tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7928403371627012062024-03-13T13:48:57.097-06:00Heidi vs. Jay in 'Bird Idaho 2009'Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-68641614404291028162009-12-31T19:10:00.009-07:002009-12-31T21:19:54.113-07:00HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! THE....END??What a way to end this year!<br /><br /><div>Just as I was becoming content with the "almost 300" total of 294 species for 2009, the Howe Christmas Bird Count came along ...<br /><br />yesterday around 5PM I was in the movie theater with my family, anxious to get home and START packing for the Boise State trip to Kenya which Jay and I are leaving for tomorrow (1/1/10). yikes! I had a lot to do! I had no time to waste...</div><br /><div>then...I got the text (in the middle of a fight scene during Sherlock Holmes): "CRESTED CARACARA IN HOWE!!!" (Howe, ID is a 4 hour drive from Boise) My first thought: "crap! no way can we chase that!" My second thought: texting Jay back "what time are we leaving tomorrow?"</div><br /><br /><div>YUP, we truly are insane birders! We both rushed home to start packing after our respective movie and soccer game (as of 8PM 12/31/09 neither of us are done). Our plan: to leave Boise at the terrible-horrible hour of 5AM, in order to hopefully miss the correctly forecasted snow storm now hitting us.</div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fiOzFKYI/AAAAAAAABS0/2FXAXr1Srgc/s1600-h/on+the+road+too+early.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421594568116480386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fiOzFKYI/AAAAAAAABS0/2FXAXr1Srgc/s400/on+the+road+too+early.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"> We were up Dark and Early :) Sunrise from the road near Arco</span><br /></div><br /><div>After ~4 hours of sleep, we hit the road... *yawn* :O As fellow Africa-traveler/birding buddy Rob Miller put it when he heard of our plan: "you guys are hardcore insane"</div><br /><div>Starting @ around 920am, we scoured the area near Howe where the bird had been seen by Steve Butterworth, Kit Struthers, Mike Munts, and Marv Lambrecht the day before, but didn't have any luck. After about an hour, we received one of many calls from fellow birders who were scouring the area...this time it was Larry and Brian with the words we'd been waiting for: "<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">any interest in a Caracara?</span>"</div><br /><div>We rushed to drive to the street they described, and arrived to see the group of birders with scopes aimed at a snowy field.....and there was the CARACARA!!!!!</div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fhoTXOuI/AAAAAAAABSs/XE6-bONaZ5A/s1600-h/CRCA+%28compressed%29.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421594557782899426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fhoTXOuI/AAAAAAAABSs/XE6-bONaZ5A/s400/CRCA+%28compressed%29.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"> The caracara and his snack....Happy New Year, Caracara. you look miserably cold</span><br /></div><br /><div>We drove in closer and watched for 45 + minutes as the young bird chowed down on a delicious looking piece of carrion. I dont think he realized he was only the 2nd (and probably the coldest) Caracara reported in Idaho. :) He was so cool with his long legs and bare face! woohoo! there were high-fives all around...What an awesome last year bird of 2009!!! </div><div><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"></div></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fhX_TTnI/AAAAAAAABSk/TBFJNYx1E7w/s1600-h/CRCA+eating.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421594553403788914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fhX_TTnI/AAAAAAAABSk/TBFJNYx1E7w/s400/CRCA+eating.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"> mmmmm, tasty! cow leg? dead cat?</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fhFP-drI/AAAAAAAABSc/RrkOFZBPa94/s1600-h/group.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421594548373452466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fhFP-drI/AAAAAAAABSc/RrkOFZBPa94/s400/group.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">the successful "hardcore insane" new years eve caracara chasers!! :D</span></div><div><br /><div></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fg6AP8iI/AAAAAAAABSU/AyRX-S8b48g/s1600-h/on+way+home.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421594545354699298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sz1fg6AP8iI/AAAAAAAABSU/AyRX-S8b48g/s400/on+way+home.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"> The road home.....the snow hadn't hit yet!</span></div><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">this means:</span></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;">FINAL TOTAL for 2009:</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Jay: 298 species</strong></span><span style="color:#000000;">---4 of these were Jay state birds</span></span></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Heidi: 295 species</strong></span>---133 of these were Heidi lifers</span></div><br /><div>The birds Jay saw that Heidi didn't: <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><a href="http://heidiversusjay.blogspot.com/2009/04/chestnut-collared-longspur.html">Chestnut-collared Longspur</a>, Western Scrub-jay, Gray Partridge</span></div><br /><div>Heid saw her ENTIRE 'prior to 2009 Idaho lifelist' except for: <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Red-shouldered Hawk, Gyrfalcon, </span>and<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> Gray Partridge</span></div><div><strong></strong> </div><div>you may ask: what's the <strong>plan for next year </strong>now that "Bird Idaho 2009" is over??? Well we dont know, but we ARE beginning the year birding in Kenya, so......Bird the WORLD 2010???? hmmm.....this could be dangerous! (and interesting...so please keep checking our blog :)</div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="color:#ffcc00;"><span style="color:#000000;">HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!</span> </span></div><br /><div>--Heidi and Jay</div><div></div><br /><div></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-29954229683289835522009-12-26T13:26:00.001-07:002009-12-26T13:26:00.135-07:00Christmas eve gulls & Blue Jay (or, 'The Year of the Iceland Gull')On Thurs, 12-24, Heidi & I headed to Crouch/Garden Valley to look for one of 2 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Jays</span> that have recently starting attending a feeder along with a few <span style="font-weight: bold;">Steller's Jays</span>. Actually, back in early November, Garden Valley birders had noticed a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Jay</span> or two but it wasn't until last week that they starting keeping a regular schedule ... thanks to Sheri & Linda for keeping us posted!<br /><br />In most years, I've been able to encounter 1 or more <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Jays</span> during the fall at Lucky Peak or elsewhere but this hasn't been so the last couple years so we had to go chasing! Progress on the 2009 year list has been quite slow of late - a combo of being busy with other things and it being a slower time of year with fewer bird species around - so it was fun when Heidi first spotted one in a conifer and then it came in to the feeder a few minutes later!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUuhpLUw9I/AAAAAAAAAtg/NCpn6CEbsTM/s1600-h/DSCN3895.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUuhpLUw9I/AAAAAAAAAtg/NCpn6CEbsTM/s400/DSCN3895.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419288882134172626" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">The feeder area by the Birding Store in Crouch</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUggY9CnSI/AAAAAAAAAtI/HoyIcSR9Vmw/s1600-h/DSCN3894.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUggY9CnSI/AAAAAAAAAtI/HoyIcSR9Vmw/s400/DSCN3894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419273467436637474" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A nice of view of the nearby hills on a cold & beautiful winter day<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUggg-atjI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/9DjFHN4gOgQ/s1600-h/BLJA.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUggg-atjI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/9DjFHN4gOgQ/s400/BLJA.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419273469589894706" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A shot of the cooperative <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Jay</span> through my handheld ;-)</span><br /></div><br />Since it didn't take long for a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Jay</span> to arrive, we decided it might be worth a quick stop at the Boise dump (Hidden Hollow landfill) to see about the gulls on the way home. We'd found an immense adult <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glaucous Gull</span> as well as an adult <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mew Gull</span> (no pics) the day before so we wanted to see if anything new might be around.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUp93I52KI/AAAAAAAAAtY/WqZ7opRywwM/s1600-h/Glaucous+adult+12-23-09.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 322px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzUp93I52KI/AAAAAAAAAtY/WqZ7opRywwM/s400/Glaucous+adult+12-23-09.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419283869360314530" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Adult </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Glaucous Gull</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> at the Boise landfill on 12-23</span><br /><br /></div>When we arrived, admitted gull lover and (fellow frequenter of dumps:) RL Rowland was already there & mentioned noticing an interesting-looking adult gull with grayish wingtips ... it soon flew in and landed nearby. It looked big and with gray-tipped wings as it flew in so we first wondered about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glaucous-winged</span> but the yellow eyes, smaller bill, rounded head shape, and eyes more forward on face suggested otherwise. Maybe biased by the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glaucous</span> the day before (which was cooperative on this day too & arrived about 30 min after we did), my first inclination was that it had some <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glaucous</span> in it - maybe crossed with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Herring</span> (which could help explain the gray wingtips). But, the longer we looked, the more we wondered about an adult <span style="font-weight: bold;">Iceland</span> (Kumlien's because of the gray, not white, primary tips) ... in particular, at one point after the gulls had been flushed & then settled again, the presumed <span style="font-weight: bold;">Iceland</span> was perched directly in front of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glaucous</span> providing a brief comparison. In addition to being smaller, the bird had a longer primary projection, daintier bill, more rounded head, and less of a 'tertial stack' (basically, more attenuated body shape) than the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glaucous</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSUL0mjNI/AAAAAAAAAuw/xUfbUyfJCaM/s1600-h/DSCN3960.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSUL0mjNI/AAAAAAAAAuw/xUfbUyfJCaM/s400/DSCN3960.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419398602078719186" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">This & the following 7 pictures are of the presumed <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kumlien's (Iceland) Gull</span> seen at the Hidden Hollow landfill (Ada Co dump) on 12-24. Notice the small, rounded head, relatively small bill, pink legs, yellow eyes, long primary projection, and somewhat deep belly. The key feature that got us thinking towards <span style="font-weight: bold;">Iceland</span> in the first place is that the primaries have gray shading ...<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSKxSrisI/AAAAAAAAAug/Yc9_mhiZgoY/s1600-h/DSCN3927.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSKxSrisI/AAAAAAAAAug/Yc9_mhiZgoY/s400/DSCN3927.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419398440338295490" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSn-PD9tI/AAAAAAAAAu4/wdbPCUvY0tA/s1600-h/wing+open.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSn-PD9tI/AAAAAAAAAu4/wdbPCUvY0tA/s400/wing+open.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419398942028986066" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Here's the best shot I could get of the wing partly open - notice the big 'mirror' (white spot near tip of feather) on primary #10 - the outermost primary - and the gray (as opposed to black) shading at the ends of the primaries<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSKE59NfI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/Yp0xEwEG2Z4/s1600-h/DSCN3902.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 251px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWSKE59NfI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/Yp0xEwEG2Z4/s400/DSCN3902.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419398428423435762" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWRWuZGDFI/AAAAAAAAAuA/DoLBYhYedDo/s1600-h/%27fluffed%27.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWRWuZGDFI/AAAAAAAAAuA/DoLBYhYedDo/s400/%27fluffed%27.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419397546206694482" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWX2mvizFI/AAAAAAAAAvA/oPyDOr6-zsQ/s1600-h/with+HEGU.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 210px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWX2mvizFI/AAAAAAAAAvA/oPyDOr6-zsQ/s400/with+HEGU.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419404690978950226" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">with 2 adult <span style="font-weight: bold;">Herring Gulls</span> (1 standing, 1 sitting further back) at its right; the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Herrings</span> have longer, slightly thicker bills as well as a more squared-off head shape</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWRWVHcYuI/AAAAAAAAAt4/fkRIRkV0YeQ/s1600-h/head-on+%28compare+with+HEGU%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWRWVHcYuI/AAAAAAAAAt4/fkRIRkV0YeQ/s400/head-on+%28compare+with+HEGU%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419397539421774562" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Facing the camera (rear right, behind the hordes of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ring-bills</span> and, based on mantle color, 1 <span style="font-weight: bold;">California</span> at front right) - notice the smaller, narrower head & neck compared to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Herring </span>@ left<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWRVab94dI/AAAAAAAAAto/yxdUnO4-ybQ/s1600-h/between+2+HEGU.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SzWRVab94dI/AAAAAAAAAto/yxdUnO4-ybQ/s400/between+2+HEGU.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419397523670163922" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Here it is between 2 adult Herring Gulls (that have different amounts of head streaking)<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It was just earlier this year (during spring migration) that we saw my first ever Iceland Gull in Idaho so 2 in one year seems mind-blowing! I'm hoping others, including the other big larophiles in the state, Cliff & Lisa Weisse</span></span>, might get a chance to see it next week but we've all looked at pics and think it looks good for a Kumlien's!<br /><br />It's been quite a year for gulls in Idaho, having now seen <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sabine's, Bonaparte's, Franklin's, Mew, Ring-billed, California, Thayer's, Iceland, Lesser Black-backed, Glaucous-winged, Herring, & Glaucous</span> in 2010!! Now, just waiting on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Western </span>&/or <span style="font-weight: bold;">Slaty-backed </span>to arrive ;-).<br /><br />Merry Christmas,<br /><br />Jay<br /></div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-78425126783818247722009-12-25T10:59:00.000-07:002009-12-25T15:46:08.300-07:00Snowy day<div align="left">Last Saturday, Jay and I went on a long awaited birding adventure with the Henderson clan. We started out on pleasant valley road, mostly in search of horned lark flocks and raptors. It was a cold morning (though not as cold as the single digits earlier in that week!) and the snow was really coming down as we scoured the back roads for birds. We ran into a few flocks of White-crowned sparrows and a flock of <strong>Horned Larks</strong>, but didn’t find anything unusual mixed in with them. Soon after seeing this first flock of HOLA’s, we got a fun surprise when we saw a <strong>Northern Shrike</strong> perched on top of a bush. Not quite the raptor we were looking for, but close! And very cool :)<br />We continued down the road into the middle of nowhere, and began seeing more and more raptors as we went. One of the first birds we stopped for on a power pole turned out to be a <strong>Ferruginous Hawk</strong>!! It was a great sighting, because I haven’t really seen that many, plus it was one of the Hendersons’ “requested” birds for the trip! Danette had spotted what she thought was a Ferrug at the same spot a few days before, so she was excited to have her mystery bird ID solved! As we watched, the bird took off from the power pole it was sitting on and flew to one a little further down, letting us see the cool white patches on the tops of the wings, and the dark legs….but I was more excited about something else, because as it took off, it launched a great big poop! Yippee! My Ferruginous “poop lifer” :) An interesting conversation followed as I explained my recently started poop lifelist….and I only got a few looks from the Hendersons…I guess they’re used to running into some ‘odd’ birders! Haha.