Heidi vs. Jay in 'Bird Idaho 2009'

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! THE....END??

2009-12-31T19:10:00.009-07:00

What a way to end this year!

Just as I was becoming content with the "almost 300" total of 294 species for 2009, the Howe Christmas Bird Count came along ...

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...

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?"

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.

We were up Dark and Early :) Sunrise from the road near Arco

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"

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: "any interest in a Caracara?"

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!!!!!

The caracara and his snack....Happy New Year, Caracara. you look miserably cold

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!!!

mmmmm, tasty! cow leg? dead cat?

the successful "hardcore insane" new years eve caracara chasers!! :D

The road home.....the snow hadn't hit yet!

this means:

FINAL TOTAL for 2009:

Jay: 298 species---4 of these were Jay state birds

Heidi: 295 species---133 of these were Heidi lifers

The birds Jay saw that Heidi didn't: Chestnut-collared Longspur, Western Scrub-jay, Gray Partridge

Heid saw her ENTIRE 'prior to 2009 Idaho lifelist' except for: Red-shouldered Hawk, Gyrfalcon, and Gray Partridge

you may ask: what's the plan for next year 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 :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

--Heidi and Jay

Christmas eve gulls & Blue Jay (or, 'The Year of the Iceland Gull')

2009-12-26T13:26:00.001-07:00

On Thurs, 12-24, Heidi & I headed to Crouch/Garden Valley to look for one of 2 Blue Jays that have recently starting attending a feeder along with a few Steller's Jays. Actually, back in early November, Garden Valley birders had noticed a Blue Jay or two but it wasn't until last week that they starting keeping a regular schedule ... thanks to Sheri & Linda for keeping us posted!

In most years, I've been able to encounter 1 or more Blue Jays 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!

The feeder area by the Birding Store in Crouch

A nice of view of the nearby hills on a cold & beautiful winter day

A shot of the cooperative Blue Jay through my handheld ;-)

Since it didn't take long for a Blue Jay 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 Glaucous Gull as well as an adult Mew Gull (no pics) the day before so we wanted to see if anything new might be around.

Adult Glaucous Gull at the Boise landfill on 12-23

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 Glaucous-winged but the yellow eyes, smaller bill, rounded head shape, and eyes more forward on face suggested otherwise. Maybe biased by the Glaucous 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 Glaucous in it - maybe crossed with Herring (which could help explain the gray wingtips). But, the longer we looked, the more we wondered about an adult Iceland (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 Iceland was perched directly in front of the Glaucous 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 Glaucous.

This & the following 7 pictures are of the presumed Kumlien's (Iceland) Gull 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 Iceland in the first place is that the primaries have gray shading ...

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

with 2 adult Herring Gulls (1 standing, 1 sitting further back) at its right; the Herrings have longer, slightly thicker bills as well as a more squared-off head shape

Facing the camera (rear right, behind the hordes of Ring-bills and, based on mantle color, 1 California at front right) - notice the smaller, narrower head & neck compared to the Herring @ left

Here it is between 2 adult Herring Gulls (that have different amounts of head streaking)

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, 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!

It's been quite a year for gulls in Idaho, having now seen Sabine's, Bonaparte's, Franklin's, Mew, Ring-billed, California, Thayer's, Iceland, Lesser Black-backed, Glaucous-winged, Herring, & Glaucous in 2010!! Now, just waiting on the Western &/or Slaty-backed to arrive ;-).

Merry Christmas,

Jay

Snowy day

2009-12-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

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 Horned Larks, 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 Northern Shrike perched on top of a bush. Not quite the raptor we were looking for, but close! And very cool :)
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 Ferruginous Hawk!! 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.
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!
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 Rough-legged 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!
At one place we stopped, we got a real raptor treat. In the area we could see from where we had stopped, we saw: 2 Ferrugs, 2 Rough-legs (an immature and an adult…a perfect comparison for our quizzing!) , 2 Harriers (a male and female), and a Red-tail….all but the Ferrug’s were in just one field!!
We continued driving, and saw a Golden Eagle 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 Bald Eagle 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 Merlin! 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!!

Ann and Danette checking out the Merlin (see him in the tree?)

Right around lunch time we stopped on the roadside and watched 100's of Horned Larks 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!

Jay took this picture of all the Horned Lark tracks--cool!

The Flock!

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 :)

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 Ring-bills with just one California! So much for turning the Hendersons into Dump fanatics :) (that would have to wait for our later trip to the Boise dump, heehee!)

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 Marsh and Winter Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, Pipits, Night Herons (but no Green Heron), Golden-crowned Kinglets, Snipe, and a beaver munching on some marshy plants!!

Once we were done at the park we bundled back into the cars with hot tea and yummy cookies for a fun ride home.

Cascade Reservoir

2009-11-24T23:32:00.003-07:00

On 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!

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!

The Cattle Egret in Cascade
The Cattle Egret field and a view of the snow mountains near Cascade

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! ;)

Taking a short break from birding: Gary told me the fence was too high to step over without touching it. I sure showed him!! :)

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" :)
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 really was too dark to see anything, and then made our trip home to Boise.

Running out of light at Davis Reservoir

~Heidi

Black-tailed Gull!! (in Washington)

2009-11-09T21:24:00.005-07:00

OK, so maybe this isn't relevant since it didn't occur in Idaho, but it is birding .... and, I received official permission from 'the boss' herself to see this bird w/o her since it wasn't in Idaho. Quite magnanimous, huh?

I SAW A MEGA-LIFER ON FRIDAY!

The story: Last week I was attending a conference in Forest Grove, OR (Partners in Flight 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 Black-tailed Gull being seen near Tacoma, Washington. I watched the Washington birding hotline all week to see if it was sticking around ... and it did!

Even better news was that Jon and Dave (IBO 2009 hawkwatchers) were on a road trip and arriving in Portland Thursday night .... and they wanted to go up and see the bird and were willing to bring me back to the Portland airport in time for my Friday night flight! 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 - who's about to fly to Australia for a field job!). As she got in, she said, "so, what rare birds are we going after?" Seriously? I love it! Jon hadn't even told her what species we were chasing but she was up for an adventure!!

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.

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, "what are you guys up to? birdwatching?" to which we replied, "How'd ya know?" .... "your hat says 'Birdnerd' and you're wearing binoculars!" .... "good point ;-)"

Dave & Jay trying to identify a pair of small, black (& stuffed) birds that resembled a cross between a crow, a Burrowing Owl, and a puffbird ;-) that we found in a Tacoma restaurant called 'The Ark' (they were missing one of their Zebras ...)

After a while, the rain cleared so we raced back to the site to enjoy more views of the bird ...

Birders lined up on shore viewing the Black-tailed Gull (Stephanie, of recent Lucky Peak fame, is at front and my old buddie, Drew - brown hat -, came to meet us even though he'd already seen the bird)

The big gull roost on log booms in the harbor

The main view we had of the Black-tailed Gull as viewed from shore through the scope - you can see the darker mantle than surrounding gulls (including a couple of California Gulls) as well as the smudgy, hooded look to the head (characteristic of adults in winter). Other gulls present include Mew and Bonaparte's.

A close-up view of the adult Black-tailed Gull (by John Puschock; for more pictures, click here)

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.

Happy birding,

Jay

return to Mountain View and CJ Strike Reservoirs

2009-11-06T10:10:00.004-07:00

On 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.
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.

Fog on the river below CJ Strike

We scanned from a few places along the shore, and saw plenty of birds, but mostly Western/Clarks Grebes and TOO many Common Loons! where are all our Yellow-billed and Pacific Loons? ;)
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.
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!
We stopped first at the actual reservoir itself, before heading to the productive 'Blue Creek' area below the dam.
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! :)
While walking to another spot to scope, Jay glimpsed a bird just as it dove underwater....a Scoter!
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 Surf Scoter! 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 :)

We continued to check out the reservoir and enjoyed watching the very cute Horned and Eared Grebes, 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+ Tundra Swans there! Definitely a change from the 100's of Dowitchers and sandpipers that were there in previous weeks.

The 100's of Tundra Swans at Blue Creek!

We scoped all over the water, and saw tons of waterfowl, and a few Dunlin and Yellowlegs still hanging out...and of course we were checking all the mallards and canada geese to see if we could find a Black Duck or Brant hanging out with them :)
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 Gyrfalcon....sad day! Hopefully another Gyr will decide to visit Idaho this winter....and stay long enough for us to see it!

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 Sharp-shinned Hawk take out a Robin!! 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!

In the fields and olive trees, we found TONS of sparrows!!! 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!

In the Olives, we scouted around, and soon I saw the bird we were looking for: a Barn Owl! 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! :)

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!

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 Loon species, and maybe a scoter too! We also are considering visiting Garden Valley, a town in Idaho where a Blue Jay was spotted a few weeks ago....

wish us luck!

~Heidi

Finally some Goshawks!

2009-11-02T21:26:00.001-07:00

Although the numbers for most raptor species were way up in fall '09, there were very few Northern Goshawks migrating before the middle of October. After a low Goshawk 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 Goshawk come into the trapping station!

(Perhaps a slight explanation is needed: each fall, IBO 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 Sharp-shinned & Coopers's hawks as well as American Kestrels. One of the coolest results of this long-term effort is the mapping of migration routes and eventual destinations of banded birds - see this map. For some examples of other catches, see the Merlin and Gyrfalcon links)

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 Goshawk on each day and, therefore, got my fix.

My first Northern Goshawk of the season, a big female - photo by Michele Laskowski

Michele & Katie co-holding the first Goshawk they'd every seen! 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

A close-up to show the brownish eye color of this bird (usually more yellow - see below)

Now, Heidi wasn't there on Friday and so was a little envious .. and she demanded 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 Goshawk! It took a while to catch (very windy) but that gave us a great opportunity to watch this impressive raptor in action.

Heidi holding her first Goshawk of the season

Notice the more typical yellowish eye on this bird

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!

Jay

Wishlist for the rest of 2009 ;-)

2009-10-20T20:21:00.001-06:00

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 - 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!?! We've both seen more bird species than we realistically expected and Heidi's already seen 130 life birds!

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:

the help & generosity of many other Idaho birders
conducting bird surveys across a broad spectrum of habitat types
(last but not least) a shred of craziness that drives us to bird as much as possible ;-)

Big Wood River riparian habitat, June 2009
(where we conducted bird surveys this summer ahead of habitat restoration efforts)

A skein of American White Pelicans over American Falls Reservoir, September 2009
(where we took a birding trip last month)

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 "South Hills" Crossbill - which we've both seen this year & hoped might be 'split' by now - is still considered to be conspecific with Red Crossbill). 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; species in italics & parentheses are less likely) that we will be searching for:

Pacific Loon (check!)
Surf Scoter (check!)
White-winged Scoter (check!)
American Golden-plover
Short-billed Dowitcher
Barn Owl (check!)
Pinyon Jay
Western Scrub-jay
Blue Jay
Lapland Longspur
(Black Scoter)
(Red-shouldered Hawk)
(Gyrfalcon)
(Mountain Quail)
(Western Gull)
(Black-legged Kittiwake)

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 Gambel's Quail now established in the Salmon area (or maybe even make a big effort to find her a Gray Partridge ;-).

Of course, we're hoping we'll continue to get lucky with some out-of-range species (such as the Glossy Ibis, several rare warblers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 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!

Thanks & happy fall!

Jay

What we've mostly been up to for the last 3 months

2009-10-16T21:16:00.002-06:00

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 ...

