(Unsuccessful) parula stake-out

On Tuesday, Lew Ulrey (a Boise birder) saw & photographed a new warbler to him, an immature Northern Parula, in his backyard. Thus, instead of going looking for shorebirds (a regular activity of late), we decided to head to Lew's in the hopes that the bird would still be around on Wednesday pm ...

The songbird crew, including Stephanie, Caroline, Heidi, and Nathan (far right) hangin' with Lew (2nd from right) on his back porch

More chatting as we await the bird's arrival ....

As time wore on, enthusiasm diminished a bit & we settled in for the long haul ...

After 2+ hours, the ladies were getting ready for a nap and Lew was amused ;-)

We were not fortunate enough to see the bird on Wednesday and figured the bird had moved on .... until Lew saw it again on Thurs, his wife saw it Fri morning, and Lew saw it again early afternoon on Friday. As Heidi might say, "What?!? That's dumb!" but that's the way it goes sometimes when you 'chase' birds and we've been mostly very fortunate this year. We did end up spending another hour+ in Lew's yard on Friday late afternoon (along with Mark Collie) and, once again, no luck ... :-(. Who knows, maybe it'll stick around thru the weekend and give us another shot ...

Either way, a great find (and life bird!) for Lew . Though he's feeling badly that 'his' parula hasn't rewarded the visiting birders, he's been a great host and is a fun person to stand around waiting for a bird with ;-)

Crossing my fingers for the next year bird ....

Jay