<br />As we got back into the car, I noticed some bunny prints in the snow along the roadside just below the pole…..I wondered if he knew how close he’d come to being lunch!<br />We continued on and continued to see more and more raptors on the poles…which turned into some fun birdie quizzes! Pretty soon IDing it as a <strong>Rough-legged</strong> was not hard enough for us, so Jay moved on to quizzes over age and sex. After pouring over the guides and seeing a few different ages of birds, we soon had it figured out!<br />At one place we stopped, we got a real raptor treat. In the area we could see from where we had stopped, we saw: <strong>2 Ferrugs, 2 Rough-legs</strong> (an immature and an adult…a perfect comparison for our quizzing!) , <strong>2 Harriers</strong> (a male and female), and a <strong>Red-tail</strong>….all but the Ferrug’s were in just one field!!<br />We continued driving, and saw a <strong>Golden Eagle</strong> perched next to us on a pole. We slowed down and IT got some great looks at US, staring straight down at our cars. Then, less than a mile away we got a look at a Bald Eagle on a fence line….it was a cool comparison of the huge <strong>Bald Eagle</strong> bill and the smaller Golden’s. At a farmhouse along the road, we stopped to check out some trees full of doves and soon noticed a small bird of prey sitting in an aspen watching them. It was a <strong>Merlin</strong>! The snow really started picking up, so the Merlin fluffed up and settled in for the storm as the dumb doves walked on the ground right beneath his perch!!</div><div align="center"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SzU_ch7204I/AAAAAAAABRs/yRBuBG0EY_k/s1600-h/Ann+%26+Danette+scoping+the+Merlin.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419307485988574082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SzU_ch7204I/AAAAAAAABRs/yRBuBG0EY_k/s400/Ann+%26+Danette+scoping+the+Merlin.JPG" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Ann and Danette checking out the Merlin (see him in the tree?)</span></p>Right around lunch time we stopped on the roadside and watched 100's of <strong>Horned Larks</strong> swirling out in the fields. Jay walked out toward the flock and soon 'herded' them closer to the road so we could scan them in the scopes....sadly, we didnt find anything but horned larks in the mix, but it was still very cool to watch all those birds!<br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SzU_dUIBQBI/AAAAAAAABR8/hQQxcm0yP4Y/s1600-h/HOLA+tracks+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419307499461361682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SzU_dUIBQBI/AAAAAAAABR8/hQQxcm0yP4Y/s400/HOLA+tracks+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#3333ff;"> Jay took this picture of all the Horned Lark tracks--cool!</span><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SzU_c5FWX0I/AAAAAAAABR0/Jfr3s8_mcwQ/s1600-h/Horned+Larks+galore.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419307492202405698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SzU_c5FWX0I/AAAAAAAABR0/Jfr3s8_mcwQ/s400/Horned+Larks+galore.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#3333ff;">The Flock!</span><br /></div><div align="left">By the time we reached the shore of Lake Lowell, it was a total white-out over the lake...you couldn't see anything! So much for checking out some waterfowl! We decided to take the opportunity to goof off while the snow kept most of the birds hidden. The lake was completely frozen and soon our whole group was out running and sliding on the ice!! Soon we had our sliding technique mastered enough for a sliding contest: Matthew and Jay won for distance, Iris won for style, and Danette and I proudly won for best wipe-outs :)</div><div align="left">After some fun, we took a group vote and decided to make a quick check of Jay's favorite hang out, the Dump!! We were disappointed to find when we got there that there were not even 100 gulls there, and all <strong>Ring-bills</strong> with just one <strong>California</strong>! So much for turning the Hendersons into Dump fanatics :) (that would have to wait for our later trip to the Boise dump, heehee!)</div><div align="left">The sky started to clear up and we headed over to Marsing to check out the park and river there. We saw a cool mix of birds including lots of Ducks, a <strong>Marsh</strong> and <strong>Winter Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, Pipits, Night Herons </strong>(but no Green Heron), <strong>Golden-crowned Kinglets, Snipe</strong>, and a beaver munching on some marshy plants!!</div><div align="left">Once we were done at the park we bundled back into the cars with hot tea and yummy cookies for a fun ride home. </div></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-2171845504352266792009-11-24T23:32:00.003-07:002009-11-29T00:52:19.354-07:00Cascade ReservoirOn November 7th (wow, that was a few weeks ago now!) Jay and I, along with our good friend and super IBO volunteer Gary, took off on a trip to Cascade Reservoir. With loons and scoters showing up in northern Idaho and surrounding states, we figured we'd probably find some. And boy were we right! There were HUNDREDS of loons on the Reservoir, though almost all of them were Common's. We spent the day scouting around the entire shore of the lake, scoping out all those loons. Among them, we were lucky enough to spot a Pacific Loon!! Finally something that was not a Common Loon, and it was a Lifer!<br /><br />We continued scoping, and continued to see loons! We finished our circuit around the lake, and headed out on the road to check out some raptors. We saw lots of Red-tails and Rough-legs, adn then Jay spotted something unexpected in a field of grazing cattle. We turned around after passing it on the highway and got out the scope. It was a Cattle Egret! The only other Cattle Egrets I've seen were from a million miles away at the mud flats at American Falls, so it was a treat to see this guy strutting around in the field at such close range. We were surprised that this bird would still be in Idaho, but after our post to IBLE, we soon learned that there was a pattern of these guys showing up in the state around this time every year. I enjoyed hearing about many other egret sightings within just a few weeks of us seeing this one...it's cool what you'll learn when you pay attention!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve3omiiwQI/AAAAAAAAAsE/jD78ZDlgkg8/s1600-h/Cattle+Egret.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401988186222280962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve3omiiwQI/AAAAAAAAAsE/jD78ZDlgkg8/s400/Cattle+Egret.JPG" border="0" /></a>The Cattle Egret in Cascade<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SxIk9qkmzfI/AAAAAAAABQU/9gbbLFwp5i0/s1600/Cattle+Egret+field.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409426744243834354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SxIk9qkmzfI/AAAAAAAABQU/9gbbLFwp5i0/s400/Cattle+Egret+field.JPG" border="0" /></a>The Cattle Egret field and a view of the snow mountains near Cascade </p><p align="left"> After seeing the Cattle Egret, and a cool Harlan's Redtail, we headed to the shore again in hopes of a Scoter. We found a few more Loons, and also found some cute visitors in the trees....a flock of at least 11 Pygmy Nuthatches! They gave us some great looks, perched squeaking on the tips of the pine branches. It was cool to see them because they were a Lifer for Gary...not to mention they are just downright adorable, I don't care who you are! ;) </p><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SxIk9T3D_EI/AAAAAAAABQM/Gnz0KYRwhS4/s1600/Heidi+conquering+the+fence.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409426738147228738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SxIk9T3D_EI/AAAAAAAABQM/Gnz0KYRwhS4/s400/Heidi+conquering+the+fence.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center">Taking a short break from birding: Gary told me the fence was too high to step over without touching it. I sure showed him!! :)</div><div><br />With just a few minutes of daylight left, we had two options: 1) make a quick run to a tiny reservoir nearby, or 2) start the long drive home....surprise, surprise, our motto prevailed once again: "well.....we're already here, so we might as well do it" :)<br />We jetted down the road to Davis Reservoir, and at sunset on the orange and purple water we could just make out two scoters!!....carefully watching through the scope, we were able to catch hints of a white wing patch on the birds when they turned just right or stretched their wings. Another Lifer for the day! a White-winged Scoter! Guess our motto paid off once again! We watched the Scoters until it <em>really</em> was too dark to see anything, and then made our trip home to Boise.</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401988190202318450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve3o1XdTnI/AAAAAAAAAsM/P7T2jiZUqHY/s400/Davis+Res+%40+sunset.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><p align="center">Running out of light at Davis Reservoir</p><br /><br /><p align="left">~Heidi</p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-58582197046466167922009-11-09T21:24:00.005-07:002009-11-09T21:42:55.946-07:00Black-tailed Gull!! (in Washington)OK, so maybe this isn't relevant since it didn't occur in Idaho, but it is birding .... <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">and</span>, I received official permission from 'the boss' herself to see this bird w/o her since it wasn't in Idaho. Quite magnanimous, huh?<br /><br />I SAW A MEGA-LIFER ON FRIDAY!<br /><br />The story: Last week I was attending a conference in Forest Grove, OR (<a href="http://www.partnersinflight.org/">Partners in Flight</a> Western Working Group) Tues - Thurs. I planned to stay thru Friday in case I decided to join the conference field trip and/or do some other birding. Good thing b/c about a week before the conference, I caught wind of an adult <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black-tailed Gull</span> being seen near Tacoma, Washington. I watched the Washington birding hotline all week to see if it was sticking around ... and it did!<br /><br />Even better news was that Jon and Dave (IBO 2009 hawkwatchers) were on a road trip and arriving in Portland Thursday night .... <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">and</span> they wanted to go up and see the bird <span style="font-style: italic;">and were willing to bring me back to the Portland airport in time for my Friday night flight</span>! The next AM, I got up way-too-early to take various modes of public transport to meet those guys in Portland and they met me in the 'Batmobile' (Dave's sweet ride) and we headed north. Near Battleground, we picked up Stephanie (IBO '09 songbirder - <span style="font-style: italic;">who's about to fly to Australia for a field job!</span>). As she got in, she said, "<span style="font-weight: bold;">so, what rare birds are we going after?</span>" <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Seriously? I love it!</span> Jon hadn't even told her what species we were chasing but she was up for an adventure!!<br /><br />We arrived to Tacoma just before noon and followed my friend Drew (we took Ornithology together at The Evergreen State College in 1994 and have remained friends and birding/traveling buddies since) to the viewing site. We only had about 10 minutes before a major squall rolled in and chased us down the road. BUT, we were able to locate the bird pretty quickly and enjoyed some quick views at a major lifer for all of us.<br /><br />To escape the rain, we headed down the road a couple miles to a quirky restaurant called 'The Ark'. We walked in with binoculars around our necks, looking wet and a little bewildered ... one employee asked, "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">what are you guys up to? birdwatching?</span>" to which we replied, "<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">How'd ya know?</span>" .... "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">your hat says 'Birdnerd' and you're wearing binoculars!</span>" .... "<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">good point ;-)</span>"<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SvjjIbtnQ4I/AAAAAAAAAss/A2jIevFhGwM/s1600-h/Dave+%26+Jay+birding+in+the+ark.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SvjjIbtnQ4I/AAAAAAAAAss/A2jIevFhGwM/s400/Dave+%26+Jay+birding+in+the+ark.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402317487048442754" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Dave & Jay trying to identify a pair of small, black (& stuffed) birds that resembled a cross between a </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">crow</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">, a </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Burrowing Owl</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">, and a </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">puffbird</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> ;-) that we found in a Tacoma restaurant called 'The Ark' (they were missing one of their Zebras ...)</span><br /><br /></div>After a while, the rain cleared so we raced back to the site to enjoy more views of the bird ...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve2DCJjisI/AAAAAAAAArc/G60lOXE5K4g/s1600-h/birder+line-up.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve2DCJjisI/AAAAAAAAArc/G60lOXE5K4g/s400/birder+line-up.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401986441287011010" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Birders lined up on shore viewing the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black-tailed Gull</span> (Stephanie, of recent Lucky Peak fame, is at front and my old buddie, <a href="http://www.drewtube.net/">Drew</a> - brown hat -, came to meet us even though he'd already seen the bird)</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve2DZZCdlI/AAAAAAAAArk/xxDeD-IXBEg/s1600-h/the+gull+roost.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve2DZZCdlI/AAAAAAAAArk/xxDeD-IXBEg/s400/the+gull+roost.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401986447525967442" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">The big gull roost on log booms in the harbor<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve3CtMALnI/AAAAAAAAAr0/8telQruwGR4/s1600-h/BTGU+on+roost.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sve3CtMALnI/AAAAAAAAAr0/8telQruwGR4/s400/BTGU+on+roost.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401987535171759730" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">The main view we had of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black-tailed Gull</span> as viewed from shore through the scope - you can see the darker mantle than surrounding gulls (including a couple of <span style="font-weight: bold;">California Gulls</span>) as well as the smudgy, hooded look to the head (characteristic of adults in winter). Other gulls present include <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mew</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bonaparte's</span>.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SvjudHSUiqI/AAAAAAAAAs0/TFJAaUiFSbU/s1600-h/BTGU83751_500+%28Puschock%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 344px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SvjudHSUiqI/AAAAAAAAAs0/TFJAaUiFSbU/s400/BTGU83751_500+%28Puschock%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402329936970418850" border="0" /></a><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/RRC/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A close-up view of the adult <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black-tailed Gull </span><span>(</span><span style="font-style: italic;">by John Puschock</span>; <span style="font-style: italic;">for more pictures, click</span> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://zbirdtours.com/btgu.htm">here</a></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">)</span><br /><br /></div>All in all, a pretty sweet day ... I got to see an old friend, see a major lifer that I'd hoped for over the years, and got to enjoy some time with some characters from the awesome '09 Lucky Peak crew.<br /><br />Happy birding,<br /><br />JayJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-64258661948605411622009-11-06T10:10:00.004-07:002009-11-06T11:20:20.549-07:00return to Mountain View and CJ Strike ReservoirsOn Saturday morning earlier this week, Jay and I met up bright and early and headed for CJ Strike Reservoir. Our goal birds are still the loons, scoters, and gulls, so CJ Strike is definitely a great place to check these guys out.<br />We arrived as the sun was coming up, and were sad to see that the water was all covered in a thick fog! We waited around at the base of the dam, watching the flock of gulls that was visible from there, and soon we watched the sun hit the fog and burn it all off.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SvRnuOCTHDI/AAAAAAAABPY/GcRbt4wFIBc/s1600-h/Heidi+%26+fog.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401055896863448114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SvRnuOCTHDI/AAAAAAAABPY/GcRbt4wFIBc/s400/Heidi+%26+fog.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SvRntweMRcI/AAAAAAAABPQ/F3qTw2CbCLM/s1600-h/fog+over+CJ+Strike.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401055888927376834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SvRntweMRcI/AAAAAAAABPQ/F3qTw2CbCLM/s400/fog+over+CJ+Strike.JPG" border="0" /></a> Fog on the river below CJ Strike</div><div align="left">We scanned from a few places along the shore, and saw plenty of birds, but mostly <strong>Western</strong>/<strong>Clarks</strong> <strong>Grebes</strong> and TOO many <strong>Common</strong> <strong>Loons</strong>! where are all our Yellow-billed and Pacific Loons? ;)<br />We then hit the highway again to reach Mountain View reservoir, knowing that we'd return to CJ Strike at the end of our birding day.