The office @ Lucky Peak

A closer look @ Stephanie & Heidi entering some data on an
afternoon after songbird migration banding in August

Stephanie & Jay taking birds out of a mist-net (the method we use at IBO to capture landbirds during fall migration)

Least Flycatcher captured/banded on Sept 15

White-crowned Sparrows of two subspecies - Mountain (oreantha) on the left and Gambel's (gambeli) on the right

The first Indigo Bunting - an adult female - ever captured (or seen) @ Lucky Peak - on Sept 12

An adult female Cooper's Hawk we trapped (photo by Rob Miller)

Heidi holding a cute young male Townsend's Warbler (photo by Stephanie Coates)

Jay holding a male Wilson's Warbler (photo by Stephanie Coates)

Songbird crewmember, Nathan, with our 2nd ever White-breasted Nuthatch on his back!

Jay with an Adult male Sharpie on a stormy day of trapping!

The songbird crew (Stephanie, Jay, Caroline and Nathan) on a cold day in the hawk blind

Cheers,

Heidi & Jay

Blue Creek

2009-10-13T16:28:00.005-06:00

with 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 few hours drive from Boise, heehee :) near the Nevada border.
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 :)

When we first arrived, we checked out the reservoir itself and found a Common Loon among all the ducks there...too bad it wasn't a Yellow-Billed!

Next we drove to the Blue Creek area past the reservoir, and found two Cackling Geese (likely the minima subspecies) hanging out with all the Canada's...I'd never seen the uber-cute minima subspecies before, so that was a special treat; especially seeing them in comparison to their giant cousins!

One of the cute Cackling Geese!

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 Yellowlegs, almost 70 Pectoral Sandpipers, around 275 LB Dowitchers, a few Sanderlings, and a Dunlin! We also got to enjoy watching a Peregrine Falcon chase around many shorebirds and ducks...though he didn't ever catch one.

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 Black-bellied Plover! woohoo! A lifer, yearbird, and the species we had come searching for on this trip! sweet :)

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 White-faced Ibis flew slowly overhead to check us out before heading to his grassy island to sleep.

A cool day of birding at a very cool spot!

(Unsuccessful) parula stake-out

2009-10-01T01:39:00.006-06:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jay

Golden-crowned Sparrow!-#300

2009-09-27T21:15:00.004-06:00

This 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 before it was caught, since we aren't "counting" the net-only birds towards our year list.
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 tail-less (maybe a near-death experience with a Sharp-shinned Hawk?) 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 another Golden-crowned Sparrow (this one had a tail) in the bag, and said she'd seen two others! agh! It was an explosion of Golden-crowned's at IBO, and I hadn't seen any!! (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 did skip out on the next few net runs looking for it! heehee)
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).
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 finally saw him! the Golden-crowned! YAY!!!!
this was an extra-cool lifer for me as it was LIFER #300!!! (it's amazing to think that it was only March when I saw #200: a Harris' Sparrow)
It was hi-fives all around on hawkwatch when the rest of the birders heard we'd finally accomplished our mission :)

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!

all for now,
~Heidi

Anna's Hummingbird in Ola!

2009-09-21T22:09:00.007-06:00

One of the species I really hoped we'd be able to see this year is Anna's Hummingbird ... 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 Anna's to Idaho each year.

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 Western Field Ornithologists conference and Fred said that they'd been hosting an Anna's 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.

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 (several years before I had enjoyed a great visit to their place to see a Fox Sparrow of the Eastern/Red subspecies) 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.

Heidi, Fred, & Melly looking at the ash tree that the Anna's Hummingbird was frequenting yesterday - nice backyard, huh!?

... 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!

Immature male Anna's Hummingbird - photo by Melly Zeillemaker (taken prior to our visit)

Happy birders enjoying the show

Heidi, her lemonade, and the great view from the Zeillemaker's yard

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 Anna's came in to the nearby feeders for a great naked eye view!

Thanks again to Fred & Melly for their hospitality!

Cheers,

Jay

Labor Day weekend birding trip

2009-09-10T17:37:00.009-06:00

Yes, 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.

Here's a picture to prove that we've both been working/busy ... in this case, putting a band on an American Kestrel that got caught in IBO's songbird mist nets - photo by Stephanie Coates

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 ??? (not really but .... ;-) 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.

Spying on shorebirds at Indian Creek Reservoir along with Rob Miller - photo by Stephanie Coates

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.

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 Western Wood-Pewee and Olive-sided Flycatcher, a great overhead comparison of immature Sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks, 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 Lewis's Woodpeckers and a group of Black-billed Magpies 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!

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 Sabine's Gulls before dark came ... no luck with those gulls but we did enjoy the usual concentration of Franklin's Gulls and other waterbirds, including a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls.

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 ....

Mudflats in Willow Bay

... 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 Pluvialis plover calls (no, didn't hear any :) ...

The view from our table for breakfast at Willow Bay marina

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 Stilt Sandpiper (which we were able to view side by side with yellowlegs and dowitchers) and Cattle Egret and we also saw Virginia's, Nashville, and Orange-crowned warblers in the same bush!

Me showing off my binocularing skills ;-)

Heidi studying her lifer Stilt Sandpipers as well as nearby yellowlegs & dowitchers

After birding the upper end of American Falls res on Monday AM, we decided we ought to jet to Camas NWR (only 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 Cordilleran and other flycatchers as well as the usual slew of Wilson's Warblers but nothin' crazy (side note: the next day, Rexburg birder Darren Clark found a female Indigo Bunting there - in a spot where we'd seen a group of buntings and warblers but all we'd seen were Lazulis ... ouch!!!).

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 Peregrine Falcon munching on an undentified shorebird. Of course, it's always awesome to see a Peregrine (and we also saw our first 2 Merlins of the fall) but the fact that it had scared away all the shorebirds we were coming to see wasn't ideal :-).

The spoiler Peregrine @ Willow Bay

We continued the long drive home to Boise and then got ready to go back to work!

The elusive & squirrelly Green-tailed Towhee ...

2009-08-14T10:14:00.001-06:00

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 IBO crewmembers to get the mist-nets set up for our 13th season of songbird migration study. 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: http://idahobirdobservatory.blogspot.com/, including the first Hermit Warbler we've ever captured & banded!

Among the rarest of species that we've caught over the years is the Green-tailed Towhee. 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 Green-tailed Towhee 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 ('flub' or 'fumble' are our terms for when a bird gets away prematurely). So, I took it out and said "shhh" 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 Rob 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!

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 Green-tailed Towhee 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!

An immature Green-tailed Towhee undergoing its pre-formative molt (from juvenile to its first adult-like plumage) - for those interested in details, notice the pin feathers growing in the greater/secondary coverts region photo by Karyn deKramer

Here's the immature Green-tailed next to an immature of its cousin, the Spotted Towhee - which is one of the more common species at Lucky Peak - photo by Karyn deKramer

For a fun version from Rob's perspective, see Rob's very good blog ...

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.

The '09 crew and volunteers: Gary, Dave, Carol, Heidi, Rob, Stephanie, Jack, Melody, and Jay

Please come visit if you get the chance! Details at: http://idahobirdobservatory.org/

Cheers,

Jay

Losin'

2009-08-06T09:30:00.002-06:00

little explanation is needed....Jay lost, and here's the long-awaited result :)
thanks to our friend Mel Berg for making such a sweet t-shirt!!!!!

and now for:

The story of Jay and the pink shirt! (yes...Heidi's version :)

step one-Jay admires Mel's handiwork...His favorite part of this shirt is the stunning blue collar (it really brings out the color of his eyes!) and he also remarks that the sparkly hearts on it are just precious! ;P

(okay....so maybe Jay's exact words were more like "oh, crap!" but same difference)

(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')

step two-Jay puts on the shirt and begins sobbing ;)

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 freaking blue collar!) must have challenged my ego a little more than I expected ;-)

step three-Jay regrets unleashing the creative powers of Heidi and Mel

step four-Jay realizes that he really DOES look good in pink ;)

THE END :)

a week in the sawtooths

2009-08-03T06:00:00.002-06:00

Alrighty…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 I was driving! Yikes! Luckily though, Jay survived the ordeal, with only a few exchanges of: “Heidi, watch out for that rock” “what rock!?.....oh that 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.

Jay eating dinner in our newly set up camp

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!

Jay checking out the view and the snow! (no that’s not a bird in the sky…that’s a skeeter!)

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 :)

"DIE!" ... This didn’t take us as long as you might think ;)
Is Heidi a little twisted or what?

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!

Jay and I at one of our point count sites near Little Beaver Creek

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!)

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)!

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: “hey you! Get away from my log, eh?” “what are you doing, eh?” ...I think maybe you just had to be there…. ;)

the majestic Jacques, fending me away from his precious log (he’s on the end of the far right log)

Jacques was very cute……and by cute of course I mean ferocious and brave ;)

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.

at one of our last counts of the day, right before taking on the steep hillside behind us

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!
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.

at the top of Boundary Creek with a view down to Redfish Lake … (neither of us were ready for the camera to go off ;)

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!

To the Canadian border! (almost ...)

2009-07-20T19:19:00.005-06:00

Before beginning Idaho Bird Observatory '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? - BIRD!! 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 Boise at 530am on Sunday. Pretty much all we did was drive, bird, and sleep but we had fun and it was worth it!

Our first stop was the Lochsa River upstream from Wilderness Gateway campground (along Hwy 12) - what a beautiful area! Though we spent hours looking along the main river and a few tributaries, we were not lucky enough to see a Harlequin Duck (probably on nests still and/or further up the tributaries??). We finally gave up and headed towards Moscow where Terry Gray (always generous with other birders) met us and took us to a spot to look for Clay-colored Sparrows (rare in Idaho, especially in the breeding season; click here 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 Brewer's and Chipping sparrows at the same site! Before dark, Terry escorted us to a spot near Harvard where we were able to hear & see a calling Northern Pygmy-owl! Then at 2am (while camping on USFS land near Harvard) I was awoken by the repeated "hooo-awww" of a Barred Owl (only my 2nd for Idaho!) and was able to call over to Heidi to say, "Hey, that's a Barred Owl!!". In the morning we awoke to a flock that included Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a Western Flycatcher that did not sound like all the Cordillerans I've been hearing all summer - Pacific Slope?

Our first stop on Monday was the Sandpoint city beach where we saw a single adult Common Tern (seems early for a returning fall migrant) roosting among all the California & Ring-billed Gulls (that included some young of the year of both species). We then pressed on to the Selkirks to look for Boreal Chickadees ... 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 Pine Grosbeak, Varied Thrush, Winter Wren, and more! Near the beginning of Trout Creek Rd was a family group of Western Flycatchers, of which the male sounded very Pacific-slope-like, that included 3 recent fledglings! Also saw several Vaux's Swifts here.

We then headed to a spot on Forest Service land NE of Couer d'Alene to look for Black Swifts 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!).

Heidi on the trail to the falls ....

The falls where we saw one Black Swift on a nest!

On the return trip we stopped at Mann Lake (E of Lewiston) and saw several shorebirds, including Western (20), Semipalmated (2), and Least (1) Sandpipers as well as Long-billed Dowitchers (5).

We then headed to the Riggins/Pollock area and tried a couple of short walks in hopes of running into the rare & elusive Mountain Quail - no luck but we did see family groups of Ruffed Grouse, California Quail, and Chukar. And, we saw more Vaux's Swifts as well as 10 or more White-throated Swifts - thus, a 3-swift day in Idaho!!

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!

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.

Now off to Lucky Peak ;-)

Jay

vacation!

2009-07-18T18:18:00.003-06:00

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 :)
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.

my family!

