Dusk to Dawn on the Camas Prairie

It is late May 2019 and the camas are at the peak of their bloom, creating a sea of blue-violet wildflowers that stretch toward snow-capped mountains to the north. The western horizon bursts into flames as the sun peeks out from behind cottony clouds. Sights and sounds build in layers with birdsong ringing out across the marshland. Mother Nature has arranged a perfect feast for the senses this fine evening and I am at the center of it all, recording this unique soundscapes from dusk to dawn on the Camas Prairie with thick dark water flowing past my ankles.

The sun has set at Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in south-central Idaho. I tuck my camera in for the night. Out comes a couple of microphones and a camp stool. I sit down next to what I hope will be an active pond. A familiar tone comes through my headphones as I hit the red button on my recorder.

Now, I take in the sights and sounds from every direction. Tired ducks with noisy stories to share from a long day of flying touchdown beside me. I delight in the sound they make as they come skipping in for a water landing. At the same time, I am annoyed by the sound of a roosting Yellow-headed blackbird. Its constant screeching buzz steals the show.

Also in attendance are American Wigeons creating a nasally whistle, sandhill cranes giving off a loud rattle, Wilson’s Snipes making a haunting hu-hu-hu winnowing sound over and over again, burrowing and great-horned owls, red-winged blackbird, Canada geese on a flyby, a secretive Sora whinnying, Savannah sparrow and possibly and a few others. A coyote’s bark startles me. I can’t quite tell if it’s up in the surrounding hills, or 10 feet away. I’m thrilled to hear it again and again but prefer it keep a distance. In the wee small hours of the morning, a Great Horned owl wakes me with its hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo in a tree above my head. By early morning, the soundscape changes. The dawn chorus is surprisingly quieter. With all their tales told, the majority of the birds fly away.

Time to hit the stop button and explore with the camera once again. I can’t get over the amount of camas surrounding me. Camas lilies are perennial wildflowers native to select geographical regions of western North America. They grow in moist meadows and bloom from late May to early June. From a distance, if it’s a good year, the “Big Bloom” resembles a lake. This is a good year near Fairfield, with plenty of snowmelt coming down from Soldier Mountain, and a swollen Camas Creek to feed the plants.

Native Americans harvested calorie-rich camas bulbs extensively for food. They would pit-roast them, boil them and grind them into flour for bread. In fact, it was the Nez Perce in 1805 that helped a hungry Lewis and Clark Expedition survive by offering camas bread to members as they trudged out of the Bitterroots. Lewis spotted the plant on the corps’ return trip, writing the following in his journals.

Thirty years later, Oregon Trail pioneer and missionary Narcissa Whitman came upon Camas as she ‘nooned’ along the Grande Ronde River in what is now northeastern Oregon.

She wrote in her journals:

Margaret Fuller, in her 1992 book Trails of Western Idaho, writes it was the Bannock and Shoshoni tribes that gathered camas bulbs near Fairfield, summering in the area. And goes on to explain that the Bannocks thought the Treaty of 1869 gave them rights to “Kamas Prairie.” Written as “Kansas Prairie,” it was disregarded by white settlers. A contributing cause of the Bannock War was that settlers’ pigs were digging up and eating the camas, she adds.

I came to harvest a few good photographs and collect interesting birdsong. My needs are not nearly as dire as the Corps of Discovery. Many of the West’s camas prairies have been converted to agriculture. Being shin-deep in one, even for a short time, was something very special.

A photographer eyes his shot in a sea of camas at Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Monday, May 27, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Monday, May 27, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Further Reading

• Learn more on how the Nez Perce cultivated camas here and here, at Discovering Lewis & Clark.
  Learn more about the Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area here.
  Read here about the U.S. Forest Services Camas Prairie Restoration Project in the Willamette National Forest. Like the Native Americans before them, the USFS has re-introduced fire to beat back invasive species and encourage camas growth.
  And last but not least, learn how to make a variety of dishes, including salsa, meatballs and ice cream with camas, here at Kwiaht, the Center for Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea.

Recording Notes

As beautiful as this camas prairie is to look at, it is sadly not immune to anthropogenic noise. A well-traveled road sits a little more than three miles to the north. Traffic decreased as the night passed, but the bowl-shaped landscape kept the noise swirling. I also chose to leave in the noise of a jet flying fairly low overhead shortly after dawn (see below). For nearly three and one-half minutes, it rattles an otherwise peaceful soundscape. This deserves to be heard for what it is, pollution. Idaho is fortunate to have the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve just 40 to the north in the Sawtooth Range. Wouldn’t it be nice to create such a haven for natural soundscapes as well?

I used a pair of low-noise Audio Technica 3032 omnidirectional condenser microphones in an A/B arrangement, along with a high-end Sound Devices 702 recorder at 96kHz/24 bit (the album is CD quality 44kHz/16 bit). As always, wear a nice pair of headphones or listen in front of a fantastic stereo system for the best results.

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Monday, May 27, 2019. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

A jet and its contrail slice a temporary gash past a waning moon in the morning sky above Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Hill City, Idaho on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. The sound from this airplane lasted for xxx. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

A big thank you goes to Gregory Kaltenecker, co-founder of Boise State University’s Intermountain Bird Observatory, who kindly assisted me in identifying birdsong in the recording.