<br />We got to Mountain View, and the bird community had changed a lot! Almost all the shorebirds were gone, and more waterfowl had come in to replace them!<br />We stopped first at the actual reservoir itself, before heading to the productive 'Blue Creek' area below the dam.<br />Of course there were plenty of loons here too, and we drove to several different vantage points to check out what turned out to be Common's....but we tried our best to make them into something else! :)<br />While walking to another spot to scope, Jay glimpsed a bird just as it dove underwater....a Scoter!<br />I'd never seen ANY scoter species before, so I knew whatever popped up would be a lifer! It took a while, since the bird kept diving, but soon we got the scope on it and could see that it had the white patch on the back of its head and no white on its wings...it was a <strong>Surf</strong> <strong>Scoter</strong>! We also ended up finding another scoter nearby...also a Surf. Of course we were hoping for the more rare species in Idaho, a Black Scoter, but it was still a year bird for both of us, and a Heidi Lifer!!! My favorite thing about the scoters was the way that they dove....it's so different from what other water birds do! Also...the last lifer/yearbird had been all the way back on October 12, with the Black-bellied Plover...so of course I thought it was about time I got another one! heehee :)<br /></div><div align="left">We continued to check out the reservoir and enjoyed watching the very cute <strong>Horned</strong> and <strong>Eared</strong> <strong>Grebes</strong>, and then moved on to Blue Creek. We couldnt believe it when we came up over the rise adn saw TONS of white birds on the water! We ended up estimating that there were 800+ <strong>Tundra</strong> <strong>Swans</strong> there! Definitely a change from the 100's of Dowitchers and sandpipers that were there in previous weeks.<br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SvRntmEIotI/AAAAAAAABPI/GkOKlY6Si60/s1600-h/100s+of+Tundras.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401055886133732050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SvRntmEIotI/AAAAAAAABPI/GkOKlY6Si60/s400/100s+of+Tundras.JPG" border="0" /></a>The 100's of Tundra Swans at Blue Creek!<br /><div align="left">We scoped all over the water, and saw tons of waterfowl, and a few <strong>Dunlin</strong> and <strong>Yellowlegs</strong> still hanging out...and of course we were checking all the <strong>mallards</strong> and <strong>canada</strong> <strong>geese</strong> to see if we could find a Black Duck or Brant hanging out with them :)<br />We didn't see anything else 'crazy', BUT, while scoping around, Jay spotted a falcon chasing around a flock of what looked like teal....and the falcon looked HUGE! It landed, and through the wind I tried to keep my binocs on it while Jay set up the scope....a shaky gust of wind came, and suddenly the Falcon was gone! :O NOOOOO! We never got the scope on it, and cant say for sure...but we were pretty sure it was a <strong>Gyrfalcon</strong>....sad day! Hopefully another Gyr will decide to visit Idaho this winter....and stay long enough for us to see it!</div><div align="left">After that, we headed back to CJ Strike and scoped again over the water. There were still lots of Loons..and they were still all commons :) We took a look in the Russian Olives at the Jack's Creek area. Before heading into the trees, we were able to watch a female <strong>Sharp-shinned Hawk</strong> take out a <strong>Robin</strong>!! She sat on the road for quite a while with her catch, before taking off and skimming low over the grass with her huge meal!</div><div align="left">In the fields and olive trees, we found TONS of <strong>sparrows</strong>!!! We couldn't believe how many popped up whenever we 'pished'! They were a White-crowns and Song Sparrows, but I'm sure these flocks will be a great place to check for rarities this winter!</div><div align="left">In the Olives, we scouted around, and soon I saw the bird we were looking for: a <strong>Barn Owl</strong>! yay! This was one of the few species I had left to see this year that was NOT a lifer. We had split up on our search, so Jay missed the bird....for a few minutes then, I was caught up to him on the competition by one species! Unfortunately, we continued looking, and Jay soon found the owl perched in a thick bunch of branches....darn! :)</div><br /><div align="left">We finished the day with a grand total of 2 yearbirds! (the highest # we've had in a while) and headed for home after sunset...what a great day of birding!</div><div align="left">This Saturday, our hope is to make it to Cascade Reservoir (a few hours drive from Boise) where we will hopefully find at least one new <strong>Loon</strong> species, and maybe a <strong>scoter</strong> too! We also are considering visiting Garden Valley, a town in Idaho where a <strong>Blue</strong> <strong>Jay</strong> was spotted a few weeks ago....</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">wish us luck!</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">~Heidi</div></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-15547843377896471562009-11-02T21:26:00.001-07:002009-11-02T21:26:00.303-07:00Finally some Goshawks!Although the numbers for most raptor species were <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">way up</span> in fall '09, there were very few <span style="font-weight: bold;">Northern Goshawks</span> migrating before the middle of October. After a low <span style="font-weight: bold;">Goshawk</span> year in '08 and a slow start in '09, I was starting to get restless about whether or not I was gonna get a chance to catch and band one this fall. During my 2 days/week of hawk-trapping, I had not even had a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Goshawk</span> come into the trapping station!<br /><br />(Perhaps a slight explanation is needed: each fall, <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/">IBO</a> conducts trapping and banding of migrating raptors in the Boise Foothills [at Lucky Peak and at Boise Peak] using an array of nets & traps. In this way, we usually capture & band between 800-1200 raptors per fall season - consisting mostly of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sharp-shinned & Coopers's hawks</span> as well as <span style="font-weight: bold;">American Kestrels</span>. One of the coolest results of this long-term effort is the mapping of migration routes and eventual destinations of banded birds - see this <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/recoverymap.html">map</a>. For some examples of other catches, see the <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.blogspot.com/2009/10/1st-annual-big-sit-lucky-peak-some.html">Merlin</a> and <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.blogspot.com/2008/10/gyrfalcon.html">Gyrfalcon</a> links)<br /><br />Then finally, on my last 2 days of hawk-trapping in '09 (Fri, Oct 23rd & Sat, Oct 24), I was fortunate enough to catch a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Goshawk</span> on each day and, therefore, got my fix.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhullNS7I/AAAAAAAAAqk/nejmCSco4pU/s1600-h/Jay+%26+NOGO.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhullNS7I/AAAAAAAAAqk/nejmCSco4pU/s400/Jay+%26+NOGO.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396404968998390706" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">My first <span style="font-weight: bold;">Northern Goshawk</span> of the season, a big female - <span style="font-style: italic;">photo by Michele Laskowski</span></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhvPJ9glI/AAAAAAAAAq0/ezGL7jbI2Dw/s1600-h/Michelle+%26+Katie+with+NOGO.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhvPJ9glI/AAAAAAAAAq0/ezGL7jbI2Dw/s400/Michelle+%26+Katie+with+NOGO.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396404980158399058" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Michele & Katie co-holding the first </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Goshawk</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> they'd every seen! <span style="font-style: italic;">No, they aren't trying to start a fashion trend with the headlamps ;-) - it's just that it's a bit dark in the trapping blind where they were doing the banding & processing of this bird</span></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhuzJxClI/AAAAAAAAAqs/HPyaqZLby5U/s1600-h/NOGO+close-up.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhuzJxClI/AAAAAAAAAqs/HPyaqZLby5U/s400/NOGO+close-up.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396404972641389138" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A close-up to show the brownish eye color of this bird (usually more yellow - see below)<br /></span></div><br />Now, Heidi wasn't there on Friday and so was a little envious .. and she <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">demanded</span> that I catch another one on Saturday when she was present. Lucky for me, the first bird to come into the trapping station was a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Goshawk</span>! It took a while to catch (very windy) but that gave us a great opportunity to watch this impressive raptor in action.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhuOK5IsI/AAAAAAAAAqU/4iTxPvnhR7o/s1600-h/Heidi+%26+Gos+10-24.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhuOK5IsI/AAAAAAAAAqU/4iTxPvnhR7o/s400/Heidi+%26+Gos+10-24.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396404962714002114" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Heidi holding her first <span style="font-weight: bold;">Goshawk</span> of the season<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhuWVA2JI/AAAAAAAAAqc/azBfQspDdcU/s1600-h/10-24+Gos.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 359px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SuPhuWVA2JI/AAAAAAAAAqc/azBfQspDdcU/s400/10-24+Gos.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396404964903934098" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Notice the more typical yellowish eye on this bird</span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Fieldwork is now done for the year so there'll be a lot of office/computer time in the near future but we hope to keep getting out on weekends and we're looking forward to helping out with some Christmas Bird Counts next month!<br /><br />Jay<br /></div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-43216668969404193502009-10-20T20:21:00.001-06:002009-11-13T20:05:27.836-07:00Wishlist for the rest of 2009 ;-)As we head into the 2nd half of October, we've already far surpassed expectations. It's been a really fun year of birding & fieldwork <span style="font-style: italic;">- I mean, how could a year full of bird surveys for work and birding trips to almost all corners of the state not be fun!?!</span> We've both seen more bird species than we realistically expected and Heidi's already seen 130 life birds!<br /><br />I originally predicted a year-end total somewhere between 260 & 280 and now we stand at 290 and 293 with over 2 months to go! Our ability to exceed our own expectations is due to several factors:<br /><ol><li>the help & generosity of many other Idaho birders</li><li>conducting bird surveys across a broad spectrum of habitat types</li><li>(last but not least) a shred of craziness that drives us to bird as much as possible ;-)</li></ol><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/St5tSwcrVLI/AAAAAAAAAqM/DeZEnOaAD9g/s1600-h/DSCN3550.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/St5tSwcrVLI/AAAAAAAAAqM/DeZEnOaAD9g/s400/DSCN3550.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394869572646687922" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Big Wood River riparian habitat, June 2009</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-style: italic;"><br />(where we conducted bird surveys this summer ahead of habitat restoration efforts)</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/St5r-uLZBEI/AAAAAAAAAqE/bxYAFmYBxRs/s1600-h/skein+of+pelicans.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/St5r-uLZBEI/AAAAAAAAAqE/bxYAFmYBxRs/s400/skein+of+pelicans.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394868128928302146" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A skein of <span style="font-weight: bold;">American White Pelicans</span> over American Falls Reservoir, September 2009</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">(where we took a birding trip last month)</span></span><br /><br /></div>Our new goal is to both see at least 300 species in Idaho in 2009 and that means finding 10 more species for Heidi (actually, maybe 11 since the unique taxa known as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">"South Hills" Crossbill</span> - which we've both seen this year & hoped might be 'split' by now - is still considered to be conspecific with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Red Crossbill</span>). CAN WE DO IT? As we look ahead to the rest of 2009, here are some of the bird species that are regular in occurrence in Idaho (or at least somewhat regular; <span style="font-style: italic;">species in italics & parentheses are less likely</span>) that we will be searching for:<br /><ul><li>Pacific Loon (<span style="font-weight: bold;">check!</span>)<br /></li><li>Surf Scoter (<span style="font-weight: bold;">check!</span>)</li><li>White-winged Scoter (<span style="font-weight: bold;">check!</span>)</li><li>American Golden-plover</li><li>Short-billed Dowitcher</li><li>Barn Owl (<span style="font-weight: bold;">check!</span>)</li><li>Pinyon Jay</li><li>Western Scrub-jay</li><li>Blue Jay<br /></li><li>Lapland Longspur</li><li>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Black Scoter</span>)</li><li>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Red-shouldered Hawk</span>)</li><li>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Gyrfalcon</span>)</li><li>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Mountain Quail</span>)</li><li>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Western Gull</span>)</li><li>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Black-legged Kittiwake</span>)<br /></li></ul>As you can see, it'll still be an uphill battle to reach 300. Much as I loathe to 'chase' introduced species, maybe Heidi'll hold a gun to my head & force me to look for one of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gambel's Quail</span> now established in the Salmon area (or maybe even make a big effort to find her a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gray Partridge</span> ;-).<br /><br />Of course, we're hoping we'll continue to get lucky with some out-of-range species (such as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Glossy Ibis</span>, several rare warblers, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rose-breasted Grosbeaks</span> we've seen earlier in the year) so feel free to send us any tips on the above species or anything else that shows up!<br /><br />Thanks & happy fall!<br /><br />JayJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-17728481488122744542009-10-16T21:16:00.002-06:002009-10-17T22:23:15.035-06:00What we've mostly been up to for the last 3 months<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Here are a few pictures to give a sense of the work we've been doing and fruits of our labor from the last few months up on Lucky Peak ... </span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br /></span></div> </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRbh0JQ7OI/AAAAAAAAAlc/YRkdPxkL7Zs/s1600-h/Steph+%26+Heidi+doing+data.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387531690733268194" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRbh0JQ7OI/AAAAAAAAAlc/YRkdPxkL7Zs/s400/Steph+%26+Heidi+doing+data.JPG" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The office @ Lucky Peak</span><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRbhiYm85I/AAAAAAAAAlU/VMprmDPVw-8/s1600-h/Steph+%26+Heidi+doing+data+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387531685965788050" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRbhiYm85I/AAAAAAAAAlU/VMprmDPVw-8/s400/Steph+%26+Heidi+doing+data+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">A closer look @ Stephanie & Heidi entering some data on an<br />afternoon after songbird migration banding in August</span> </div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/StqLAs6OszI/AAAAAAAAAp8/IWotv4n5v1Q/s1600-h/Jay+%26+Stephanie+%40+net.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/StqLAs6OszI/AAAAAAAAAp8/IWotv4n5v1Q/s400/Jay+%26+Stephanie+%40+net.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393776347901244210" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Stephanie & Jay taking birds out of a mist-net (the method we use at <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/">IBO</a> to capture landbirds during fall migration)</span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsGodHt2FvI/AAAAAAAAAlM/mA87AGRDDUA/s1600-h/IMG_6328.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386771847552833266" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 267px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsGodHt2FvI/AAAAAAAAAlM/mA87AGRDDUA/s400/IMG_6328.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Least Flycatcher</span> captured/banded on Sept 15</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsGnlA3EciI/AAAAAAAAAk8/dXX5F0CWtvU/s1600-h/IMG_6595.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386770883639800354" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 267px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsGnlA3EciI/AAAAAAAAAk8/dXX5F0CWtvU/s400/IMG_6595.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">White-crowned Sparrows</span> of two subspecies - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mountain</span> (</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">oreantha</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">) on the left and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gambel's</span> (</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">gambeli</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">) on the right </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsGnkYI1c9I/AAAAAAAAAk0/MCradi41HV8/s1600-h/IMG_6298.