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.
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:
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!
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!

The Black-throated Sparrows! (photo taken by birding friend Jonathan Stoke about a week after we saw the pair...thanks for a cool photo!)

Black-throated Sparrow habitat :)

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!
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!

City of Rocks!

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! :)
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! :)
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)
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!!!
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! :D

Heidi takes round 1 ....

2009-07-12T12:03:00.001-06:00

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 ;-)

We'll have to wait on her thoughts on how the year has gone so far but it's been pretty fun (understatement) to see so many species in Idaho, many of them while working, and I think 113 have been life birds for Heidi so far!!

Here's Heidi enjoying close views of a male Spruce Grouse (lower right) that we named 'Jacques' - just one her many lifers this year

still alive!

2009-07-11T16:15:00.004-06:00

dont worry guys, despite a week spent hiking and doing pointcounts in the wild woods of the Sawtooths, Jay and I are still alive! ;)

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.

So hold your horses for now, you'll hear more from us next week! :)

~Heidi

Lava Lake birding class ....

2009-07-01T14:00:00.000-06:00

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 Sawtooth Science Institute on the Lava Lake Ranch (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!

Here's Brian (sporting his spiffy red Lava Lake hat) and Molly checking out a distant Great Blue Heron while Robert, Rose, and Allen look on and Kim takes notes (yes, they were diligent students!; photo by Kathleen Cameron)

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 Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind). 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.

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 ... (photo by Kathleen Cameron)

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 Dusky (aka Blue) Grouse perched in an Aspen, Western Wood-pewee and Willow Flycatcher that both vocalized and perched in the open within 30 minutes of each other - providing a very helpful comparison, many Lewis's Woodpeckers, Sandhill Cranes, a Moose that some of the group saw, several Lazuli Buntings, a Red-tailed Hawk carrying a young (& recently dead) American Crow (!!), and much more.

Pointing out a singing Sage Thrasher (photo by Kathleen Cameron)

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.

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 ;-).

What raptor flight profile is this? ;-) (We had just seen a Red-tail and I think I had moved on to comparing the dihedral pattern of Swainson's Hawks; photo by Kathleen Cameron)

The whole class (minus Rose's interpreter, Robert, who was kind enough to snap this shot)!

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 Lava Lake blog
too.

Next up? On to some higher elevation bird surveys in the Wood River Valley and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area ...

Jay

Owlin'

2009-06-28T15:15:00.008-06:00

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!
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!" ;)

Chef Larry makin' us breakfast!

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.

Jack and I checking out our Lifer Great Grays!

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!
Not a bad way to spend a rainy day!!

Always keep your windows down when you're eating lunch at a Subway ...

2009-06-23T22:20:00.002-06:00

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.

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 (it was 3pm, after all) and we settled on a nearby Subway 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!!

A male Magnolia Warbler in Hailey, ID on Thursday, June 18 (photo by Kathleen Cameron; to see more of her great photos, check out these links: http://www.majesticfeathers.com/ and www.gotacameron.com)

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 magpies 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 Brambling 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.

Just to show you who 'Jack-the-rare-warbler-finder' is .... 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.

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.

Happy birding!

Jay

A streak of "luck"

2009-06-20T17:31:00.010-06:00

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!

We made it about 8 miles up Quigley Gulch in Hailey before we ran into a silty stream flowing across the road. Always 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!

This photo was taken before our last desperate attempt to un-stick the truck....thus Jay's still-smiling face ;)

Jay got a cut on his face while wedging the sticks--yeah, I told him to do this face

Jay's 'tough face' to make up for the previous picture :)

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.

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!

Strategizing

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!

The alternative caption: "how Jay really drives on the backroads" :)

Jay with the BLM guys and towtruck driver: Victorious!

Nathan, Jay, Troy (the towtruck dude), Mark, and Kevin

And you thought this all made for an action-packed day....just wait till you hear the rest! (a post to come soon!)

Point counts, Grosbeaks, and Hail in Hailey!

2009-06-17T14:34:00.004-06:00

From a coffee shop wireless hotspot in Hailey, ID....
After postponing our MAPS banding day again this week (we were originally planning on banding on Sunday) we were finally able to make it up to Lucky Peak to band on Tuesday. It was nice to see the sunshine again, and we had a fun day up there with volunteers Dave and Carol Wike. Highlights included a singing Mountain White-crowned Sparrow (we usually only see these guys during migration at Lucky Peak) and a PAIR of Townsend's Warblers! (will they actually breed at lucky peak this year?! Their normal breeding range is 50 miles north of here, so that'd be pretty cool!) We also caught 3 Cedar Waxwings! (before these guys I'd seen a single fledgling in the hand last fall)

A pretty Swallowtail rescued from the nets

a snooty-lookin' Cedar Waxwing :)

After finishing with MAPS we left Boise yesterday afternoon to continue counts near Hailey, ID.

Just after getting into town, we came up behind a vehicle with the licenseplate "BIRD ON". After a moment's thought of "oh, that's cool!" Jay remembered that this particular license plate belonged to our bird-nerd friend Jean! He dialed up her cellphone, and soon we were pulled off the road chatting with friends Jean and Poo. It was fun catching up with Jean since seeing her last when we took a birding trip to Hailey in February, and we parted ways after recieving some inside-information on a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that had just showed up in a neighborhood down the road.....so much for our plans of a nap after point counts the next day! :)

Jay and I arrived at our chosen campsite just as the sun was setting, and with the weather this past week we set up our tents hoping that we would not wake up to more rain. We weren't disappointed! We woke up to clear blue skies and were able to get plenty of counts in. Jay saw a Golden Eagle and some Lewis' Woodpeckers and Sage Thrashers during his counts, while I had fun seeing a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers, my first Cordilleran Flycatcher on a point count, and a cuddling pair of Mountain Bluebirds :)

After counts, we gave Poo a call and headed to the grosbeak house. We stood watching the feeders as they were mobbed by Western Tanagers (with jelly all over their faces) Cassin's Finches and Hummingbirds. I hoped in vain that Jay would not find a Rufous Hummingbird (since it was the ONE species I had that he didnt) but I was still glad to see the pretty male that showed up. No sooner had I said "alright, I just let you catch up with the Rufous...now where's my grosbeak?" when Jay oh-so-casually pointed him out to me!! He flew to another aspen tree, and then landed high in a tree behind the house next to a male Black-headed Grosbeak. He turned just right in the sunlight and dude, was he awesome!!!! We got to watch him for a short time more before the Black-headed male chased him off. The three of us barely had time to celebrate our success when the now looming gray clouds started dumping loads of rain and hail on us! Standing under the eaves in our sandals (brrr! why didn't I leave my boots on?) We made plans to head to lunch.......which takes us to where we are now, sitting at an internet hotspot getting some officy-type work done and waiting to head out to scout some of our counting spots for tomorrow....

that's all for now!

~Heidi

Muddy roads & Heidi's 100th lifebird of 2009!

2009-06-13T20:22:00.010-06:00

We started the week waiting out the rain (and mud) in our attempt to get up the road to Lucky Peak (Idaho Bird Observatory's main research site in the Boise Foothills) for a day of breeding-season bird banding. We have run a MAPS station at Lucky Peak since 2000 - it's part of a continent-wide monitoring program that involves one day of capture and banding in every 10-day period of the summer. On Saturday night, with Heidi's younger brother Isaac in tow, we tried the road up to Lucky Peak in anticipation of clearing weather for Sunday ... BUT, we were turned back by mud & very slick roads before we even got to the steep section. After slip-sliding for the umpteenth time, I turned to Heidi & Isaac and asked, "Do you both agree that we should turn back?" and saw big eyes and fervent nods in return!

The rainy weather this late May & June has been phenomenal and I've certainly appreciated the cooler weather. But, it's also starting to make it hard to fit in all the field work that we (& other IBO crews - studying Long-billed Curlews & Flammulated Owls) are doing this summer.

Heidi & I finally made it up to Lucky Peak on Sunday night and got the nets ready for Monday AM when our dedicated friends & volunteers Dave, Carol, & Gary arrived for the morning of banding. Lucky Peak is one of my favorite places in the world so it's always great to get back there for the first time each summer. As we walked back into camp @ dusk, we were greeted by a very close Flammulated Owl hooting away! ... As usual, Monday was a very enjoyable day of banding and fun company highlighted by a male Yellow-breasted Chat that Gary pulled out of the net - the first we've ever caught there during the breeding season! We also caught about 65 other birds, including 12 or so that were recaptures from prior years ... it's fun to think how far these birds have traveled in the intervening months.

The star of our 1st banding day of the season - a stud male Yellow-breasted Chat

After a couple hours in town on Monday afternoon, Heidi & I raced off to Shoshone to pick up the 'government rig' - a Ford Expedition we're using for our surveys on BLM lands - and arrived just before dark to a flat spot out in the sage we'd found the previous week to set up our tents. We spent the next 4 days surveying in primarily sagebrush country between Shoshone and Bellevue on either side of hwy 75.

On Tuesday, we split up to cover different areas and I got lucky in being able to access a couple spots along the Big Wood River in addition to many sagebrush & grassland areas. I was impressed with the diversity in the riparian habitat - Gray Catbirds, Yellow-breasted Chats, and Willow Flycatchers sang alongside more abundant & widespread species like Yellow Warblers and Bullock's Orioles. As it turned out, this was just a teaser of things to come ... on Wednesday, Heidi covered a few other survey points a little lower on the river and, among other interesting birds, turned up 3 different singing Least Flycatchers! After counts, we decided to head back to that area and bird a bit as well as take a flyer on calling for Yellow-billed Cuckoos. YB Cuckoos have declined drastically in the West in recent decades and there's a lot of concern for their population status - so much so that western population is actually a candidate for listing as 'threatened' or 'endangered' under the Endangered Species Act. Thus, there's a lot of interest in documenting where they still occur during the breeding season and trying to protect that habitat. At our second stop, (much to our surprise - after all, I'd seen a grand total of 1 cuckoo in Idaho previously) we soon heard a response to our broadcast - a cuckoo was actually singing about 120 yards away! After a long minute or 2, Heidi said, "Hey, what's this bird? Is that it?!" Sure enough, the cuckoo had snuck in closer to where the broadcast had been playing and perched up on some dead willow branches (much to the dismay of a nearby oriole who began some sort of aggressive display aimed at the cuckoo!) ... and stayed long enough for me to snap a couple pictures through the scope! AND, on Monday Heidi had calculated that she'd seen 99 new species so far this year and wondered what might be 100th ... neither of us imagined that Yellow-billed Cuckoo would be it (can you believe she's up to 100 life birds?!). More importantly, the hope is that this isn't the only individual in the area ... we hope to fit in some more surveys in other potentially suitable areas nearby.

A Yellow-billed Cuckoo heard & seen along the Big Wood River!

Yellow-billed Cuckoo habitat along the Big Wood River - notice the multi-layered riparian habitat structure

On Wed after counts, the rains returned and turned some roads into greasy tracks ... we got lucky on Thurs & Fri in that we were able to avoid rain during our morning surveys. But, that didn't stop some sections of roads from being a little nutty!

The slightly dirty Ford Expedition (making sure we could see :-) at a gas station in Fairfield - the mud layer turned out to be quite the status symbol. Heidi even had one guy strike up a conservation about how he would LOVE to go muddin' on the road we'd been on! ;-)

We were fortunate to not get stuck in a couple places - thanks to 4-low and maybe a little luck - and able to press on to keep exploring new landscapes and the birds breeding there. At one point, though, we had accumulated so much mud & grass up over the 'protection pan' under the engine that we had to spend 45 minutes under there scraping and pulling to reduce the risk of fire ...Here's Heidi proving she's not all girly-girl and not afraid to get dirty!

