Out & About: State laws ban hunter harassment

OUTDATES – A locally-produced calendar stands out like a big bird in the flock among gift-giving choices for nature lovers.

The Spokane Audubon Society has produced its Birds of Eastern Washington calendar. It’s a bargain at $10.

The 2016 calendar features images of 14 birds photographed in the region by club members with a good eye for nature and a standout skills with their cameras. The money is used by the local chapter for nature education, citizen science, advocacy and recreation related to birds.

The calendar is sold on the Spokane Audubon website, spokaneaudubon.org.

CdA eagles increase

OUTSOAR – Bald eagles continue to flock into the Wolf Lodge Bay area of Lake Coeur d’Alene for the annual feast of spawning kokanee, with more eagles counted this week.

Thursday’s survey by U.S. Bureau of Land Management biologist Carrie Hugo found 109 adults (white heads) and 17 immatures for a total of 126 bald eagles in the northeast area of the lake. That’s up from 79 bald eagles counted last week.

The 126 eagles counted this week far exceeds the 34 eagles the survey tallied at this time last year for the November-January gathering.

Reservation wolf killed

OUTHUNT – A tribal hunter has killed a wolf on the Spokane Indian Reservation, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

While wolves are protected by endangered species rules in Washington, the Colville and Spokane tribes – considered sovereign nations – allow limited wolf hunting by tribal members on their lands.

A wolf killed in 2013 is the only other wolf the Spokane Tribe has reported killed by hunters even though the tribal rules allow up to six wolves to be killed a year.