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386770872708461522" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 267px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsGnkYI1c9I/AAAAAAAAAk0/MCradi41HV8/s400/IMG_6298.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The first <span style="font-weight: bold;">Indigo Bunting</span> - <span style="font-style: italic;">an adult female</span> - ever captured (or seen) @ Lucky Peak - on Sept 12 </span></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392256212375925874" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 267px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUkdKyPdHI/AAAAAAAABLc/kjsnrDGUmpg/s400/_MG_5527.JPG" border="0" /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">An adult female <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooper's Hawk</span> we trapped (</span><em><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">photo by Rob Miller)</span><br /><br /></em><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUkct-xZ2I/AAAAAAAABLU/FqdmuFq5LIs/s1600-h/DSC_0078.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392256204643854178" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 265px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUkct-xZ2I/AAAAAAAABLU/FqdmuFq5LIs/s400/DSC_0078.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Heidi holding a cute young male </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Townsend's Warbler</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> (</span><em style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">photo by Stephanie Coates)</em><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUkby4kRaI/AAAAAAAABLM/lUXDcc5oZ88/s1600-h/DSC_0053.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392256188780135842" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 265px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUkby4kRaI/AAAAAAAABLM/lUXDcc5oZ88/s400/DSC_0053.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Jay holding a male <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wilson's Warbler</span> (</span><em style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">photo by Stephanie Coates)</em><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUj4XjJu3I/AAAAAAAABLE/VsPkJAdNnEY/s1600-h/DSCF2213.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392255580147137394" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUj4XjJu3I/AAAAAAAABLE/VsPkJAdNnEY/s400/DSCF2213.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Songbird crewmember, Nathan, with our 2nd ever <span style="font-weight: bold;">White-breasted Nuthatch</span> on his back!</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUj3s3O6WI/AAAAAAAABK8/9sxBowHMYIY/s1600-h/DSCF2214.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392255568688638306" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUj3s3O6WI/AAAAAAAABK8/9sxBowHMYIY/s400/DSCF2214.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Jay with an Adult male </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Sharpie</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> on a stormy day of trapping!</span><br /></div><div align="center"><div><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUj26lcK_I/AAAAAAAABK0/waLsuxnw2os/s1600-h/1003091647.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392255555192237042" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 300px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUj26lcK_I/AAAAAAAABK0/waLsuxnw2os/s400/1003091647.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The songbird crew (Stephanie, Jay, Caroline and Nathan) on a cold day in the hawk blind<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Cheers,<br /><br />Heidi & Jay<br /></span></div></div></div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-19853027626381132312009-10-13T16:28:00.005-06:002009-10-16T21:52:12.479-06:00Blue Creekwith school and IBO work going full blast over the past few weeks, Jay and I haven't had much time to do any 'serious' birding...so, at the first chance we got we decided to make a 'quick' run to Duck Valley reservoir (only a <em>few</em> hours drive from Boise, heehee :) near the Nevada border.<br />Fellow crazy-birder Harry K. had first told Jay about this spot, and after seeing how great it was when we made a trip there 2 weeks ago, we knew we had to go back! We set out around lunchtime after finishing with songbird banding and Entomology lecture :)<br /><br />When we first arrived, we checked out the reservoir itself and found a <strong>Common</strong> <strong>Loon</strong> among all the ducks there...too bad it wasn't a Yellow-Billed!<br /><br />Next we drove to the Blue Creek area past the reservoir, and found two <strong>Cackling Geese</strong> (likely the <em>minima</em> subspecies) hanging out with all the Canada's...I'd never seen the uber-cute <em>minima</em> subspecies before, so that was a special treat; especially seeing them in comparison to their giant cousins!<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUHJLTMKII/AAAAAAAABKg/SeM4FuswB2Q/s1600-h/Cackler+%231.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392223983079532674" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUHJLTMKII/AAAAAAAABKg/SeM4FuswB2Q/s400/Cackler+%231.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">One of the cute <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cackling Geese</span>!</span><br /><br /></div><div align="left">We drove along the water and stopped to check out the gazillions of shorebirds along the way. We couldnt believe the numbers of birds, including both <strong>Yellowlegs</strong>, almost 70 <strong>Pectoral</strong> <strong>Sandpipers</strong>, around 275 <span style="font-weight: bold;">LB</span> <strong>Dowitchers</strong>, a few <strong>Sanderlings</strong>, and a <strong>Dunlin</strong>! We also got to enjoy watching a <strong>Peregrine</strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Falcon</span> chase around many shorebirds and ducks...though he didn't ever catch one.</div><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUHJhXp7tI/AAAAAAAABKo/J0UhBeUTonA/s1600-h/Heidi+scoping+%40+Blue+Creek.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392223989003841234" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/StUHJhXp7tI/AAAAAAAABKo/J0UhBeUTonA/s400/Heidi+scoping+%40+Blue+Creek.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><p>While we were scoping out all the shorebirds (still hoping for a Short-billed Dowitcher) we suddenly heard a different call-note. A "Big Plover"!!!! We scanned around frantically to find out where the call had come from, and soon Jay spotted it! I checked it out with binoculars, while Jay set up the scope. A few seconds after I scoped it, it took off. oh no!.....but actually it was perfect timing, because in flight we were able to see it's very black 'armpits' and white rump. It was a <strong>Black</strong>-<strong>bellied</strong> <strong>Plover</strong>! woohoo! A lifer, yearbird, <strong style="font-style: italic;">and</strong> the species we had come searching for on this trip! sweet :)</p><p>We used the remaining sunlight to check out the shorebirds coming in to roost for the night, and had fun hearing their fighter-jet 'whooshing' noises as they came shooting down across the water. As we got ready to leave, a lone <span style="font-weight: bold;">White-faced </span><strong>Ibis</strong> flew slowly overhead to check us out before heading to his grassy island to sleep.</p><p>A cool day of birding at a very cool spot!</p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-63139901669663126732009-10-01T01:39:00.006-06:002009-10-21T12:16:38.025-06:00(Unsuccessful) parula stake-outOn Tuesday, Lew Ulrey (a Boise birder) saw & photographed a new warbler to him, an <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066600@N06/3975543521/in/photostream/">immature Northern Parula</a>, 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 ...<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRdRijRqLI/AAAAAAAAAlk/zgK5_gfmFKg/s1600-h/DSCN3807.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387533610155878578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRdRijRqLI/AAAAAAAAAlk/zgK5_gfmFKg/s400/DSCN3807.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">The songbird crew, including Stephanie, Caroline, Heidi, and Nathan (far right) hangin' with Lew (2nd from right) on his back porch</span><br /></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRdSLVkF0I/AAAAAAAAAls/yE7k7z089uo/s1600-h/DSCN3810.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387533621104219970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRdSLVkF0I/AAAAAAAAAls/yE7k7z089uo/s400/DSCN3810.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">More chatting as we await the bird's arrival .... </span><br /><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRdSoUICHI/AAAAAAAAAl0/2BmbiUqYQkk/s1600-h/DSCN3811.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387533628882815090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsRdSoUICHI/AAAAAAAAAl0/2BmbiUqYQkk/s400/DSCN3811.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">As time wore on, enthusiasm diminished a bit & we settled in for the long haul ...</span><br /></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsReAB3OiQI/AAAAAAAAAmM/UThyDLP-R6M/s1600-h/DSCN3812.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387534408835041538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SsReAB3OiQI/AAAAAAAAAmM/UThyDLP-R6M/s400/DSCN3812.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">After 2+ hours, the ladies were getting ready for a nap and Lew was amused ;-)</span><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">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, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">"What?!? That's dumb!"</span> 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 ...</span><br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">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 ;-)</span><br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Crossing my fingers for the next year bird ....</span><br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Jay</span> </div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-57256252569868210472009-09-27T21:15:00.004-06:002009-09-27T22:24:06.513-06:00Golden-crowned Sparrow!-#300This Thursday up at the Bird Observatory, we had the fun of catching and banding a juvie Golden-crowned Sparrow! It was the first I'd ever seen in the hand, and a first for the station this season, so both Jay and I and the rest of the crew really enjoyed getting to see it...but at the same time we both wished that we'd seen it <em>before</em> it was caught, since we aren't "counting" the net-only birds towards our year list.<br />So, this morning when Jay called up the road to me as I was finishing the net run "hey Heidi, do you have your binoculars?" I was sure there was something good in the bushes he was looking at! By the time I dropped off my Nuthatch cargo and headed down the road, it was too late. The <u>tail-less</u> (<span style="font-style: italic;">maybe a near-death experience with a Sharp-shinned Hawk?</span>) and un-banded Golden-crowned Sparrow he'd seen was gone! Our friends Jean and Poo who follow our little competition (along with some other wood river valley birders who were visiting for the weekend) gave me a hard time, knowing that Jay was now one more bird ahead of me for the year. It was only made worse when Jean returned from a net run with <em>another</em> Golden-crowned Sparrow (this one had a tail) in the bag, and said she'd seen two others! <strong>agh!</strong> It was an explosion of Golden-crowned's at IBO, and I hadn't seen <em>any</em>!! (If Jay were writing this post, I'm sure he'd add that it was at this point during the day that I got a little 'flustered'....though I maintain that I kept perfect composure the entire time ;) even if I <em>did</em> skip out on the next few net runs looking for it! heehee)<br />Anyway, long story short, I spent the rest of the day searching through flocks of white-crowned's (even finding one tail-less bird that turned out to be an adult white-crown and NOT the tailless GC that Jay'd seen).<br />After lunch, Jay and I headed for a loop around the net lanes in hopes of still turning up a bird. After an hour or more, and after lots of bush-whacking behind a flock, Jay caught a glimpse of a tailless dude! we hunted him down, and in the stream of white-crowns hopping through the bushes, I <strong>finally</strong> saw him! the Golden-crowned! YAY!!!!<br />this was an extra-cool lifer for me as it was <strong><em>LIFER #300!!!</em></strong> (it's amazing to think that it was only March when I saw #200: a Harris' Sparrow)<br />It was hi-fives all around on hawkwatch when the rest of the birders heard we'd finally accomplished our mission :)<br /><br />In other news, our birding/year-list has picked up a bit in the last couple weeks and recent new species for 2009 have included Broad-winged Hawk, Anna's Hummingbird, Sanderling, and Sabine's Gulls!<br /><br />all for now,<br />~HeidiHeidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-34142349786276714402009-09-21T22:09:00.007-06:002009-09-22T23:33:41.846-06:00Anna's Hummingbird in Ola!One of the species I really hoped we'd be able to see this year is <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna's Hummingbird</span> ... I've only seen it once before in Idaho (at a feeder in Mountain Home several years ago) but as more people have carefully watched their hummingbird feeders during late summer/early fall, we've started to see that there's a regular pattern of post-breeding dispersal (wandering?) that seemingly brings a few <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna's</span> to Idaho each year.<br /><br />Thus, after reports in Moscow and Prairie that I/we weren't able to 'chase' due to time constraints/work, I was excited when I saw Fred and Melly Zeillemaker at last weekend's <a href="http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org/conference.php">Western Field Ornithologists</a> conference and Fred said that they'd been hosting an <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna's</span> at their feeders and would keep me posted if it stuck around. After a busy coupla weeks (including a great visit with my mom who was here for a long weekend to see Lucky Peak in action - awesome!), Heidi & I finally had time to take an afternoon trip to Ola yesterday (Monday, Sep 21) after songbird banding/classes.<br /><br />We arrived @ the Zeillemaker's about 5 minutes after the bird had been in feeding (figures, right?) so commenced to chat/catch up with our hosts over lemonade (<span style="font-style: italic;">several years before I had enjoyed a great visit to their place to see a Fox Sparrow of the Eastern/Red subspecies</span>) while watching/listening for the bugger. Melly had described the song (if you can call it that ;-) that this young male was often singing and within 30 minutes or so, we started to hear the buzzy sounds coming from an ash tree in their front yard.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhPQklrAQI/AAAAAAAAAj8/cSVaRHQQ_Vo/s1600-h/DSCN3799.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhPQklrAQI/AAAAAAAAAj8/cSVaRHQQ_Vo/s400/DSCN3799.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384140500639613186" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Heidi, Fred, & Melly looking at the ash tree that the </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Anna's Hummingbird</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> was frequenting yesterday</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">- <span style="font-style: italic;">nice backyard, huh!</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">?</span><br /><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /> ... and then we were able to spot the little dude as he sang away before coming down to the feeder - an awesome lifer for Heidi and a fun year bird for both of us!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhOFInQZrI/AAAAAAAAAjs/gBcHW2yxUU4/s1600-h/ANHU+%28Ola+09%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhOFInQZrI/AAAAAAAAAjs/gBcHW2yxUU4/s400/ANHU+%28Ola+09%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384139204639876786" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Immature male <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna's Hummingbird</span> -<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <span style="font-style: italic;">photo by Melly </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Zeillemaker</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(taken prior to our visit)</span><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhPQAwGrfI/AAAAAAAAAj0/1oB91cJdW3M/s1600-h/DSCN3797.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhPQAwGrfI/AAAAAAAAAj0/1oB91cJdW3M/s400/DSCN3797.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384140491019693554" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Happy birders</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">enjoying the show</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhPbimlJuI/AAAAAAAAAkU/7ql6r9MJiCc/s1600-h/DSCN3800.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrhPbimlJuI/AAAAAAAAAkU/7ql6r9MJiCc/s400/DSCN3800.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384140689085114082" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Heidi, her lemonade, and the great view from the Zeillemaker's yard</span><br /></div><br />After enjoying nice views of the bird, Fred took us for a little walk around the beautiful property before we returned to the house for a great dinner (soup, cornbread, and a very tasty zucchini pie for desert) on the deck as we talked about - what else? - bird stories ;-). As we were finishing dinner, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna's</span> came in to the nearby feeders for a great naked eye view!<br /><br />Thanks again to Fred & Melly for their hospitality!