But, I guess all that hard work tired her out as she needed to nap for a while in the spic-n-span truck the next day ... ;-)

(I'll have you all know that I had a headache at the time...and someone had promised me there would be no photographic evidence of this nap! sheesh, what a meanie! :)

Heidi & Jay (beyond the muddy hood) and the scenic, if off-kilter, view to the Fairfield area ... and the building thunderheads

On Friday we continued from our last survey point on out to hwy 46 en route to scout some riparian survey areas West of Hailey. But, first we needed a stop for some 'tots' and chocolate malts at the Wrangler in Fairfield ...

Heidi's new favorite restaurant (when she realized it'd only be 4 miles out of our way, she said, "Oooh, can we get some tots?!")

That's our birding news from this week. We'll spend much of the next few weeks between the Big Wood River valley and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area performing surveys in cooperation with several agencies, including Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Fish & Game, US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the US Forest Service. Because we've seen so many bird species already in 2009, there aren't too many more species that we can search for in south-central Idaho but we'll hope to locate more cuckoos as well as get lucky with some higher elevation birds like Northern Pygmy-owl and Spruce Grouse ....

Hasta luego!

Jay

Camas, Island Park, AND passing #250!!!

2009-06-02T19:23:00.003-06:00

Here's another blog post, authored from the booth at Castle's Corner in Carey, ID. :)
no Jay has not died (yet!) but at the moment he is driving to Shoshone, ID to pick up our gov't truck we use for surveys...so once again Heidi is the one doin' the blog :)

my 'office' for an hour tonight at the gas station! :)

Jay and I just finished up a whirlwind tour of eastern Idaho for our 'days off', which included visits to Market Lake, Camas NWR, and Island Park.

some highlights!

at Market on Sunday night:
-lifer American Bittern! (we got to hear his 'guh-whump' calling all night long! and saw one in flight)
-6 short-eared owls!
-SUPER-cute fledgling long-eared owl :)
-gazillions of Ibis and Franklin's gulls!! (colonies with 2000+ of each species)
-my first great looks at Forster's Terns!
-near market this morning: a Glossy Ibis! (we received the tip on this one from who else, but Cliff!!)

'The Glossy' is somewhere in there :)

at Camas: (my inaugural visit!!)
we visited Camas first on Monday, and also visited bright and early this morning. (we woke up to rain showers, which continued through the whole time we were there! I thought this was Idaho…not Seattle! ;)
-tons of tanagers, INCLUDING , on Monday, a female Scarlet Tanager!!!! crazy! (Jay had been telling me on the drive from Laidlaw the day before to keep an eye out for tanagers w/o wing bars....little did we know!)
The mother-load of flycatchers!
-my lifer looks at Cordilleran Flycatchers...sooo cute and green :) definitely one of my favorite 'empids' (...maybe 'cause they're one of the few that I can ID solo? ;)
-some cute Least Flycatchers :)
-probably 12 Peewees! (including a sweet comparison look between an Olive-Sided flycatcher and a peewee)
-lots of Willow Flycatchers singing their cute ‘fitz-bew!’

And after birding Camas on Monday, we made a quick run up to Island Park to visit our friend Cliff (who was awesome enough to show us the Boreal owls over spring break)
Just a few hundred yards from Cliff’s house, our luck started when we saw a Dusky Grouse! My first ‘confirmed sighting’ and therefore, Lifer!!!

A Dusky grouse spotted on the road near Island Park!

The three of us piled into Jay’s Subaru (and Jay and I became even more conscious of just how much crap we have stuffed into that vehicle!!—and maybe the smell too? :) –
And we headed out to a spot where Cliff assured us we’d be able to find Northern Waterthrush along the reservoir. We weren’t there 5 minutes before one popped out of the bushes in response to our calls! It was so cute and streaky…another lifer! (right about this time I asked Jay why we had only come birding with Cliff once before during the year! Go Cliff!)
While listening for the waterthrushes, we heard a sound that none of us quite recognized, but Jay and Cliff thought it sounded like some sort of grebe…but not a Western. We drove down the road to get a better view and saw a grebe with its neck tucked….of course we got out the scope, and soon his head popped up, revealing that he was a Red-necked Grebe! Sweet!!! It was right about then that I realized that I had just passed the 250 mark on my year list!! (Jay had made 250 a few days before too!)
We had had plans to drive to a spot an hour away to find a red-necked grebe, so with so much extra time, we figured there was no excuse for us not going in search of woodpeckers.
Over spring break in Island Park, we had snowshoed into a very newly burned area and seen lots of sign of black-backed or three-toed woodpeckers, but hadn’t seen any. This time, we were able to drive the road up to the burn and within 10 minutes of walking on the crispy black ground, we heard a strange chattering….
We saw a three-toed woodpecker fly in front of us, but at the same time, Cliff called that he’d seen Black-backed’s!!! of course we rushed over to see the black-backed’s and were rewarded with a view of two males! They were both on a burned tree, straight across from each other and they were both chattering away (the noise we’d heard earlier) Each male would peek his head around the trunk to see his opponent, and they circled around and around, up and down the tree, being cranky with each other. Then, after one of the males drummed on the tree-top, there was an attack!!! They flew at each other, pecking hard, and almost hitting the ground. All the while chattering away. Poofs of feathers were flying!! I couldn’t help but giggle at the face off, as the boys continued fighting each other, showing each other their white chins by tilting their heads up, waving them back and forth, and spreading their wings wide to reveal the barred patterning. By the end, they both disappeared, with only one male returning. He landed on a nearby tree, spread his wings, and chattered, and then shook the remaining feathers of his opponent off of his bill! We were sure he was the winner of the stand-off when he proudly flew up and mated with his girl who had (apparently) been observing from high in the trees!
During this drama, we also saw a pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers, who didn’t seem to mind the crazy black-backed’s at all! Cliff is Ah-Suhm at findin’ us those birds!!! :)

The three of us after watching the woodpecker drama...a photo timed from the hood of Jay's car :)

Finally, after visiting Camas again today we decided to head up Manan Butte to look for Black-throated Sparrows with Cliff. Though we struck out on the sparrows, we did find a different cute somebody. Jay had split off from the main trail as we were climbing up, and soon found a pair Blue-gray Gnatcatchers!! Lucky for me, Jay is SUPER nice, and pointed them out to me ;) even though it meant that I would catch up to him another species! (Jay had seen them without me during our first week of owl surveys) yay! They are SOOO adorable!

Whew! It’s been a whirlwind couple’a days, and this is a whirlwind post!
Do ya think we’re havin’ fun yet this summer?? :)

Until next time!

Update from Castle's Corner

2009-05-31T13:15:00.006-06:00

here's a SUPER-DUPER fast update from the "castle's corner" gas station in Carey, ID.

some highlights and photos:

-we finished our time in Hailey near the Big Wood River, and ended up with a special treat on our last day there. Jay and I had split up when I got a phone call from Jay saying that he had found a male Chestnut-sided Warbler!! of course I made it over there as soon as I could, and we were both able to get some great looks at the little dude, and listen to him sing! how cute!!! (we also had to contend with some very big and angry bulls in that field!!)

the chestnut-sided warbler!

-we left Hailey and headed to our next survey job at Laidlaw Park near Craters of the Moon.

Greg and Jay on our first night at the campsite

Highlights there were our first Nighthawk of the year. Tons of Loggerhead Shrikes (I'd only seen 2 before going to laidlaw, and now I've seen a gazillion!) a Veery (lifer!) we saw when we took a trip into civilization and stopped along the little wood river. And just last night, an adorable and proudly-singing Grasshopper Sparrow! (lifer!)

oh, and while waiting out the heat of the day after surveys yesterday, Jay and I scouted out a nice lava tube to hang out in. It made for a great office! but...soon the thunderstorms hit, and it got a little wet (not good for laptops!)

Jay at the entrance of our office

Jay taking shelter from the rain with his computer (and watching his office buddy the Black Widow slurping a crane fly :)

First week of field work

2009-05-23T23:47:00.006-06:00

What a week! Started with staying up until 4am with Matt on Sunday night/Monday morning mapping survey sites for Flammulated Owls and then we headed off to the Owyhees on Monday afternoon to start owl surveys at 940pm that night ... Friday night was my first night getting to bed before 3am all week! BUT, the owl surveys have been really fun (over 50 individual Flammulated Owls detected on 4 nights of surveys b/t the Owyhees, South Hills, and Black Pine Mountains) and the birding along the way just as great.

Matt, Jack, & Heidi after finishing our last paperwork detail (or so we thought ;-) before heading to Juniper Mountain (Owyhees) on Monday afternoon

A few highlights from the week (5-18 to 5-23):

Juniper Mountain (Owyhees) on Monday: Flammulated Owl, Common Poorwill, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Western Wood-pewee
N Fork of Owyhee River campground on Tuesday: Yellow-breasted Chat, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Plumbeous Vireo
South Hills (Diamondfield Jack & upper Rock Creek Rd) on Thurs: 'South Hills' Crossbills, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Fox Sparrow, Broad-tailed Hummingbird (heard only), Northern Goshawk adult, Williamson's Sapsucker pair, & more
Hayfield N of Marion/Oakley (in hayfield on W side of 600 W between 900 S & 1000 S): 6 male Bobolinks!!!
Black Pine Mountains (Pole Canyon Rd) on Friday: Virginia's Warbler, Broad-tailed Hummingbird (great views of displaying & perched male), Plumbeous Vireo, & much more
Sun Valley Ranch on Saturday: Rose-breasted Grosbeak female, Least Flycatcher (6 singing males!!), Gray Catbird, Eastern Kingbirds (1st of spring), Swainson's Thrush, Pileated Woodpecker, Bobolink
Centennial Marsh on Saturday afternoon: 25+ Black Terns

A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak seen on a bird survey (photo by Jack Stenger)

A close Black Tern at Centennial Marsh (photo by Jack Stenger)

I can't remember what I'd done here ;-) (photo by Jack Stenger)

Many of these birds were lifers for Heidi and year birds for both of us....

The view from Juniper Mountain north towards South Mountain and the Silver City Range

It was a busy but really fun week (finally in the field after all the planning/prep work for the last few months) with a fun crew .... home to re-charge for a day before some more adventures!!!

Cheers,

Jay

We're off!

2009-05-17T23:42:00.002-06:00

Our day of birding in the Owyhees warrants a longer post, cuz it was definitely awesome...
BUT tomorrow marks the day when Jay and I take off (along with Matt and Jack) to start our summer of field work! woohoo!! We're looking forward to it, but as I write this, Jay is spazzing out over all the stuff he has left to do before we leave (and I probably should be!)

Yesterday after a bird banding demonstration at Celebration Park along the Snake River (as a part of the Snake River Birds of Prey Festival) Jay and I headed to the Owyhees with buddy Gary to search again for Black-throated Sparrows. We spent some time on the rocky hillsides, and in some riparian draws; then made quick stops at Ted Trueblood WMA and Indian Creek Reservoirs. We didn't find the sparrows, but found yearbirds: a singing Yellow-breasted Chat and a pair of Lewis' Woodpeckers (first time I was able to see their colors! oh, and these were kindly pointed out by Jay....I guess we're even now :) heehee. thanks Jay!) and Lifers: a total of 4 Wilson's Warblers during the day and a singing Fox Sparrow (both pecies I'd banded but not seen in the 'wild'), Common Yellowthroats (got to hear one singing, and got good views of another one) AND Black-throated Gray Warblers!! Sweet! (we heard them singing for a long time before we finally couldn't take it any longer and decided to climb up the steep hillside above the road and track one down....and it was worth it! we got some awesome looks, and got to see him singing as well!) Other cool birds included a pair of baby Killdeer (hooray!), a cute Semi-palmated Plover, and some way-too-easy-to-find Blue-winged Teal.

