving Ely, NV you drive 100 miles without seeing a house or any other 
out building until you get to Shantytown ( a real place ).  Then Ruby 
Lake and a little govt group of housing for the rangers.  There is an RV 
park too.  These places all accomodate the hunters.  At the north end of 
the Ruby Valley there are ranches and a little LDS Chapel.  So on our 
short ride on the dikes we saw two bittern, hundreds of snipe, tundra 
swans, one, eared grebe with her baby, Forsters Terns, Caspian Terns, 
Sandhill Cranes, White faced Ibis, Courmorants, yellow headed black 
birds by the hundreds, moore hen with chicks and all the others that go 
along with them.  I just hope and pray I can return there with my canoe 
and bird for a week.  The ranger station has bird lists and maps.  I'm 
sure one could get lost in the canals or the dykes.  An experience as 
good as Brownsville and the Rio Grand can be had there I know.  Judy
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