<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />JayJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-79260057936710586692009-09-10T17:37:00.009-06:002009-09-19T22:28:27.640-06:00Labor Day weekend birding tripYes, we're both still alive and well ... just been staying busy with songbird (and now hawk) migration at Lucky Peak. And, Heidi just started fall classes @ BSU a few weeks ago.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrRiFynS79I/AAAAAAAAAjc/ILD1xcl56JI/s1600-h/Heidi+%26+Jay+banding+AMKE.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrRiFynS79I/AAAAAAAAAjc/ILD1xcl56JI/s400/Heidi+%26+Jay+banding+AMKE.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383035306240045010" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Here's a picture to prove that we've both been working/busy ... in this case, putting a band on an </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">American Kestrel</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> that got caught in IBO's songbird mist nets - </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">photo by Stephanie Coates</span><br /></div><br />That's our lame excuse for not posting more often .... THE REAL REASON IS THAT UNTIL SEPT 6, WE HADN'T SEEN A NEW SPECIES FOR THE YEAR SINCE AUGUST 2ND!! Thus, maybe we were feeling a little ashamed ??? (<span style="font-style: italic;">not really but</span> .... ;-) Actually, given that we'd seen so many species already by early August, it's not surprising that we've hit a lull (after all, there aren't that many more species we can expect to see in Idaho). We've continued weekly trips to nearby reservoirs (Indian Creek and Mountain Home) in search of shorebirds and other waterbirds and, while the trips have been fun and we keep learning more and more about shorebird ID, since a trip on Aug 2 when we saw our first Pectoral and Solitary Sandpipers of the year, we hadn't been able to turn up anything new.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrRjehH2HzI/AAAAAAAAAjk/aIb2HrScU_g/s1600-h/DSC_0065.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SrRjehH2HzI/AAAAAAAAAjk/aIb2HrScU_g/s400/DSC_0065.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383036830553087794" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Spying on shorebirds at Indian Creek Reservoir along with Rob Miller </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">- </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">photo by Stephanie Coates</span></div><br />Thus, since the reservoirs' water levels are rapidly dropping, we decided we needed to do something to remedy the situation. Since I was already planning on leading a migration birding trip to Lava Lake Ranch on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I suggested that we then continue on to American Falls Reservoir (a site famous for supporting HUGE numbers of waterbirds including, depending on water levels, expansive mudflats that usually provide the best shorebirding in the state) in eastern Idaho for a day or two of birding.<br /><br />On Saturday, we had a great day up the Fish Creek drainage on Lava Lake Ranch with a number of mostly Wood River Valley birders. We enjoyed nice looks at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Western Wood-Pewee</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Olive-sided Flycatcher</span>, a great overhead comparison of immature <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sharp-shinned</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooper's hawks</span>, and a number of other migrant birds in the beautiful landscape of the Pioneer Mountain foothills. Maybe the most notable sighting for me was an association between a group of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lewis's Woodpeckers</span> and a group of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black-billed Magpies</span> at/near a couple fruiting trees way up Fish Creek Rd. I can't remember noticing such an association between these two species before ... and then the following Wednesday several of us saw a similar grouping in some cottonwoods along the edge of Lake Lowell (Deer Flat NWR). Thus, 2x in one week!<br /><br />On Sat afternoon after the trip, Heidi & I got a milkshake at Castle's Corner in Carey and then raced to Minidoka NWR to look for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sabine's Gulls</span> before dark came ... no luck with those gulls but we did enjoy the usual concentration of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Franklin's Gulls</span> and other waterbirds, including a couple of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bonaparte's Gulls</span>.<br /><br />On Sunday AM we woke up at the Willow Bay marina (shores of American Falls reservoir) and walked down to the shore before breakfast. We were really impressed with the shorebird #s and diversity here ....<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmR_yGRANI/AAAAAAAAAi0/xjrCQMl5Mpo/s1600-h/Willow+Bay.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmR_yGRANI/AAAAAAAAAi0/xjrCQMl5Mpo/s400/Willow+Bay.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379991754836607186" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Mudflats in Willow Bay</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"> ... but then got hungry and were happy to find that the restaurant @ the marina was open for the last day of the season. Thus, we enjoyed a great breakfast while listening for <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Pluvialis</span> plover calls (no, didn't hear any :) ...<br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSAZtglWI/AAAAAAAAAi8/NVTQ1hAJxgQ/s1600-h/breakfast+%40+Willow+Bay.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSAZtglWI/AAAAAAAAAi8/NVTQ1hAJxgQ/s400/breakfast+%40+Willow+Bay.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379991765470188898" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The view from our table for breakfast at Willow Bay marina</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We ended up exploring all of the accessible shorebirding sites around the reservoir for the rest of Sunday and part of Monday. Though mudflats were hard to come by due to the high water levels here, we still enjoyed 19 shorebird species and many other water and landbirds. The two "year-birds" (oh, and lifers for Heidi) were <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stilt Sandpiper</span> (which we were able to view side by side with yellowlegs and dowitchers) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cattle Egret</span> and we also saw <span style="font-weight: bold;">Virginia's, Nashville, </span>and<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Orange-crowned warblers</span> in the same bush!<br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSBfdJRNI/AAAAAAAAAjM/yWjkpr3pJqI/s1600-h/Jay+scanning.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSBfdJRNI/AAAAAAAAAjM/yWjkpr3pJqI/s400/Jay+scanning.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379991784192034002" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Me showing off my binocularing skills ;-)</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSA95fr8I/AAAAAAAAAjE/pddVWAhLEnU/s1600-h/Heidi+scopin%27.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSA95fr8I/AAAAAAAAAjE/pddVWAhLEnU/s400/Heidi+scopin%27.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379991775184138178" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Heidi studying her lifer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stilt Sandpipers</span> as well as nearby <span style="font-weight: bold;">yellowlegs & dowitchers</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">After birding the upper end of American Falls res on Monday AM, we decided we ought to jet to Camas NWR (<span style="font-style: italic;">only</span> 1.5 hrs up the road) in the off-chance of finding a vagrant. In spite of the wind that made finding birds among the cottonwood leaves a challenge, we gave it a good 3 hrs and enjoyed <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cordilleran</span> and other <span style="font-weight: bold;">flycatchers</span> as well as the usual slew of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wilson's Warblers</span> but nothin' crazy (side note: the next day, Rexburg birder Darren Clark found a female <span style="font-weight: bold;">Indigo Bunting</span> there - in a spot where we'd seen a group of buntings and warblers but all we'd seen were <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lazulis</span> ... ouch!!!).<br /><br />We then raced back south with the idea of quick stops @ Willow Bay and then Minidoka in case any new shorebirds or gulls had blown in ... as we arrived at Willow Bay and parked, we noticed a small cloud of shorebirds bolting out of the bay and we pleaded, "noooo! don't fly away now!" and soon found the culprit ... a juvenile <span style="font-weight: bold;">Peregrine Falcon</span> munching on an undentified shorebird. Of course, it's always awesome to see a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Peregrine</span> (and we also saw our first 2 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Merlins</span> of the fall) but the fact that it had scared away all the shorebirds we were coming to see wasn't ideal :-).<br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSBmGgLbI/AAAAAAAAAjU/a6ouP299NQ4/s1600-h/spoiler+Peregrine.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SqmSBmGgLbI/AAAAAAAAAjU/a6ouP299NQ4/s400/spoiler+Peregrine.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379991785976114610" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The spoiler </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Peregrine</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">@ Willow Bay</span><br /></div><br />We continued the long drive home to Boise and then got ready to go back to work!Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-27234164875972416752009-08-14T10:14:00.001-06:002009-08-14T10:14:00.167-06:00The elusive & squirrelly Green-tailed Towhee ...You might reasonably wonder what the victorious (& only sometime gloating) Heidi & I have been up to for the last few weeks. On July 15th, we drove up to Lucky Peak with a couple other <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/">IBO</a> crewmembers to get the mist-nets set up for our 13th season of <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/pub-song.html">songbird migration study</a>. Since the following morning, we've spent each morning (except this past Friday - when rain & fog from an impressive August cold front spoiled our efforts) capturing, banding, and measuring birds on Lucky Peak. A few more details of the early-season efforts can be found on the IBO blog: <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.blogspot.com/">http://idahobirdobservatory.blogspot.com/</a>, including the first Hermit Warbler we've ever captured & banded!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Among the rarest of species that we've caught over the years is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Green-tailed Towhee</span>. In fact, we didn't catch or see any at the site until 2004 and through 2008 we'd only captured 4. Thus, on July 29 when long-time volunteer (and bird extractor extraordinaire) Gary Robinson came back from a net run with a big smile and the first <span style="font-weight: bold;">Green-tailed Towhee</span> he'd ever seen in the hand, it was a rare moment. We were all excited and Gary got his camera ready but before we could pose it for pictures, it got away (towhees are pretty feisty and sometimes downright spaztic in the hand so this is nothing new). Bumber ... until the next day when Stephanie (a new IBO crewmember) & I found the same bird hanging in net #5 (we knew it was the same because of the band number). I suggested that Stephanie extract it for practice and she declined, saying she was scared to 'flub' it ('<span style="font-style: italic;">flub</span>' or '<span style="font-style: italic;">fumble</span>' are our terms for when a bird gets away prematurely). So, I took it out and said "<span style="font-style: italic;">shhh</span>" to Stephanie and we walked back and hung the bird (in its carrying bag) on the line and waited for fate to determine who would be the one to process the bird. In a way I hoped that <a href="http://wolf21m.blogspot.com/">Rob</a> would get it again so that he wouldn't feel so bad for flubbing it the day before ... but when Heidi reached for the bag, I was content in knowing she was very unlikely to fumble the bird as she's usually very sure-handed with the birds. Eager with anticipation, Stephanie & I watched as she pulled the bird from the bag and held it in a perfect grip ... and then promptly let the bird fly away (in fairness, the bird likely kicked its way free ;-). Thus, 2 captures of the same bird and we still hadn't gotten all the data - and Gary still had no picture!<br /><br />We figured the story was over ... then yesterday, Aug 11, I thought I heard the distinctive cat-like meow of a Green-tailed Towhee near net 7 (but I was moving at the time & only heard it once so I wrote it off as my imagination). Fast forward to today when Heidi returned from a net run saying, "Jay, I've got a bird for you to process .... I'm too scared to do it!" Alas, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Green-tailed Towhee</span> had returned and the pressure was on me to get all the data this time! Fortunately, I was not cursed with butterfingers (this time anyway!) and we got the data and pictures!<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SoOTRO3espI/AAAAAAAAAic/n-GBEiAJFB8/s1600-h/GTTO+%288-12-09%29+Karyn+deKramer.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 305px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SoOTRO3espI/AAAAAAAAAic/n-GBEiAJFB8/s400/GTTO+%288-12-09%29+Karyn+deKramer.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369297105013617298" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">An immature </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Green-tailed Towhee</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> undergoing its pre-formative molt (from juvenile to its first adult-like plumage) - </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-style: italic;">for those interested in details, notice the pin feathers growing in the greater/secondary coverts region</span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">photo by Karyn deKramer</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SoOTRiLFpPI/AAAAAAAAAik/qBsyjYwKElw/s1600-h/GTTO+%26+SPTO+%288-12-09%29+Karyn+deKramer.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SoOTRiLFpPI/AAAAAAAAAik/qBsyjYwKElw/s400/GTTO+%26+SPTO+%288-12-09%29+Karyn+deKramer.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369297110196135154" border="0" /></a> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Here's the immature <span style="font-weight: bold;">Green-tailed</span> next to an immature of its cousin, the </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Spotted Towhee</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> - which is one of the more common species at Lucky Peak</span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;">photo by Karyn deKramer</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">For a fun version from Rob's perspective, see <a href="http://wolf21m.blogspot.com/">Rob's very good blog</a> ...<br /><br />Personally I've been really enjoying the Lucky Peak field season (as I should ... it's my 14th straight fall migration spending at least some time at this awesome site!) ... in no small way due to the fact that we have a great crew that's getting along and working really well together.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SoOaGi9upvI/AAAAAAAAAis/0jzOkCp3xY4/s1600-h/DSCN3749.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SoOaGi9upvI/AAAAAAAAAis/0jzOkCp3xY4/s400/DSCN3749.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369304618011371250" border="0" /></a>The '09 <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">crew</span> and <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">volunteers</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">: <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Gary, Dave, Carol</span>, <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Heidi, Rob, Stephanie, Jack,</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Melody,</span> and <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Jay</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Please come visit if you get the chance! Details at: <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/">http://idahobirdobservatory.org/</a><br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Jay<br /></div></div></div> </div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-18259069159945214052009-08-06T09:30:00.002-06:002009-08-07T14:33:05.980-06:00Losin'little explanation is needed....Jay lost, and here's the long-awaited result :)<br />thanks to our friend <a href="http://melbergink.blogspot.com/">Mel Berg</a> for making such a sweet t-shirt!!!!!<br /><br /><br /><br />and now for:<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,153,255)"><span style="color:#000000;">The story of Jay and the pink shirt!</span> </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,51);" >(yes...Heidi's version :)</span></em></strong><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><br /><strong>step one</strong>-Jay admires Mel's handiwork...His favorite part of this shirt is the stunning blue collar (it <em>really</em> brings out the color of his eyes!) and he also remarks that the sparkly hearts on it are <em>just</em> precious! ;P<br /><br />(okay....so maybe Jay's exact words were more like "oh, crap!" but same difference)<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnocfG2Df1I/AAAAAAAABJ8/nFe3gucWiVo/s1600-h/DSCF2129.