As I mentioned, fieldwork starts tomorrow with surveys for Flammulated Owls, and continuing with songbird surveys later in the week. We hope we'll be seeing tons of awesome birds, but likely wont have much time to blog about it.
But not to fear, we have to return to civilization eventually for the occasional shower ;) so keep checking back!

Quest for the Hermit Warbler

2009-05-16T23:45:00.004-06:00

Jay and I started off Saturday at the celebration of International Migratory Bird Day at the MK Nature Center in Boise. As part of the activities that day, the Idaho Bird Observatory was doing a banding demonstration for the visitors. We had a bunch of fun with the kids, and I enjoyed banding some new species, like Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds! (though my fingers enjoyed it less because of their surprisingly 'large talons' *insert obscure Napoleon Dynamite movie reference here ;)

But throughout the day, the plans we had made the day before were constantly in the back of our minds: a Hermit Warbler had been sighted in the nearby Owyhee Mountains on Friday, and we were all set to chase it down once banding was over.

So, after lunch and packing up the nets, we followed in 'hermit-finder' Jim Holcomb's footsteps: down the highway, and a few miles up a dirt road, 'till we reached a pretty riparian area. We walked up the draw, birding our way until we reached the rock-pile marker of the bush where the Hermit Warbler had been spotted :) Though we birded the draw for a few hours, we never ended up spotting the Hermit...though we did see tons of other awesome spring birds!

We saw lots of singing Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warblers, singing Chipping, Brewer's and Vesper sparrows, Hermit Thrushes, Spotted Towhees, Hammond's Flycatchers, and lifers: Gray Flycatchers, Green-tailed Towhee, and 2 singing Male Townsend's Warblers (once, we had both of them in the same binocular view!)

After leaving the draw, we explored a rocky hillside in search for Black-throated Sparrows. We didn't find these either, but we did get a chance to hear my first singing Sage Thrasher, and I got to see another Lifer: Lark Sparrows! (I also got a whirlwind tutorial of the sage-dwelling sparrows, as we were able to see in flight and hear call notes of 4 different species in a short time: Lark, Vesper, Chipping and Brewers...we'll see how much o' that sticks when we start doing point counts later this week...yikes!!)

We didn't find the species we were searching for, but found some pretty sweet birds in the process!

Thanks Heidi!

2009-05-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

Would you believe that we could go birding for 6 hours on Sunday afternoon/evening and that Jay would see 3 'year' birds and Heidi none? Given her lifer rate of late, I would never have believed it myself - and I actually saw 4 year birds on Sunday, including a Lewis's Woodpecker flying over 13th & Grove in Boise early Sunday pm.

B/c we hadn't had our shorebird fix on Saturday (when we raced off to an isolated riparian draw on the NW side of the Owyhee Mountains in hot pursuit of a male Hermit Warbler found the day before by Nampa birder Jim Holcomb - we struck out but saw many great migrants and enjoyed birding in a great new spot), we joined up with Rob Miller for a quick trip to Indian Creek and Black's Creek reservoirs on Sunday afternoon before heading to the Boise River WMA to pull some field gear out of storage for our summer field work (well, and bird the riparian draw there).

I need to point out right off the bat that the 3 year birds I saw while birding with Heidi were all found by her and pointed out to me. Rob & I could see that she had mixed emotions about allowing me to catch up (by seeing some species she'd already seen this year) but she was nice about it ;-). After meeting at Heidi's place, the three of us walked up the road to see a male Black-chinned Hummingbird at a neighbor's feeder. Then, at Indian Creek Reservoir, soon after arriving Heidi scanned the shore and said something like, "Is that a godwit? ... oh man!..." and then started to waffle a bit about how much she wanted to share the info with me (since she'd seen Marbled Godwit the previous weekend but I was still waiting on my first of the year). Sure enough, a single godwit stood out among the BN Stilts and Wilson's Phalaropes that it was foraging near - cool! We saw many other shore & waterbirds there, including a snazzy Blue-winged Teal that posed next to a pair of Cinnamons.

A male Blue-winged Teal who had moved himself in between a pair of Cinnamon Teal (photo by Rob Miller)

At the Boise River WMA, Heidi kept catching glimpes of a hummingbird coming to a flowering currant bush and we finally spied a female Calliope Hummingbird! My 4th year bird of the day ... and the Yellow-breasted Chats that we were hoping for never sang or showed themselves (probably b/c the sun sunk behind the hills just as we arrived - not great timing for bird activity).

I should also point out that Rob also added 5 birds to his life list. Not sure what this was like for Heidi - who's accustomed to having the high lifer and/or year-bird total on each birding outing ;-). Oh well, I guess she'll just have to wait for another day for her next installment of lifers!

Happy spring!

Jay

Shorebirding

2009-05-07T14:08:00.009-06:00

Since Jay and I had obviously not had enough birding for one weekend (with our two separate fieldtrips on Friday and Saturday) we decided that it was necessary to head out on Sunday for some important spring migration shorebirding. So, after church and soccer games, we met up with birding friend Tom McCabe in the afternoon and started out for our first stop, Indian Creek Reservoir. With a tornado warning nearby and thunderclouds looming overhead, we were a bit nervous about what our birding prospects would be, but figured we might as well try, right? The rain was crazy as we drove down the highway, but we could see blue sky behind us! By the time we reached Indian Creek, the small pocket of blue sky was almost overhead. We made it through some tricky patches of mud, thanks to Tom’s drivin’ skills and four-wheel-drive, and we weren’t disappointed with what we saw! There was an awesome variety of birds on the water including plenty of avocets, stilts, phalaropes, teal, blackbirds, curlews, ducks, grebes and more! And Jay was able to scope out plenty of little peeps and other shorebirds for me, all of them lifers!! There were Least, Spotted, and Western Sandpipers, two Semi-palmated Plovers, White-faced Ibis and a Dunlin! (He also managed to get even farther into the lead by finding Long-billed Dowitchers)

On the road around to the other side of the reservoir, we stopped near a little riparian area and among all the yellow-rump’s we were able to find two cute Dusky Flycatchers, a Nashville Warbler, and a Lincoln’s sparrow that was singing.

Then, after getting through some even muddier roads, we found some cool birds on that side of the reservoir. There were a gazillion swallows, a little sharp-shinned hawk, and a male Harrier displaying for his girl….pretty sweet! But the thunder and wind had really started up, and we decided we’d better get back through the mud before it started pouring again...

The storm was really coming in!!

Here's Tom, our mud-drivin' hero! :)

...and we made it with perfect timing! Almost as soon as we got on the highway again, the downpour hit. And again (dude, do we have good luck or what?) by the time we got to our next destination: Ted Trueblood WMA, the rain had let up. We didn’t see any year birds here, but there was a good variety, including lots of white pelicans.

Next we made a run to CJ Strike reservoir and stopped at Jack’s Creek. There we were able to see lots of gulls (including Bonaparte’s-a year bird!), swallows, and Caspian’s Terns, as well as a few Forster’s Terns: another Lifer!!

For our last stop of the day, we decided to give our bud Gary a call and meet him in Mountain Home. We saw tons of sweet birds at the reservoir, including many of the species we’d seen at Indian Creek plus a few more. We were able to find a pair of Red-necked Phalaropes, as well as a sneaky female Blue-winged Teal…more lifers!!! We stayed at the reservoir until sunset, when we were able to see a calling Burrowing Owl silhouetted on a fence post (a Heidi year bird, heehee!) AND just as we were heading back to the vehicles, we were able to spot a Long-eared Owl flying overhead! It was awesome to watch him swoop around, and from where Jay was standing he could even see the brown facial disks!

It was pretty sweet to see that dude in flight like that….what a great way to end a great (10-lifer!) day with friends!

'South Hills' Crossbills!

2009-05-05T18:07:00.001-06:00

On Friday, May 1 I had the opportunity to join several US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) colleagues on a field trip to the South Hills (south of the Twin Falls area) in search of an endemic population (species?) of crossbill - the 'South Hills' Crossbill (see http://www.uwyo.edu/benkman/ then hit 'publications', then select the 3rd article down, entitled, "A new species of red crossbill (Fringillidae: Loxia) from Idaho."). My partners in crime were all USFWS employees in town for a meeting all week, including Terry Rich (national Partners in Flight coordinator - based in Boise), Stephanie Jones (Denver, CO), Mike Green (Portland, OR), Dave Krueper (Albuquerque, NM), Steve Lewis (Minnesota), and Mark Seamans (Laurel, MD). I've known Terry, Stephanie, Mike, and Dave for years and I was glad to get an opportunity to spend more time with them but I also enjoyed getting to meet Steve and Mark - all were fun birding companions.

Our first stop was Diamondfield Jack - a site that crossbill researcher Craig Benkman (who will be the banquet speaker when the Western Field Ornithologist's meeting is in Boise this fall - http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org/conference.php) had suggested to Terry. We arrived to snow flurries that got a little heavier ... We split up & spread out a bit and, despite the elevation & weather, the site was pretty birdy. We soon heard a Fox Sparrow (year bird for me!) belting it out in the distance and then Mike spotted an adult Northern Goshawk that blew by us while we were admiring a Red-naped Sapsucker. Then, Mark, Dave, & Terry started whistling & waving their arms and we figured we better run ... They'd heard some crossbills! Soon after we all arrived on the scene, 5 crossbills obliged and flew out over us calling (though tough to put into words, to those of us with some experience hearing Red Crossbills in a variety of areas, these call notes sounded noticeably longer and less 'voicy' than other crossbills) and proceeded to land in the top of a Lodgepole Pine not too far from the parking area. I pulled out my scope and we enjoyed decent views of both males & females (only got pics of a cooperative female) as they were feeding on the pine branches.

A female 'South Hills' Crossbill in a Lodgepole Pine - these are best distinguished by voice (well, and range since they breed only in the South Hills and Albion Mountains) but the bill is a little longer and deeper than most Red Crossbills

Here's the crew taking a closer look ...

Another view of the same female 'South Hills' Crossbill

Victorious! Happy USFWS biologists after seeing their first 'South Hills' Crossbills - from left: Dave, Terry (giving a celebratory 'whoop'?), Mike, Stephanie, Mark, and Steve

After enjoying the crossbills, we birded a bit more in that area (enjoyed fleeting views of a male Williamson's Sapsucker) before working our way back down Rock Cr Rd and trying (mostly in vain) to find some newly-arrived migrants.

Mark, Steve, Stephanie, and Terry trying hard to find some migrants along Rock Creek Rd

We made a few other stops en route, including along the Snake River in Buhl and -briefly as I had a soccer game to get to ;-) - at Mountain Home Reservoir and were able to see/hear several year birds, including a singing Yellow Warbler, several Least Sandpipers, and Black-necked Stilts. I also enjoyed a pair of Gray Partridge - if only b/c this species is still eluding Heidi (wouldn't be a lifer for her so I won't feel bad if she misses it!)!!

All in all, a great day as I really enjoyed conversations with Dave & Mike in the car and also appreciated the opportunity to observe a unique bird taxa (forecasted to be upgraded to full species status with the next revision of the American Ornithologist's Union checklist) that is endemic to Idaho!

Cheers,

Jay

Camas Prairie-Centennial Marsh Fieldtrip

2009-05-02T20:30:00.009-06:00

This Saturday, I went out on the last of my Ornithology class fieldtrips in hopes of finding some ‘charadriiformes’ at Centennial Marsh, and any other bodies of water we could find along the way. We were met in the morning with a downpour (okay, for Idaho standards at least-a record 0.5"!) so at least water was not hard to come by during our trip!
We tried Indian Creek reservoir first, but the roads were too sloppy for our 16 passenger vans. So next, we headed to Mountain Home reservoir, where there were plenty of our shorebird friends. One of the first birds we saw upon arriving was a couple of Black-necked Stilts….a Lifer! (It’s a good thing my classmates are also fellow bird geeks… since Heidi--ever the sucker for birdie cuteness--was getting just a little excited over these guys :) But, my nerdiness was well-matched within the group as there were quite a few mumbles of “hmmm, let’s see now, these are charadriiformes… charadrii…family….recurvirostridae?” yes, we have a lab test on Tuesday. Woohoo! At the reservoir we also saw some Cinnamon Teal, Shovelers, Bufflehead, 2 Western Grebes that were 'neck-bobbing', and 3 Eared Grebes.
At another spot on the reservoir, we saw some other cool birds, including some great views of Avocets and about 6 Long-billed Dowitchers! Another lifer!
At some ponds on a dirt road off the highway, we spotted a Swainson's Hawk pair, and lots of waterfowl including: Redheads, Shovelers, Scaup, Ring-neck Ducks, Canvasbacks, Pintail, and Cinnamon Teal. Oh, and it was still raining at this stop as well, and here’s a photo of the result:

Contrary to appearances, this is NOT a BSU van and it is NOT stuck horribly in the mud :D

This photo was taken by Ornithology class member and fellow blogger Rob Miller. Thanks Rob!

At another stop along the highway, we were able to spot some spinning Wilson’s Phalaropes in what else, but a sewage pond! :) Another cute Lifer!
We continued our trip, and ended up at Centennial Marsh (yes, these roads actually weren’t that bad! Except when a certain van #2 tried to go over a hill…but that’s another story) We saw tons of Shovelers here, as well as some beautiful Cinnamon Teal and gazillions of Red-wing, Brewer’s, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds.

Some Shovelers and Teal: out on a double-date
Another photo by Rob Miller

At one of the super puddles in the marsh, we saw TONS of Avocets, a few Stilts, and more (10+) Phalaropes! It was awesome, and overwhelming with so many of my new lifer species! At that spot we also saw tons of Kestrels (a pair in almost every box!) and a mixed flock with 4 swallow species: Tree, Cliff, Barn, and Rough-winged! perfectly posed for great comparison looks on the fence wires.

A cute Avocet and a cute and super-teeny female phalarope
another Rob photo

On the sloppy road out, we also saw two more lifers: a Willet and two Marbled Godwits! Here’s some pics of them by Rob! Dude, the Charadriiformes at Centennial Marsh are awesome!

One of the Marbled Godwits

A Willet…does their name make them even more full of cuteness? I think so.
Photo taken on Rob’s camera (after being handed to the ‘good’ side of the van) by classmate/photographer/van-driver John :)

An outing to the Snake with the Carlsons & Co

2009-05-01T10:30:00.001-06:00

Last year, Kecia won the bidding at the Bald Eagle Days fundraiser for 'A Birding Day with Jay' as a gift for her husband, Dave, and Saturday, April 11 was the day (little did she know what she was getting herself into ;-). I know what you might be thinking - NO, I didn't take them to the dump, a cemetary, a feedlot, or a sewage treatment plant.... Dave & I had communicated about the details and, after seeing the blog, they decided that having Heidi along would be fun. Dave & Kecia also brought along Dave's dad Arnold (from Boston), Dave's brother-in-law Brian, and a friend Terri. Unfortunately for Terri, she took all the pictures shown here so she's MIA in all of them :-(.

We met up and piled into 2 cars - ladies vs. guys (I wonder if Kecia & Terri had already planned that part out ;-) and headed on down towards Dedication Point and Swan Falls dam. I enjoyed chatting with the dudes but the chats were often interrupted b/c we were seeing A LOT of raptors along Swan Falls Rd - including some newly-returned Swainson's Hawks playing house, more Rough-legged Hawks than I expected for mid-April (at least 4 or 5), several Ferruginous (including one very close to the road on the ground - Heidi's best look ever! - that the guys car drove right by - oops :), Red-tails, Prairie Falcons, a Golden Eagle, and several N Harriers. We also saw a Cooper's Hawk just before dropping into the canyon. Everyone was enjoying the great looks at raptors and I was particularly impressed with Dave's knack for IDing the raptors (I think the Rough-legs might have been a favorite).

As we began down the trail to Dedication Point, we saw a raven in hot pursuit of a Prairie Falcon that was carrying a small (or part of a) ground squirrel. I think we were all surprised when the raven appeared to hit the falcon (or at least came very close) and then swooped down to snatch up the morsel that the falcon had dropped!! We lingered a bit at Dedication Point and enjoyed a singing Say's Phoebe, many White-throated Swift fly-bys, and - of course - some nice views-from-above of raptors (though less raptor activity than a few weeks before). We also ran into Denise Hughes (very friendly Caldwell birder) who informed us that SIBA (southwestern Idaho birders association) was also having a field trip to the area and she was trying to catch up with them!

Most of the gang (David, Jay, Kecia, Heidi, & Brian) @ Dedication Point enjoying the tower-buzzing White-throated Swifts

Lunchtime! A gourmet picnic spread being enjoyed by Kecia & Arnold.

We wound down to Swan Falls dam and the Carlson crowd pulled out a seriously gourmet lunch that included the best pasta salad I can remember eating, fresh fruit, brownies, and much more (was that champaigne that I saw?). I think it was the brownies but, one-by-one, members of the SIBA crowd started wandering over to see who had brought such a spread! (They claim to have actually just finished lunch and not be hungry - but I didn't eat that many brownies!) And we soon spotted the double-trouble that is RL Rowland and Mark Collie ;-) These guys had spent the AM there and gave us some hot tips and, among other fun birds, we soon found a Clark's Grebe on the river and a Red-naped Sapsucker actively foraging in a cottonwood.

A Clark's Grebe on the Snake River - our first of the year!

Watching the Red-naped Sapsucker (Mark Collie at left; RL Rowland @ right)

As we packed up to head for Boise, I asked if folks wanted to switch up who was riding in which car but Kecia and Terri would have none of it - they wanted to keep Heidi for themselves! (I heard something about scheming to come up with some little-known birding facts they could later impress dinner guests with but maybe the birding battle of the sexes had something to do with it?). Not sure but I tried not to be too hurt that Kecia & Terri were so averse to me riding with them!!

In all seriousness, it was a really fun outing and I enjoyed meeting all of them (and hope to see them during fall migration at Lucky Peak). Thanks to the Carlson's & friends for the fun day and great spread!

Jay

Sharp-tails and Silliness

2009-04-26T22:54:00.019-06:00

ahhhh, the weekend: no school, no work, sleeping in....'till 3:30AM :)

Jay and I, along with our good birding buddies Louie and Ileana had the idea of getting up early this Sunday to go in search of some lekking Sharp-tailed Grouse. We were all excited to get out and bird, but somehow it didn’t seem like such a good idea when we were meeting up in Meridian at 4:45.
We hit the highway (caffeine in hand) and headed out toward Weiser where we’d been told about a Sharp-tail lek that was located on some private property in the area. In exchange for the info from the biologists at Fish and Game, Jay had offered to check out a lek that hadn’t been surveyed for a few years because of road conditions. We were hopeful that we’d see at least a few birds, but kept in mind that it could be a ‘wild grouse chase’. We arrived to the area just as the sun was coming up, and from the car we were able to spot a displaying male Greater Sage Grouse! Not what we were looking for, but still cool. We quietly got out of the car (climbing through to the far door so we wouldn’t scare the birds) and we started to hear some funny noises that weren’t like the “buh-wump” sounds coming from the Sage Grouse. Soon, we spotted a Sharp-tail dancing very close to the sage grouse! We kept listening and realized that the sounds were coming from all over the place in front of us. A few times the Sharp-tail’s leapt into the air during their dancing and we were able to count at least six. We pulled the car a little closer and continued to watch. We had some sweet views of the dancing males, and got to listen to all their funny noises and feet stamping. (there were certain people commenting on all the 'nice tail' we were seeing...but I don't know who that could be) As the sun came over the hill we could really see their yellow eyebrows and the purple on their throats. (I loved their fuzzy white tails and their cute little wind-up toy actions!) They’re so funny! Also this whole time, the big dorky Sage Grouse continued to go at it…boy was he confused! A few times, one of the male ST’s faced off with the sage, and actually scared him! After a while of watching them, the whole flock got up and flew up the hillside, and there were WAY more than 6 birds! We were able to count 20 birds in flight, and they soon returned to give us even closer looks! These were LIFERS for Louie and Ileana, and while I’d seen a ST in flight over spring break, this was definitely the sighting I’ll remember! Sweet!

A dancing male Sharp-tail! check out that purple!

photo by Ileana!

Louie and Ileana scoping out the ST's

We left the grouse to do their thing, and headed down the road. We needed to get back on time for Jay’s soccer game (and for naps for the rest of us!), and there were still plenty of places we wanted to get to, so we tried to limit our stops along the way…but of course we had to stop for all the ‘dinky birds’ (as Louie calls them). And we weren’t disappointed! We saw and heard lots of Spotted Towhees, White-crowned Sparrows, a few Lincoln’s and Savannah Sparrows, some Brown-headed Cowbirds, a Red-naped Sapsucker, and singing Rock and House Wrens. But the real treats were a singing Nashville Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, and a Dusky Flycatcher! Welcome back guys! We also saw plenty of other signs of spring along the road: lots of nests of both hawks and owls.

After birding the road to the lek, we decided to check out Mann Creek Reservoir. On the way there we got to stop to check out a pair of Long-billed Curlews, and Ileana got some more great photos!

The female Curlew - photo by Ileana

At a place called "Devil's Elbow" along the highway, and also at the reservoir, we checked out the birds on the water which included, sadly, tons of Ruddy Ducks! (A species that Jay didn't have on his yearlist yet...shoot!) We then birded in the day-use area near the N end of Mann Creek. Along with a large flock of Yellow-rumps, we were able to find yet another Nashville Warbler and a few more Orange Crowns. Cute!

the Nashville Warbler - Another great photo by Ileana!

While at this stop, 'the boys' obviously had a bit too much energy because while watching the warblers, Ileana and I turned around to see two 'sharp-tailed grouse' facing off in front of us (Jay here: Um, I think we were encouraged - at least by Ileana, who wanted to see her man strut his stuff; i.e., we didn't just start this behavior on our own). They encouraged us to join in, but (in what I'd consider true female sharp-tailed fashion) we refused, and simply laughed and rolled our eyes at these two dorks...oh, and snapped a few pictures too :D

A classic sharp-tail face off between Jay and Louie.
Including Louie's great imitation of a grouse's leaping abilities
Photo by Ileana :)

Still giggling, we hopped in the car, headed up the road, and stopped at a small pond. There were tons of Rough-winged Swallows and a few Bank's mixed in, along with some singing Yellow-headed Blackbirds. We stopped to watch these guys for a while, while I tried to pick out the Bank Swallows in the mix (agh, that's tough!) Soon Jay spotted something different, and it turned out to be a Vaux's swift! (Lifer!) he was really cool to see, zipping around on those long pointy wings.