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366633226704224082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnocfG2Df1I/AAAAAAAABJ8/nFe3gucWiVo/s400/DSCF2129.JPG" border="0" /></a><em><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">(by the way, the front says "I wish I was as cool as Heidi" and the back reads "Jay 'hearts' Starlings"...all with glittery lettering and 'bedazzling')</span></em><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>step two</strong>-Jay puts on the shirt and begins sobbing ;)<br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0); FONT-STYLE: italic">Jay here: I seriously was on the verge of tears as I put the shirt on - mostly through laughter but the truth is that pink (especially with that <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">freaking blue collar</span>!) must have challenged my ego a little more than I expected ;-)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnocexzhjmI/AAAAAAAABJ0/C3XlK5h4AtE/s1600-h/JayBob.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366633221056466530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnocexzhjmI/AAAAAAAABJ0/C3XlK5h4AtE/s400/JayBob.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>step three</strong>-Jay regrets unleashing the creative powers of Heidi and Mel<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Snoced6WbhI/AAAAAAAABJs/GWGcdxnDseQ/s1600-h/DSCF2132.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366633215716388370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Snoced6WbhI/AAAAAAAABJs/GWGcdxnDseQ/s400/DSCF2132.JPG" border="0" /></a><strong> step four</strong>-Jay realizes that he really DOES look good in pink ;)<br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Snocd2e_ygI/AAAAAAAABJk/XEb03tw9RRs/s1600-h/DSCF2135.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366633205132675586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Snocd2e_ygI/AAAAAAAABJk/XEb03tw9RRs/s400/DSCF2135.JPG" border="0" /></a> THE END :)</div></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-78597392168256103062009-08-03T06:00:00.002-06:002009-08-03T06:00:02.809-06:00a week in the sawtoothsAlrighty…due to our busyness over the past few weeks, it’s time to do a bit of time-traveling back into the summer to tell you about our week spent doing work in the Sawtooths. Through the Forest Service, Jay and I were contracted to do some counts in the Stanley area of the Sawtooths as part of a study on Whitebark Pine restoration. Certain areas of forest had been chosen as project areas, where controlled burns will be taking place to help regenerate Whitebark Pine in the area (a tree that is a very important food source for many species, including birds like Clark’s Nutcrackers……). Our first stop in the Sawtooths was the Little Beaver Creek drainage. We were able to drive most of the way in to the study area up a beautifully rocky road. Luckily we had decided to take my truck, so we were able to get a bit farther than we would have been able to do in Jay’s Subaru. The trade off though was that it meant <em><strong>I</strong></em> was driving! Yikes! Luckily though, Jay survived the ordeal, with only a few exchanges of: “Heidi, watch out for that rock” “what rock!?.....oh <em>that</em> rock!” :) We made it as far as possible up what was soon to become a 4-wheeler trail, and then our job was to find a decent place to camp. We conveniently found the only safe turnaround spot/slightly flat camping site around and settled in for dinner before bedtime and counts the next morning.<br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYiuOuYgGI/AAAAAAAABJM/iio7ez7cSYE/s1600-h/DSCF2024.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365514183680491618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYiuOuYgGI/AAAAAAAABJM/iio7ez7cSYE/s400/DSCF2024.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">Jay eating dinner in our newly set up camp<br /><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYitz7tkwI/AAAAAAAABJE/Fh6rrPR6-SQ/s1600-h/DSCF2036.JPG"><span id="formatbar_Buttons" style="DISPLAY: block"><span onmouseup="" class="on down" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 11);ButtonMouseDown(this);" id="formatbar_JustifyCenter" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" title="Align Center" style="DISPLAY: block" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);"><img class="gl_align_center" alt="Align Center" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnZAP2LZFBI/AAAAAAAABJc/CRynIduqB2g/s1600-h/DSCF2036.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365546647044035602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnZAP2LZFBI/AAAAAAAABJc/CRynIduqB2g/s400/DSCF2036.JPG" border="0" /></a></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">the view down into the Stanley valley from our camp at Little Beaver Creek…notice the stream running down the road next to my tent!<br /></span></div><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnZAPjZRNOI/AAAAAAAABJU/toiOWEM9SmM/s1600-h/dscf2033+adjusted.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365546642001966306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnZAPjZRNOI/AAAAAAAABJU/toiOWEM9SmM/s400/dscf2033+adjusted.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">Jay checking out the view and the snow! (no that’s not a bird in the sky…that’s a skeeter!)</span> </p><p align="left">While eating dinner, it didn’t take long for us to notice the abundance of mosquitoes that also shared our camp…yeehaw! We were not excited about putting more icky-sticky bug spray on, but soon found a way to avenge ourselves, while keeping us entertained at the same time :) </p><p align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYiswpfW3I/AAAAAAAABI0/ff47S2xq5K4/s1600-h/DSCF2030.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365514158427036530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYiswpfW3I/AAAAAAAABI0/ff47S2xq5K4/s400/DSCF2030.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">"DIE!" ... This didn’t take us as long as you might think ;)<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Is Heidi a little twisted or what?</span><br /></span></span></p><p align="left">For counts in the morning, we got to hike on many steep and rocky slopes, and even got to hang out in the snow for a while! It was beautiful scenery, and we got to see lots of cool things, including a momma and baby elk, my ‘lifer’ Pikas squeaking at us from the slopes (ohhh, so very cute!), and some higher elevation birds we hadn’t seen much on counts this summer: Pine Grosbeaks, Williamson’s Sapsuckers, and Three-toed Woodpeckers! </p><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgjD6zcOI/AAAAAAAABIs/6KvcjRPua1A/s1600-h/DSCN3604.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365511792777982178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgjD6zcOI/AAAAAAAABIs/6KvcjRPua1A/s400/DSCN3604.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">Jay and I at one of our point count sites near Little Beaver Creek</span></div><br />After counts we had to return to the highway to get to our next route at Beaver Creek … it was then that we discovered Smiley Creek Lodge! We ordered a tasty burger and a grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich, and it was amazing! (mmm, what a change from peanut butter on a tortilla for lunch!)<br /><br />Then it was on to Beaver Creek, with another fun road and some more of the cool high elevation birds. We set up in a nice stand of spruce, and right in our (mosquito infested) camp we were able to hear a Golden-crowned Kinglet singing (my first time hearing their song)!<br /><br />After counts and another trip to eat more of the very addicting food at Smiley Creek Lodge, we headed up to Rainbow Creek, the next site for our point counts. For these counts, we had to leave my car at a campground and backpack in with our supplies to our starting point, about 1.5 miles. After cooling our feet in a mountain stream, we sat down on a log for dinner. We noticed some little green poops on the log, and Jay said they were grouse poo. Then while setting up camp for the night, we were clearing rocks and heard 2 clacking noises from near the road. It sounded like a rock hitting something, but neither of us had thrown a rock over there. We peeked around the trees onto the road, and there we got our first glimpse of ‘Jacques’ the Spruce Grouse! And he was not happy to see us! Apparently we were setting up camp next to his favorite strutting logs, and he was trying to scare us away from them :) We were able to get really close to him as he continued to clack his wings and display at us. He even came toward us a few times! As I set up my tent, he flew to the tree right above me and sat watching as I took over his territory. We couldn’t help but imagine what Jacques was trying to say to us, and Jay soon mustered up his best frenchy accent: <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">“hey you! Get away from my log, eh?” “what are you doing, eh?”</span> ...I think maybe you just had to be there…. ;)<br /><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgiyJl1-I/AAAAAAAABIk/duccANz4Jn4/s1600-h/DSCN3620.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365511788008167394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgiyJl1-I/AAAAAAAABIk/duccANz4Jn4/s400/DSCN3620.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">the majestic Jacques, fending me away from his precious log (he’s on the end of the far right log)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgiqyV6WI/AAAAAAAABIc/2kX3vNLgUK4/s1600-h/DSCN3627.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365511786031606114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgiqyV6WI/AAAAAAAABIc/2kX3vNLgUK4/s400/DSCN3627.JPG" border="0" /></a> <span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">Jacques was very cute……and by cute of course I mean ferocious and brave ;)</span><br /><br /><div align="left">The next morning we still had a bit of hiking to do before reaching our next point up the slope. Only a few minutes into the count, we heard a familiar clacking noise and saw another male spruce grouse hop down the tree not 5 meters from us! I guess he was just waking up from his nighttime roost, and had been watching us the whole time! Meeting Pierre, the second spruce grouse, was only the beginning of our adventures that day though, since we got to check out some amazing scenery, hear singing brown creepers, and hike some slippery scree slopes during our counts. </div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgiQ8Y-YI/AAAAAAAABIU/X-resF2KsQs/s1600-h/DSCN3633.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365511779094428034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYgiQ8Y-YI/AAAAAAAABIU/X-resF2KsQs/s400/DSCN3633.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"> at one of our last counts of the day, right before taking on the steep hillside behind us</span><br /><br /><div align="left">Our final Sawtooth count area was closer to the town of Stanley at a place called Boundary Creek. To reach this study area, we had to hike a beautiful but long trail (about 3.5 miles) to our camp for the night. On our way up, we got to see an angry Goshawk with a nest near the trail, and got a great view of Redfish Lake and the Sawtooths behind as we continued to climb higher. After a long hike, we suddenly got a new burst of energy when we arrived to a flat camp site and saw that our mosquito friends were already there waiting for us…we set up tents and made dinner at record speed, slapping ourselves and waving our arms the whole time. We did have to pause in our preparations for a while to watch a family of Gray Jays that flew into camp. We whistled a Pygmy Owl call to them, and like the ones in Island Park this spring, they answered back with their own better imitation…cool!<br />Lucky for us, we were able to find a nice spot for dinner where some very fast winds from a brewing thunderstorm provided some relief from the skeeters. We ate our peanut butter and honey tortillas in peace before: returning to camp, slapping the skeeters that had followed me into the tent, and falling asleep to the sound of the rain. We continued to enjoy the scenery the next day and had a fun time after counts were over with snow angels and a snowball fight, in July! :) It was kind of hot as we picked up our stuff and headed down the mountain, so we were happy when a light drizzle of rain and some thunder came along to cool us off.<br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYghnHozQI/AAAAAAAABIM/JfgxGWWyPmo/s1600-h/DSCN3636.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365511767867313410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SnYghnHozQI/AAAAAAAABIM/JfgxGWWyPmo/s400/DSCN3636.JPG" border="0" /></a> <span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">at the top of Boundary Creek with a view down to Redfish Lake … (neither of us were ready for the camera to go off ;)</span><br /><br /><div align="left">We reached my car at the bottom of the trail, and after grabbing a quick lunch we made our way back to Boise in time for a quick shower before heading up for our MAPS banding day the next morning!</div></div></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-20622936111902262532009-07-20T19:19:00.005-06:002009-08-02T16:15:33.908-06:00To the Canadian border! (almost ...)Before beginning <a href="http://idahobirdobservatory.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_0">Idaho Bird Observatory</span></a> 's fall migration study on Lucky Peak (started on Thurs, July 16), Heidi & I decided to use a few days of well-deserved vacation time to - what else? - <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">BIRD!!</span> Figuring that our only chance of approaching 300 species on our Idaho year list would have to include a summer trip to northern Idaho, we opted to go for a 3-day whirlwind tour leaving from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_2" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Boise</span> at 530am on Sunday. Pretty much all we did was drive, bird, and sleep but we had fun and it was worth it!<br /><br />Our first stop was the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_3" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Lochsa River</span> upstream from Wilderness Gateway campground (along Hwy 12) - what a beautiful area! Though we spent hours looking along the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_4">main river</span> and a few tributaries, we were not lucky enough to see a <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_5">Harlequin Duck</span></b> (probably on nests still and/or further up the tributaries??). We finally gave up and headed towards <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_6">Moscow</span> where <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_7">Terry Gray</span> (always generous with other birders) met us and took us to a spot to look for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Clay-colored Sparrows</span> (rare in Idaho, especially in the breeding season; click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryandchristine/3695760843/">here</a> to see a picture of one of the birds on Terry's site). We got lucky and saw 2 adults - and also enjoyed getting to see & hear the closely related<b> Brewer's</b> and <b>Chipping sparrows</b> at the same site! Before dark, Terry escorted us to a spot near Harvard where we were able to hear & see a calling <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_9" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><b>Northern Pygmy-ow</b>l</span>! Then at 2am (while camping on USFS land near Harvard) I was awoken by the repeated "hooo-awww" of a <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_10" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">Barred Owl</span></b> (only my 2nd for Idaho!) and was able to call over to Heidi to say, "<span style="font-style: italic;">Hey, that's a Barred Owl</span>!!". In the morning we awoke to a flock that included <b>Chestnut-backed Chickadees</b> and a <b>Western <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_11" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Flycatcher</span></b> that <span style="font-style: italic;">did not</span> sound like all the <b>Cordillerans</b> I've been hearing all summer - <b>Pacific Slope</b>?<br /><br />Our first stop on Monday was the Sandpoint city beach where we saw a single adult <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_12" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Common Tern</span></b> (seems early for a returning fall migrant) roosting among all the <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_13">California</span></b> & <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_14">Ring-billed Gulls</span></b> (that included some young of the year of both species). We then pressed on to the Selkirks to look for <b>Boreal Chickadees</b> ... we headed to the end of Trout Creek Rd (W of Bonners Ferry; an area where I'd seen this species 2 years ago - about 20 miles shy of the Canadian border) and were able to hear & see one calling bird as well as singing <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_15">Pine Grosbeak</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_16" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Varied Thrush</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_17" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Winter Wren</span></b>, and more! Near the beginning of Trout Creek Rd was a family group of <b>Western <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_18">Flycatchers</span>, </b>of which the male sounded very <i><b>Pacific-slope</b>-like</i>, that included 3 recent fledglings! Also saw several <b>Vaux's Swifts</b> here.<br /><br />We then headed to a spot on Forest Service land NE of Couer d'Alene to look for <b>Black Swifts</b> which we enjoyed good looks at on Tuesday morning - another beautiful area with diverse conifer forest (including hemlocks & cedars) and lots of rain (which would feel pretty good about now down here in hot Boise!).<br /><br /><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SmJ4PrsJjcI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/_wzmhdJSOQY/s1600-h/Heidi+on+trail.