To finish up our day, we headed to the New Plymouth sewage ponds. (because what birding day would be complete without a stop at at least one sewage pond, cemetery, or landfill?) There were lots of waterfowl, including some baby Canada Geese, tons more Ruddy Ducks, some Scaup, Redheads, and a new yearbird: an Eared Grebe! (I've never seen them in breeding plumage before, so that was cool) After scoping for a while, we decided it was time to pack up and head for home...we were tired!!

Ileana took so many great pictures that I've put some extra ones into an album for you to check out here !

CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR!!!

2009-04-25T20:25:00.001-06:00

Today I headed out to some BLM lands N of Middleton, ID to do some territory-mapping of Long-billed Curlews (a study I am working on in cooperation with Idaho Dept of Fish & Game and the Bureau of Land Management). On the way, I picked up Emily Carson - a student at Boise State Univ. who needed to fulfill some hours of 'shadowing' a biologist for a Biology class (and she chose to do something other than the fish hatchery that most other students were visiting - good choice, right? ;-).

A view through BLM grasslands (prime Long-billed Curlew habitat) to Middleton

As we were on our way between curlew territories, I stopped to point out some American Pipits that were calling and feeding in some short grass. As soon as I pointed them out, no pipits were visible (figures, huh?). But Emily soon said, "Oh, like that one?" and I looked to see a 'non-pipit' only about 30' away and soon many neurons were firing all at once! Naked eye I thought I knew what I was seeing but, as I brought my binoculars up, my brain tried to rationalize it to an especially colorful Horned Lark .... then I saw it through binoculars and confirmed my suspicion...

... A male Chestnut-collared Longspur!!! ... (one of only a few reports for the state)

.... that was out of its normal range. I think Emily might have started worrying about the mental sanity of this biologist she was shadowing as I got excited (actually, she was pretty excited too :-). Knowing this was a real rarity for Idaho, I quickly started getting into 'rare bird report' mode and started going through features with her to ensure she saw some of the key features to help 'back me up' in case I couldn't get any photos. After we'd studied it for a few moments, I said, "PLEASE don't let this bird fly away!" and ran off to the truck to grab my scope & camera. In the last week I had seen American Pipits feeding in and migrating N over the grasslands so I knew the flock might get up & keep moving at any moment. I returned and the pipits and longspur were still feeding in the same general area and I alternated between snapping my usual crummy pictures (digital camera held up to the scope on a breezy day by an excited birder;-), studying the bird, and giving Emily looks at the longpur and the pipits. While we watched (~ 20 min), we heard it call a few times and it sang 2x.

Here are a couple more shots of the bird:

Look at that chestnut collar!

Here's the longspur with a pipit in the foreground ...

Here's Emily, content knowing she'd just found me a very unusual bird (the longspur was actually walking around behind her right shoulder as I snapped this pic!)

After we enjoyed the birds for a while, I decided that maybe we oughta get back to work and actually watch some curlews! We didn't go far before we got into the middle of a very active curlew area (we saw interactions between birds from as many as 7 territories!) and were able to get some important observations of one pair (see below) that may have only recently 'found each other' (i.e., behind schedule relative to other birds) as we eventually saw the male scraping/picking at a potential nest site and 'cooing' to the female to come check it out.

Here's the male curlew posed over a potential nest site and the female (finally - he was trying to get her over there for a while ;-) moseying over to check it out. Notice how much longer her bill is.

As I admitted to Emily (after seeing the longspur), my first choice would have been sleeping in this AM as its been a very hectic few weeks BUT the longspur was a great reward and we got some valuable curlew data. I told Emily she should come back out and see if she can bring more luck! (actually, she still needs some more hours of 'shadowing' so she'll likely join me & the curlew crew next week sometime ....)

Cheers,

Jay

Heidi's weekend of birding!

2009-04-19T20:57:00.007-06:00

No that’s not a type-o, I didn’t forget to include his name…I actually went birding without Jay for once!! (he was gone to a conference in BC...oh darn, no Idaho birds for Jay this week! :D)

My family and I spent the weekend in McCall with friends, so of course I took the opportunity to do just a little bit of birding :)
Friday evening we arrived just in time for dark, so after dinner the only birding I could do was owling. I headed up to Bear Basin with ‘the fam’ to listen for owls (and of course I was hoping for a Great Gray) but we were all kindof surprised when a Saw-whet responded to us! I’d heard one for a short time once before at IBO, but it was really cool to hear this little guy go on and on, and my family thought it was pretty sweet too! Not a bad start to the weekend. :)

Saturday morning, while my parents and our friends were prepping for a tasty breakfast (and my teenage brothers were still snoozing away) I downed a cup of coffee and headed outside. In the trees around the cabin I found plenty of BC and MO Chickadees, Red and White-breasted Nuthatches, Siskins, Flickers, Cassin’s Finches, and Red Crossbills (including my first ever singing male!).

After breakfast I called up a fellow birder Bobbi Cross who was in McCall for the weekend with her husband Dean. I learned that Cheryl Huizinga was also in town, and we soon made plans to meet at the Cross’ cabin to check out some Pygmy Nuthatches. I brought my parents and my youngest brother Isaac along (because who can resist an adorable nuthatch?) and we arrived to see the trio of birders bunched around Cheryl’s scope. In an aspen tree in their front yard were two Pygmy Nuthatches excavating a nest cavity! (Lifer!!) They were both taking turns hopping inside the cavity, and we could see their little heads pop out with beak-fulls of wood splinters that they would toss out their door. They were busy! And sooooo cute!!

Hanging out with the Pygmy Nuthatches (that's their tree behind Bobbi's head)

Me, Bobbi, Dean and Cheryl!

After enjoying the nuthatches, Bobbi and Dean offered to take me around the area and show me where they had seen a Williamson’s Sapsucker. We didn’t find the ‘sucker, but I had a bunch of fun with these two driving around the back roads. We probably saw about 15 snipe in one field….the most I’ve ever seen at once!

After parting ways with the Cross’s I headed back to town for a snack of ice cream, and then absconded with the family car to head towards the Ponderosa state park area. I saw and heard a gazillion RB and Pygmy Nuthatches (yay!), more singing Red Crossbills, both chickadees, a RC Kinglet, and nutcrackers. Out over the lake, I saw an adult Bald Eagle flying with both a Raven and an Osprey chasing him at the same time! nice! After that adventure it was time for me to return to family and friends for the night.
After striking out on the sapsucker the day before, I decided to head out to check out the area again at 8:30 the next morning. Since we were leaving that day I had the deadline of having the car returned for loading at 10:00. I saw lots of snipe and violet-green swallows on the way out, and stopped to watch a pair of Red-tails before making it out to the power poles where the sucker had been. It didn’t take me long to hear the ‘bouncy-ball’ drumming, but it was far away into the trees! (with a fence and deep snow between us) I continued to hear some pretty distant drumming from both sides of the road for about an hour, but it never got any closer. (while I was listening though, I also heard a Screech-owl…year bird!) It was 10:15 (yes, I called my dad for an extension on the 10:00 deadline…good thing he understands how important a Lifer is!! :) when I decided to head back. I drove down to a wide place in the road to turn around, and after driving past a power pole or two, I saw a little sapsucker scoot around to the other side! I got out of the car and stood listening to the drumming coming from the other side of the pole, and then a little brown head appeared. Yes, a brown head…it was the female Williamson’s! I got to watch her drumming for about 20 seconds before she flew off to a farther grove of trees. Lifer!! I thought it was weird that the female had been drumming (though it did explain why I heard drumming from both sides of the road and didn’t see anything fly across) but when I got home and looked it up, I found that females actually will participate in territorial drumming too. Cool! And thanks to Bobbi and Dean for showing me the spot!!!
On the way home we decide to stop at Cascade Reservoir to check out the water birds. In a puddle on the side of the road we stopped to watch a snipe taking a very energetic bath! He was lots of fun, and turned out to be my brother Isaac’s favorite part of the trip! On the water (courtesy of Jay’s scope :) we also saw some neat birds like Green-winged Teal, 3 Trumpeter (?) Swans, Pintail, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, and my favorite, Ruddy Ducks, including 4 males swimming in a row. It was fun to show my family all these birds!
It was a great weekend with lots of cool birds! (including a few that helped me close the gap in the year lists!...well at least until Jay got back to Idaho and into the field) Not to mention 2 sweet lifers!
~Heidi

Gulls

2009-04-11T23:56:00.003-06:00

Here's some of what we did last week.
sorry to keep you in suspense so long...I know you all were dying to hear what we did, after the 'hint' posted last weekend :)

We’re still waiting on some photos from the first half of our day that Saturday, so Jay will be posting later, but for now I will tell you about the last part of our day.

We went to Pickle’s Butte landfill! (Yeah, that’s what the picture’s of in the previous post. Sweet huh?) There were tons of gulls as usual, and among them, our friend the Lesser Black-backed gull! We first spotted an adult Lesser Black-backed (a different bird than the 3rd winter we’d seen at both pickles and hidden hollow landfills) Cool! Then later, while Jay was scanning the flock, I was watching some gulls zipping around fighting over some garbage (yummy!). I was about to ask Jay about the juvie flying in the group, when I noticed one of the birds was a Lesser Black-backed… BUT he was the 3rd winter bird! So there were two different LBBG’s there! That day we also spotted a likely adult Thayer’s gull, with awesome pink legs :)

CAUGHT!

(you've already seen the incriminating photos of Heidi enjoying herself at the dump, so it’s only right that I now return the favor, dont-cha think?)

The adult Thayer's with Crayola 'tickle-me-pink' colored legs :)

The adult LBBG! you can really see its yellow eyes

That's it for now! keep checking for Jay's post about the rest of that Saturday (4/11), and also my upcoming post about this most recent weekend (the competition has taken a turn! :)

~Heidi

okay...

2009-04-11T21:09:00.006-06:00

...so where'd Jay and Heidi go this weekend??
A post'll be coming later, but here's a hint...

Garden Valley Birding

2009-04-04T18:52:00.006-06:00

Howdy everyone!
Just got back from another of our Saturday birding excursions! (but don't worry, this post will be much shorter than our last ones!! :)
We wanted to go for a more subdued day of birding today after a crazy week for the both of us (how long till school's out?) so we decided to head up to Garden Valley.
At a bridge over the river on the way up, we stopped to look for American Dippers, and found 'em! woohoo! a Heidi year bird! (uh oh, that means Heidi is catchin' up!) it was fun for me because this is the first time I've heard them since I really started paying attention to bird calls :) Dippers are sweet!
In Garden Valley we met up with a birding buddy, Spencer Walters, who was awesome enough to show us around today!! We searched for White-headed Woodpeckers, and ended up stopping by Michael Wiegand's house (thanks Michael!) to look for them. While there, we had a fun time hangin' out, and had some torturous 'listens' of the White-head's and a White-breasted Nuthatch. But with an adorable toddler, some goofy dogs, and tons of Red Crossbills around, we certainly weren't bored! :) Finally after a few hours of hanging around, we were able to see a male White-headed Woodpecker on the suet feeder! yay, Lifer!!

Waiting for the woodpecker to show up!
Our awesome hosts Michael & Serena, Heidi, Spencer "The Guide", and one of the dogs :)

The White-headed Woodpecker! he finally showed up!!