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359978717345582530" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 300px; cursor: pointer; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SmJ4PrsJjcI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/_wzmhdJSOQY/s400/Heidi+on+trail.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Heidi on the trail to the falls ....</span><br /><br /></div><br /><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SmJ4D177dmI/AAAAAAAAAgI/Tav0f_52Kb8/s1600-h/DSCF2091.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359978513937692258" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 300px; cursor: pointer; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SmJ4D177dmI/AAAAAAAAAgI/Tav0f_52Kb8/s400/DSCF2091.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The falls where we saw one <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black Swift</span> on a nest!</span><br /></div><br />On the return trip we stopped at Mann Lake (E of Lewiston) and saw several shorebirds, including <b>Western (20), Semipalmated (2), and Least (1) <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_20">Sandpipers</span></b> as well as <b>Long-billed Dowitchers (5)</b>.<br /><br />We then headed to the Riggins/Pollock area and tried a couple of short walks in hopes of running into the rare & elusive <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_21" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Mountain Quail</span></b> - no luck but we did see family groups of <b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_22" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Ruffed Grouse</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247965887_23" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">California Quail</span>, and Chukar</b>. And, we saw more <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vaux's Swifts</span> as well as 10 or more <span style="font-weight: bold;">White-throated Swifts</span> - thus, a 3-swift day in Idaho!!<br /><br />I think we left Pollock at around 830 pm and still had 3+ hours to drive - got back to Boise close to midnight!! Fortunately, our work day didn't start until early afternoon the next day so I was able to sleep in until 10am!<br /><br />As usual, a fun trip and some great birds! Wish there was more time to explore the awesome habitats of northern Idaho ... next time, I guess.<br /><br />Now off to Lucky Peak ;-)<br /><br />Jay</div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-67560000631423125042009-07-18T18:18:00.003-06:002009-07-21T19:10:54.789-06:00vacation!<div align="left">Jay and I returned to Boise after our week in the Sawtooths for the 4th of July weekend. After getting into town the evening of the 3rd, we rushed to our houses for a quick shower, and then headed for a gas station on Warmsprings Ave to meet up with my family. My cousins were in town from Colorado, and we had arranged that our MAPS banding day would fall during the days that they were in Boise. My two cousins Ben and Sam, along with my brothers Jake and Isaac and my Aunt Heather and Uncle Eddie piled into two vehicles and we all headed up the mountain to set up nets and camp for the night. We made it up the 'fun' dirt road okay, with only one lost hub cap and a little scraping from my Aunt and Uncle's Subaru during the process ;) (for those planning on driving to IBO sometime, don’t worry, their car and was weighted down with road-trip gear :)<br />Once at the top, we arrived to see that the party had already started without us! the group of campers that night besides my family included IBO friends Greg, wife Deniz and daughter Ayla. We all had a fun time eating pizza and hanging out before heading off to bed for an early start the next morning.<br /></div><p align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SmJLHvBywLI/AAAAAAAABGQ/OVtV6SztkMs/s1600-h/DSCN3647.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359929102779465906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SmJLHvBywLI/AAAAAAAABGQ/OVtV6SztkMs/s400/DSCN3647.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></p><p align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">my family!</span><br /></p><p align="left">We had a fun time the next morning banding, and it was neat to show off all the cool birds to my family! The time went by too fast, and soon we were heading down to the Hilltop café just down the highway for some lunch before heading off for our respective 4th of July activities.<br />After a day off on the 5th, Jay and I once again departed from Boise to head out for some work, as well as some vacation (which to us of course means more birding!) Our first stop was some of the ‘just for fun’ part of our week:<br />Jay and I got up nice and early on the 6th to make a quick run up to Garden Valley to visit our birding friend Spencer. He was awesome enough to take us out and show us a spot to find Veeries, Red-eyed Vireos, and American Redstarts. We heard lots of Veeries right away, and with a little searching found a pair of Vireos in the cottonwoods. Spencer had to return to work, but Jay and I stuck around to search for a singing Redstart we’d heard earlier. Our patience paid off and we were able to see both the singing male and the female! They are sooo awesome!<br />Then we headed out to the teeny town of Grandview near Bruneau where a birder on IBLE had posted about seeing Black-throated Sparrows. We arrived at the described location next to a small cemetery and soon saw a BT sparrow fly overhead! As we continued to watch, we got great views of a pair of birds and were even able to see them go into a nest in a low greasewood and feed some chicks! Woohoo! We’d had good luck so far!<br /></p><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 375px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 500px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/3714325563_3aa28cf082.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">The Black-throated Sparrows! (photo taken by birding friend </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21231200@N05/"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Jonathan Stoke</span></a><span style="color:#3333ff;"> about a week after we saw the pair...thanks for a cool photo!)</span> </p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SmJLHAnORBI/AAAAAAAABGA/5wq2eiosgJY/s1600-h/DSCN3652.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359929090319991826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SmJLHAnORBI/AAAAAAAABGA/5wq2eiosgJY/s400/DSCN3652.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">Black-throated Sparrow habitat :)</span><br /></div><br />Next we headed farther south to the South Hills where we had done some Flammulated Owl surveys with Matt and Jack (the owl crew) during our first week of summer. During a survey of the South Hills, our crazy birding buddies Harry K. and Louie Q. had seen a pair of Blue Grosbeaks on Rock Creek road! We got to the spot right around sunset and were out of the car less than five minutes when we heard the male Grosbeak singing and saw him perched on a powerline. We were able to watch him for a while and got some awesome looks at that bright blue color! We have some totally sweet birding-tipsters for friends!<br />That night we camped near the Blue Grosbeaks along Rock Creek and in the morning woke up to drive to City of Rocks. We saw lots of cool birds and awesome scenery and habitats (including the only pinyon pine forests in Idaho!) but didn’t see any of our target birds (Scrub/Pinyon Jays or Juniper Titmice) My favorite bird there was a male Virginia’s Warbler…the best look I’ve ever gotten of one! :) What a cool place!<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SmJLHQuKU4I/AAAAAAAABGI/VIUPGveJnPw/s1600-h/DSCN3666.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359929094644061058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SmJLHQuKU4I/AAAAAAAABGI/VIUPGveJnPw/s400/DSCN3666.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">City of Rocks!</span><br /><br /></div>That evening we headed to Curlew National Grasslands in search of the same ‘target birds’ as well as Scott’s Orioles. (And in the process I got another type of ‘lifer’…the state of Utah!) At Curlew we struck out again on most of those birds, but enjoyed some close views of an angry Cooper’s Hawk that must have had a nest in the area. We also saw a pair of Long-eared Owls at dusk who were barking at us…the best looks I’ve ever had at an ‘awake’ Long-eared…it was so funny to watch their faces when they squawked at us! We camped there near Curlew, and in the morning returned to our search for Scott’s Orioles. We never saw one, but heard a torturously distant one singing in response to a playback! We spent the rest of the morning until almost 1 o’clock searching for the orioles without any luck, but were able to see some cool birds. My Lifer Juniper Titmice, who were sooo adorable!! I also got my best views yet of a Black-throated Gray warbler and its young fledgling! :)<br />After a few days of vacation, it was time for Jay and I to head back to work. We returned to the Wood river valley to finish up a few more days of vegetation work, and search for a goshawk nest--after being bombed by angry parents and not seeing a nest the week before while on point counts (a post about that story should be coming soon….we know, we know, we are slow-pokes when it comes to posting!) Long story short, the veg work got done, the goshawk nest was found (3 chicks!!), and we got to hang out some more with our Hailey-dwelling buddy Larry! :)<br />On our last day in the Wood River Valley we finished up work, and for the afternoon decided to go on a hike in search of rosy-finches. (We had come to Hailey in February this year and struck out on Black Rosy-finches)<br />We headed up the trail for Johnstone Pass, and after a few miles and a bit of ‘off trail’ hiking, we’d hit the snowline. As we arrived at the top of a bowl with some snowfields, we heard a finch fly over, and saw it land at the edge of a snow-melt stream. (a tiny rocky stream that was coming right out from under the snow, but eventually becomes the East Fork of the Wood River!) We didn’t get good enough looks to say for sure that it was Black…but it was definitely a Rosy! We hiked a bit farther and sat on a boulder to eat lunch as we continued to hear Rosy call notes (along with a Rock Wren and a couple American Pipits ...the only birds up that high!)…but couldn’t see them!! Finally, a bird landed on a snowy backdrop where he was visible, and we watched as he flew higher and higher up the rocky hillside away from us….it WAS a Black Rosy! Woohoo! We lingered a bit longer (but not TOO long, because I was freezing!! :) to see if we could get better looks, but eventually decided it was time to head back for Boise. 6 hours after starting our search, we returned to the highway…successful!!!<br />We were very disciplined birders ;) and in our rush to get home only allowed ourselves to stop once to bird: at Mountain Home reservoir. We spent the last bit of daylight there, and were able to see plenty of shorebirds, including new yearbirds/Heidi-lifers: Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a Baird’s Sandpiper! Sweet! I still need to work on IDing those tricky peeps, but what a great way to end a fun week of exploring! :DHeidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-27548722176952757682009-07-12T12:03:00.001-06:002009-07-12T12:03:00.859-06:00Heidi takes round 1 ....Oh, by the way ... Heidi forgot to mention that SHE WON the mid-year competition - CONGRATULATIONS! ... Even though I observed a few more species (276 to 272) through July 10, her handicap for the mid-year was 11 (~2/3 of the full year handicap of 17 - why did I agree to give her such a big handicap?) so she won by 7!! She & Melanie will be getting their creative juices flowing soon and before long I'll be donning an embarrassing T-shirt (hot pink with frills and who knows what else ??) while working up on Lucky Peak ;-)<br /><br />We'll have to wait on her thoughts on how the year has gone so far but it's been pretty fun (<span style="font-style: italic;">understatement</span>) to see so many species in Idaho, many of them while working, and I think 113 have been life birds for Heidi so far!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SllHPBJv-1I/AAAAAAAAAgA/bEhlTlaYsNA/s1600-h/DSCN3620.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SllHPBJv-1I/AAAAAAAAAgA/bEhlTlaYsNA/s400/DSCN3620.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357391555066854226" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Here's Heidi enjoying close views of a male </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Spruce Grouse </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">(lower right) that we named 'Jacques' - just one her many lifers this year</span><br /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-76339891989993758412009-07-11T16:15:00.004-06:002009-07-11T16:23:14.231-06:00still alive!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SlkQQfSsZxI/AAAAAAAABBY/GQd7nunF4UQ/s1600-h/DSCN3715.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357331107197773586" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SlkQQfSsZxI/AAAAAAAABBY/GQd7nunF4UQ/s400/DSCN3715.JPG" /></a><br /><div>dont worry guys, despite a week spent hiking and doing pointcounts in the wild woods of the Sawtooths, Jay and I are still alive! ;)</div><br /><div>We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for a fun trip to Northern Idaho, so no time for a full blog post, but we have a few in the works that will be ready to be posted soon after getting back.</div><br /><div>So hold your horses for now, you'll hear more from us next week! :)</div><div></div><div>~Heidi</div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-43961908673445514722009-07-01T14:00:00.000-06:002009-07-01T14:02:56.637-06:00Lava Lake birding class ....Thanks to some organizing and scheming by Tess O'Sullivan and Chris Gertschen, on June 23-24, I was teaching a class called 'A Central Idaho Birding Adventure' through Idaho State University and the <a href="http://www.isu.edu/ssi/">Sawtooth Science Institute</a> on the <a href="https://www.lavalakelamb.com/index.php">Lava Lake Ranch</a> (a beautiful place run by great people where I've done some bird survey work in recent years). The class was full (16 or 17 participants, including Brian Bean - one of the ranch owners) so I was very glad to have Heidi along as an unofficial but valuable TA (teaching assistant) and it was a really fun couple of days!<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGLXGpyJI/AAAAAAAAAfY/3PubJV6Djz4/s1600-h/%28Brian+%26+others+birding%29+CKCameron.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352112736915015826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 268px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGLXGpyJI/AAAAAAAAAfY/3PubJV6Djz4/s400/%28Brian+%26+others+birding%29+CKCameron.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">Here's Brian (sporting his spiffy red Lava Lake hat) and Molly checking out a distant Great Blue Heron</span> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">while Robert, Rose, and Allen look on and Kim takes notes</span> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">(yes, they were diligent students!; </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">photo by </span></span><a style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://www.majesticfeathers.com/">Kathleen Cameron</a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">)</span></div><br />It was a great group of students that ranged in age from 9 to the mid-70s and in bird ID experience from ZERO to decades of birding years. I knew a few of the folks previously, including Brian, Tom McCabe from Boise, Kathleen Cameron from Bellevue, and Danette & Iris Henderson from Boise. All students were awesome but one I especially appreciated is Rose, a hearing-impaired student from Gooding (teaches at the <i>Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind</i>). She was fun, witty, and very patient during times when I was working on bird vocalizations with the other students. She hopes to bring her students to our Lucky Peak migration study this fall.<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGMQYQSmI/AAAAAAAAAf4/amjpkFig24c/s1600-h/Robert+translating+for+Rose.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352112752289663586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 301px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGMQYQSmI/AAAAAAAAAf4/amjpkFig24c/s400/Robert+translating+for+Rose.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">Robert, one of Rose's translators (though she could read lips amazingly & we had several conversations w/o a translator - I was very impressed!), passing on something I was saying ...</span> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">(<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">photo by </span></span><a style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://www.majesticfeathers.com/">Kathleen Cameron</a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">)</span></div><br />Both days of birding were a lot of fun ... there were of course many secretive birds that didn't show themselves but also many that were very cooperative - including a <b>Dusky </b>(aka Blue)<b> Grouse</b> perched in an Aspen, <b>Western Wood-pewee</b> and <b>Willow Flycatcher</b> that both vocalized and perched in the open within 30 minutes of each other - providing a very helpful comparison, many <b>Lewis's Woodpeckers</b>,<b> Sandhill Cranes</b>, a <b>Moose</b> that some of the group saw, several <b>Lazuli Buntings</b>, a <b>Red-tailed Hawk</b> carrying a young (& recently dead) <b>American Crow</b> (!!), and much more.<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGMP5tlqI/AAAAAAAAAfw/sX6T8K9f-HY/s1600-h/trying+to+pinpoint+bird+songs.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352112752161560226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 268px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGMP5tlqI/AAAAAAAAAfw/sX6T8K9f-HY/s400/trying+to+pinpoint+bird+songs.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">Pointing out a singing <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sage Thrasher</span></span> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">(<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">photo by </span></span><a style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://www.majesticfeathers.com/">Kathleen Cameron</a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">)</span><br /><br /></div>The camping group (11 of us) had a lot of fun, including an evening hike up Fish Creek Rd, great food shared all around, a great history of the area from Brian, and a fun bird riddle game that Molly turned us onto.<br /><br />I think my biggest internal challenge (before & during) was how to tailor the class to such a wide range of experience levels but everybody was really patient & worked with each other really well. My sense was that everyone enjoyed it & learned some valuable things ... Also, it was really helpful to have some other experienced birders along (such as Tom, Kathleen, and Kim - and Heidi, of course) who could help point birds out and answer questions when I was otherwise occupied. In the end, we all had something we could teach each other and it was a great balance ;-).<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGLzlFtfI/AAAAAAAAAfo/z8P7lm4AU8E/s1600-h/Jay+displaying+hawk+flight+profiles.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352112744558867954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 268px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGLzlFtfI/AAAAAAAAAfo/z8P7lm4AU8E/s400/Jay+displaying+hawk+flight+profiles.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">What raptor flight profile is this? ;-)</span> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">(<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">We had just seen a <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Red-tail</span> and I think I had moved on to comparing the dihedral pattern of <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Swainson's Hawks</span></span></span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">;</span> <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">photo by </span></span><a style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://www.majesticfeathers.com/">Kathleen Cameron</a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">)</span><br /><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGLpJooiI/AAAAAAAAAfg/ktq3sagHGGY/s1600-h/group+shot+by+Heidi.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352112741759361570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkaGLpJooiI/AAAAAAAAAfg/ktq3sagHGGY/s400/group+shot+by+Heidi.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)">The whole class (minus Rose's interpreter, Robert, who was kind enough to snap this shot)!</span><br /></div><br />This was the first time this class has been offered and all agreed it was a success - maybe something to repeat in future years. To see a slightly different story, visit the <a href="http://lavalake.wordpress.com/">Lava Lake blog</a><br />too.<br /><br />Next up? On to some higher elevation bird surveys in the Wood River Valley and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area ...<br /><br />JayJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-69897804514289919252009-06-28T15:15:00.008-06:002009-06-28T15:54:09.881-06:00Owlin'After a day of surveys on the ranch on Friday with Jack and Larry we woke up Saturday morning to TONS of rain! Still in sleeping bags on Larry's couches, we huddled around Jay's computer to check the weather online, and saw a gigantic green swath moving across our area....we were hosed! so...we crawled back into our beds and got to sleep in for once--till 7AM! :) Then we decided to drag ourselves out of bed and think of what we'd do for the day. While we were deciding though, Larry, ever the amazing host, started whipping us up a batch of waffles! woohoo, talk about a morning off!<br />While munching our breakfast, Jay reminded us that we had info about an active Great Gray Owl nest in the Stanley area, and since it'd be a lifer for both Jack and I, we of course HAD to go check it out! (even though it meant Jay foregoing his plans for an afternoon nap...as Jack said "awww, what a big softie!" ;)</span><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352498160246850418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Skfkt85yA3I/AAAAAAAAA0E/7ac5c9cwcek/s400/DSCF1906.JPG" border="0" /></p><p align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Chef Larry makin' us breakfast!</span></p><p>We packed up and were soon on our way through pouring rain and low clouds over the pass to Stanley. It took some doing, but soon we were a few miles up a dirt road into the forest, and were approaching the nest. We stopped when Jack pointed out an adult Great Gray perched right in front of our noses!! Jack and I did a lifer fist-bump (yee-haw!) And we were able to watch it for a few minutes perching in a Lodgepole Pine (and looking a little wet and bedraggled after the morning's stormy weather). Soon though, the bird floated off through the forest to the edge of a nearby meadow.<br /><br /></p><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SkfktWZXUFI/AAAAAAAAAz8/DmHadE-2Nog/s1600-h/DSCF1908.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352498149910335570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/SkfktWZXUFI/AAAAAAAAAz8/DmHadE-2Nog/s400/DSCF1908.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#3333ff;">Jack and I checking out our Lifer Great Grays!</span> </div>We drove up closer to where we thought the nest would be and soon spotted two fuzzy dudes sitting in an old Goshawk nest! The older, more gray chick was sitting low in the nest with just the top of his face showing, but the lighter, more fuzzy baby was fluffed up and sitting high. When we cracked the car windows, we could hear his screeches every few seconds. With his Great Gray Owl translation skills Jay interpreted for us as we watched: the little guy was saying "Dude, mom, where's my food!? quit feedin' this fatty over here all the time!" while the older chick was saying "okay, seriously, shut up, I'm trying to take a nap over here!" We watched for a few more minutes, then started the car back up. The sleepy chicks stretched their necks up for just a second to check us out after hearing the sound of the car before snuggling back down onto their nest. As we left, we could see mom or dad perched and on the hunt at the edge of the meadow...apparently the little guy's nagging was working!<br />Not a bad way to spend a rainy day!!Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-90173650660981978792009-06-23T22:20:00.002-06:002009-06-23T22:20:00.638-06:00Always keep your windows down when you're eating lunch at a Subway ...On Thursday afternoon we finally made it back to Hailey after the 'un-stucking' of our vehicle and met up with Jack & Dave (who had been in the Albion Mountains and South Hills doing Flammulated Owl surveys on Tues & Wed nights). B/c Jack has been birding for years and knows his birds very well, I was gonna steal Jack for a couple days of point count surveys on a private ranch S of Hailey (collecting baseline bird data prior to an impressive restoration plan) and Dave was on his way back to Boise to get back to Long-billed Curlew surveys on Friday.<br /><div><br />Before starting to prep for the next day's surveys, Heidi, Jack, & I all agreed that our hunger from our respective long days was in need of fixing (<span style="font-style: italic;">it was 3pm, after all</span>) and we settled on a nearby <span style="font-style: italic;">Subway</span> as a fast but moderately healthy option. Instead of racing off right away, I decided to eat at least some of my sandwich before starting to drive and soon we rolled the windows down b/c the sun was heating up the car. After a couple minutes, Jack said, "Jay, do you hear this warbler?" (that was singing out the side of the car that he & Heidi were sitting on) and then said something like, "... maybe it's just a funny-sounding Yellow but maybe not ...". I could hardly hear it (just a couple notes that I might have passed off as a Yellow) so after Jack continued to be fidgety about it, I got out to see what I could hear. I could see what Jack was saying ... Yellows often vary in their songs (i.e., they don't always do the perfect "Sweet, sweet, sweet I'm so sweet") but this had the potential to be something different. Jack wondered aloud about Magnolia or Chestnut-sided .... I said to Jack, "I'm not really familiar with Magnolia but do they have a 'wee-tee-o' at the end?", to which Jack said, "Yup!". After another minute, I finally spotted the songster singing from a Birch tree in the yard of a small apartment building. Meanwhile (I guess we were assuming it was just a funny-sounding Yellow), only Heidi had actually brought her binoculars from the car ... which she was nice enough to hand to me momentarily so I could ID the bird .... as Jack had suspected, a Magnolia Warbler!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sj23I8FFHRI/AAAAAAAAAfA/uWoyY5jnrbA/s1600-h/CKCameron+MAWA+0797+4x4+dpi+300.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349633296580287762" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/Sj23I8FFHRI/AAAAAAAAAfA/uWoyY5jnrbA/s400/CKCameron+MAWA+0797+4x4+dpi+300.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A male <span style="font-weight: bold;">Magnolia Warbler</span> in Hailey, ID on Thursday, June 18 (photo by Kathleen Cameron; to see more of her great photos, check out these links: </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" href="http://www.majesticfeathers.com/">http://www.majesticfeathers.com/</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> and </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" href="http://www.gotacameron.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1245556875_2">www.gotacameron.com</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I quickly handed her binoculars back so Heidi could enjoy another lifer and then she passed them to Jack (who's from Ohio so still equally excited about our <span style="font-weight: bold;">magpies</span> as he is about seeing eastern vagrants out here!) and I started making phone calls. Within 20-30 minutes, the Wood River troops - Poo, Jean, Kathleen, and Larry (several others were out of town or at work) - had arrived. Poo, Jean, and Larry had all been very hospitable with their homes and/or time in the last few days and Kathleen has routinely welcomed other birders to her yard to view interesting birds visiting her feeders (including my lifer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Brambling</span> a few years ago!). Thus, I was especially excited to be able to return the favor with this find of an exciting bird in their "backyard" (even if it wasn't actually 'my' find ... but Jack was just as happy to share). Meanwhile, the bird continued to sing & forage about 10-20 meters from us in the Birch & Spruce trees in the yard over the next 45 minutes we were there.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkAdGnzw43I/AAAAAAAAAfQ/bJyzL8Qvg6o/s1600-h/sad+faces+%3B-%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SevpKZzNrhk/SkAdGnzw43I/AAAAAAAAAfQ/bJyzL8Qvg6o/s400/sad+faces+%3B-%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350308356918666098" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-style: italic;">Just to show you who <span style="font-weight: bold;">'Jack-the-rare-warbler-finder'</span> is </span>.... here's a shot of Jack, Jay, & Heidi putting our 'serious' faces on (a difficult task for Heidi ;-) the next afternoon b/c we were being rained out yet again - this time waiting out a passing shower under a protective Willow so that we could do some vegetation measurements in our bird survey areas.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Needless to say, not what we expected as we started eating our sandwiches but I'm glad we chose Subway and I'm glad Jack had his ears on! And, thanks to Kathleen for being willing to share her great photo of the bird.<br /><br />Happy birding!<br /><br />Jay<br /></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;color:navy;" ><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;color:navy;" ></span></span></p></div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009374281739148710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-792840337162701206.post-39331940851004570642009-06-20T17:31:00.010-06:002009-06-21T21:12:05.345-06:00A streak of "luck"<div align="left">as I mentioned at the end of our last post, we were about to head out to scout our survey areas for later in the week as we often do in the afternoons every day. Little did we know what the rest of the day had in store for us!</div><br />We made it about 8 miles up Quigley Gulch in Hailey before we ran into a silty stream flowing across the road. <em>Always</em> responsible, we decided to turn around and wait a few days for the road to dry out before scouting the rest of the route. As we backed down, we suddenly realized that our vehicle had begun to slide off the road...but not to worry, we'd been through worse mud than this before....In 4-low, Jay pressed the gas but the truck's only movement was further down the slope! We climbed out and tried our best to give the tires good traction: while I collected sticks, Jay was busy shoving them in front of and underneath the tires...all the while fighting through a very conveniently placed stinging nettle patch that ran along the entire right side of the truck!<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2v4cUfljI/AAAAAAAAAz0/zXLfm9p7oGs/s1600-h/DSCF1859.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349625316595701298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2v4cUfljI/AAAAAAAAAz0/zXLfm9p7oGs/s400/DSCF1859.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#3333ff;">This photo was taken before our last desperate attempt to un-stick the truck....thus Jay's still-smiling face ;)<br /></span></div><span style="color:#3333ff;"><br /></span><div align="left"><span style="color:#3333ff;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2uuBnaNoI/AAAAAAAAAzk/ThG-EBSmcLI/s1600-h/DSCF1877.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349624038116963970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2uuBnaNoI/AAAAAAAAAzk/ThG-EBSmcLI/s400/DSCF1877.JPG" border="0" /></a> </span></div><span style="color:#3333ff;"><br /></span><div align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Jay got a cut on his face while wedging the sticks--yeah, I told him to do this face</span></div><span style="color:#3333ff;"><br /></span><p><span style="color:#3333ff;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2utzDerrI/AAAAAAAAAzc/G4vHlu_3s08/s1600-h/DSCF1878.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349624034208165554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2utzDerrI/AAAAAAAAAzc/G4vHlu_3s08/s400/DSCF1878.JPG" border="0" /></a></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Jay's 'tough face'</span> <span style="color:#3333ff;">to make up for the previous picture :)</span><br /></div><p align="left">After an hour of trying, and sliding only further down the hill, we decided at 8:30 to hike back down to town and wait for the morning to get the truck. Lucky for us, we ran into some friendly mountain bikers who offered to call birder-friend Jean to pick us up. When we got to an area of the gulch with cell reception, we got ahold of Jean and she was able to pick us up just as it got dark. AND she was awesome enough to let us stay at her house for the night, since our tents and sleeping bags were in our poor abandoned car.</p><br /><div align="left">The next morning, we got ahold of BLM and soon had three willing helpers with a bigger better truck to pull us out. We made it to our car alright, but soon realized that not even the big pick-up truck could get us un-stuck! It was time to call for (more) reinforcements!<br /></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2v3wF5HkI/AAAAAAAAAzs/fDA37gta-18/s1600-h/DSCF1860.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349625304723299906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2v3wF5HkI/AAAAAAAAAzs/fDA37gta-18/s400/DSCF1860.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#3333ff;"> Strategizing</span></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left">A quick call to Advanced Towing had Troy the tow truck driver to Quigley Gulch within the hour. And as soon as we saw the paint-job on his old Ford truck, we knew we were in good hands ;) After some intense winching our truck made it back onto the road alive! woohoo!<br /><br /></div><br /><p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2utq5rZtI/AAAAAAAAAzU/wLmy725RHnY/s1600-h/DSCF1880.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349624032019572434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2utq5rZtI/AAAAAAAAAzU/wLmy725RHnY/s400/DSCF1880.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">The alternative caption: "how Jay <em>really</em> drives on the backroads" :)</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2utLzsgMI/AAAAAAAAAzM/R5oy9n1d8gI/s1600-h/DSCF1882.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349624023672979650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2utLzsgMI/AAAAAAAAAzM/R5oy9n1d8gI/s400/DSCF1882.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2usx71UTI/AAAAAAAAAzE/rc-R_bQk8MM/s1600-h/DSCF1890.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349624016727789874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m0sylFEaik/Sj2usx71UTI/AAAAAAAAAzE/rc-R_bQk8MM/s400/DSCF1890.JPG" border="0" /></a> <span style="color:#3333ff;">Jay with the BLM guys and towtruck driver: Victorious!</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Nathan, Jay, Troy (the towtruck dude), Mark, and Kevin</span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">And you thought <em>this</em> all made for an action-packed day....just wait till you hear the rest! (a post to come soon!)</span></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09696176696349453761noreply@blogger.com0