Before heading home, we stopped for a quick visit to Ralph and Sheri Foote's house, where we were able to see lots of birds! It was cool to see a single pine tree full of all the colors: yellow, orange, and red Red Crossbills, Cassin's Finches, Goldfinches, and some awesome male Evening Grosbeaks! I'd never had a close view of those guys before, so that was pretty sweet :) thanks guys!
all in all, a fun day with some super fun birders!

Just a few of the Siskins and Crossbills at the Foote's house

Road Trip to Eastern Idaho .... Day 3

2009-04-02T08:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday AM: After the long snow-shoe earlier and then the success with the Boreal Owls on Friday night, we were all partly buzzing with excitement and partly dead-tired. Thus, when the discussion turned to, "what are we doing on the way back tomorrow?", we struggled to decide between sleeping in (lazy but good for you) and waking up way too early to hope that one or more Sharp-tailed Grouse might have just enough hormones surging to make an early appearance at a lek we had directions to on the Sand Creek WMA (which, unfortunately, I am not allowed to give out - but I do highly recommend the Dubois Grouse Days coming up on Apr 17-18 which would give a chance to see these guys and Greater Sage-grouse!). In the end, Heidi's argument of, "we're already over here so we should, right?" won out even though I think we were both a little skeptical as we got into the car at 545am to make the hour+ drive in the dark on too little sleep ("adios & thanks again, Cliff & Lisa!!"). Apparently Sharp-tails begin their lekking behavior 2-3 weeks later in the spring than the Sage-grouse and the helpful WMA manager I spoke to didn't have a lot of hope that we'd have success so ...

We arrived after dawn but before sunrise and didn't see much going on ... we eventually got out of the car (I was told the lek was far enough away that this wouldn't disturb the birds) in order to listen better. It took a while but we finally started hearing an odd and very distant hoo-ing and a few other strange sounds that sounded familiar (I've seen these guys on leks a few times before, especially in South Dakota) BUT we couldn't see any birds. Soon we had a couple of flyover Common Redpolls (first of the year and a would-be lifer for Heidi) but the lighting was poor and there wasn't much to see. Thus, here we were with two potential life birds for Heidi but neither giving good looks :(. Soon enough we heard some wing flapping in a different direction and a Sharp-tail got up and flew across in the distance in front of us (and another redpoll fly-by around the same time)!! The cool breeze and lack of further activity led us back to the car ... (I hope you've all realized by now that when Jay says 'cool breeze' it means that Heidi is freezing her butt off!--similar to when he says "DUDE, it's hot!" and Heidi barely thinks about taking her coat off :)

After our first stop of the morning with some not-too-satisfying looks at redpolls, it was off to try and find some hot breakfast and coffee in the teeny town of St. Anthony. While grabbing some food at a Subway, we planned our next stop. We decided to head out on nearby Sand Creek Road to see if we could find any more grouse. Driving the road, we saw some fun birds including cool raptors like Rough-legged and Red-tailed Hawks, Harriers, and Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend’s Solitaires, Red Crossbills, and W. Meadowlarks. The coolest part, though, came when we were standing outside the car to listen for more grouse. A flock of finchy birds flew over us, and by now the sounds were somewhat familiar…they were Common Redpolls!!! Lifer #8!! We were able to watch this flock of about 25 birds for more than an hour while they fed on the ground in the sagebrush. Jay was slowly being driven nuts with the fleeting glimpses of some shorter-billed birds that we were getting (we were of course hoping for some Hoary Redpolls to be in the mix) but I was pretty content to just watch these adorable little birds! They would stay and eat on the ground very near to where we were standing, and then all at once they would get up and fly a few feet away and settle back down. It was fun to listen to their calls and watch them land on the sage and the barbwire fence before going back to the ground for their breakfast. They were SO cute when they would sit all puffed up and look towards us with the stern looking black markings on their little faces!…yes, I am unashamedly in love with redpolls :)

A little female Common Redpoll on the sage

Once I got my fill of studying & enjoying the redpolls (it had been a while since I'd seen a big group of these guys), we decided we oughta head for Boise and chose to try the northern route with the hope of a stray Gyrfalcon or other fun birds. We saw loads of raptors along hwy 33 between Rexburg and Howe, mostly Rough-legs but some Red-tails and Ferruginous mixed in ... and one biggish female Prairie Falcon that made me stop for a 2nd look!

We continued down the highway, still seeing plenty of raptors, when Jay once again put on his ‘birder brakes’, and I instinctively looked for the nearest power pole for another raptor quiz…but this time it was a Northern Shrike! I’d only seen one before, and from kind of far away, so I was pretty excited! It was an immature bird, and it was cool this time that I was able to see the thinner eye line and the faint barring on the chest. Jay left me to continue scoping the bird, and I was only half listening to the sparrowy noises coming from the roadside when something unfamiliar hopped up next to the shrike! I said something like, “woah! Jay get over here it’s a new sparrow!!” It was interesting enough that this bird had just landed on the same bush as one of its mortal enemies, but even cooler that it was a Sage Sparrow! Lifer #9!! (Whew! Jay confirmed that I had actually guessed right that it was a Sage Sparrow!) We followed this guy a little ways and were able to find another Sage Sparrow too. They were fun to watch running around on the ground with their flippy little tails in the air but we waited in vain to hear one sing....

After a 'Lifer hi-five', we looked back to the perch where one of the sparrows had just been, but saw something bigger sitting in its place. I couldn’t see what it was, but when Jay got the scope on it, we both couldn’t help but laugh. It was a Sage Thrasher! Another Lifer!!! (#10, if you’re still counting) It was cool that both these summertime birds were already back, even though it was still pretty cold! We enjoyed these birds for a little longer, and were both cracking up at my crazy good luck as we headed back to the car. (seriously, 2 lifers on the same perch ... & 30 seconds apart!)

We pressed on, heading for home and Jay’s soccer game that he was hoping to make (yeah, he wasn’t tired enough after getting up at 5:30AM to go grousing ;) We made a short stop at the Craters of the Moon visitor center, and had the chance to see a 'Pink-sided' Junco and a ‘Canadian Rockies’ Junco (according to Sibley) mixed in with the regular Oregon Juncos.

As we got near the Silver Creek preserve area in Blaine Co, we both took note of a raptor on a powerline all hunched over. I'd been quizzing Heidi on raptor ID (and many other birds too - after all, she is training for standardized counts this summer ;-) all along and was impressed, especially given the poor view we'd had, that she had the same thought as I did (Osprey), but I wasn't really expecting one yet up this high. We turned around just in case and, sure enough, there was an Osprey with a recently-caught fish. We said, 'Welcome back, dude!' and pressed on ....

As we neared Fairfield, the snow was becoming much deeper in the fields along the road, and we were commenting on how we had missed the Snow Buntings when we had visited this area on our Sun Valley trip in Feb. Then we started noticing more Horned Larks on the roadside. We soon pulled over when we saw a flock of more than 50 larks, and decided to drive down the side road to get a better look at the flock. The farther down the road we went, the more larks we saw, and we ended up counting about 400 of them! Scanning through one of the groups, it didn’t take long for Jay to spot her…a Snow Bunting!! Woohoo!! Lifer #11 for the trip! She was much more faded than we had expected, with gray and white on her body, and only a little orangey-brown on her head; and she still had the lighter winter-colored bill. I guess it makes sense that she’d almost be in breeding plumage by this time of year. While I was watching her, she started rubbing her head in the snow, and took a sort of ‘snow bath’. How cute!! It was another fun surprise bird that we were not expecting to still be here!

We rolled into town around 7 and I dropped Heidi off with her 'happy-to-see-her' family and raced off to try to catch whatever I could of my game (I'll have you know, I actually drove very responsibly, TY very much!) but arrived just as the first half was ending. I suited up and did my best - we lost :( - believe it or not, it actually felt good to run around after the long car ride ... but the combo of sunburn from our long snow-shoe trip, too little sleep, and soccer made me a zombie for the rest of the weekend! Time to get some sleep!

Until next time .....

Road Trip to Eastern Idaho .... Day 2

2009-04-01T11:00:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it from yesterday's post about "Day 1", Heidi's part of the post is in blue, and Jay's part is in red

Friday AM: After a long day of birding and a late night of owling I was happy to crash on the couch by the warm wood stove! And just as Cliff and Lisa had predicted, I woke up in the morning and looked out the window to see 4 birds below the feeder. Without even getting out of bed, I had my first lifer of the day: Pine Grosbeaks!! trip lifer #5! including 2 beautiful males! (no…I’m not a spoiled birder at all! ;) hmmmm?

After a relaxed AM of coffee, gourmet breakfast, and good conversation, Cliff was up for some exploring with us so we decided to ski/snowshoe 2.5 miles back from the road into an area of forest that had burned last summer in the hopes of finding Three-toed or Black-backed Woodpeckers.

Cliff & Heidi on the snow

Cliff & Jay on the trail

After a long & invigorating stroll in, we finally arrived at the burn and soon started to see sign of the target woodpecker species, who often 'flake away' the bark while foraging as shown on the burned tree below. Amazingly, these species (maybe especially Black-backs) often move into burns almost immediately after the fires sputter out to take advantage of the increase in insect larvae (especially beetles that specialize on dying/burned trees). But, Heidi's luck had run out for the moment for, though we saw sign of these woodpeckers (including poo stuck to the sides of the trees! yeah, sweet, I know...) almost everywhere, the only one we could find was a Hairy Woodpecker (though not as reliant on burns, another species that tends to increase after a fire).

Burned tree showing the characteristic 'flaking' of bark often caused by the foraging of Three-toed or Black-backed Woodpeckers.

On the way back we were rewarded with a pair of Gray Jays (another Heidi lifer!) that flew across the trail ahead of us ... once we caught up to them, we thought we'd heard something like a Pygmy-owl in the background so I did my best imitation of their trilling call (which is passable but not great). I hadn't even finished when one of the jays kicked in with its own imitation ... and one much better than mine! Made me laugh outloud and I struggled to keep whistling .... ;-). A Clark's Nutcracker even came in to check things out. As usual, the jays were very curious and stuck around for a while.

During the day we were also lucky enough to find some fresh tracks of this Ruffed Grouse that we tracked to its day roost in a Lodgepole Pine!

We got back from snowshoeing just in time to eat dinner and head back out to visit the Boreal Owl nest cavity. It wasn’t very dark yet, and just as we were posing for Jay to take a picture of the owl voyeurs, Cliff spotted an owl fly through a clearing in the trees. We stood quietly and pretty soon we heard the male start calling from behind us! The night before we hadn’t heard any of his ‘real’ calls, so this was really neat! Then, after calling a few times behind us, he flew right over our heads and landed in a tree near the nest cavity! My first view of a Boreal Owl!! He sat there for a while and then swooped to the cavity. At first we thought he had gone inside, but when we looked with our binoculars we could barely make out his shape clinging to the outside of the tree. He ducked into the cavity, and then the hole in the side of the tree disappeared….it was filled up with his cute little white face! He started calling to the female, and we could see his face pattern as he turned his head back and forth, looking in all different directions to broadcast his calls. He kept calling and calling, but I guess his girl was playing hard-to-get that night, because even with his irresistibly cute face poking out of what I’m sure was a quality nest cavity, she never answered him. Poor little guy! Hopefully it’s just all part of the springtime Boreal Owl ‘game’ and she’ll soon realize that he’s the one.

Lisa, Cliff, & Heidi just before the Boreal Owl action began!

ooo, how's that sunburn Heidi??

....... to be continued

Don't forget that Wednesday (today!!) is the day to send in your yearlist counts, and it's also the last day to vote in the handicap poll!!

Road Trip to Eastern Idaho .... Day 1

2009-03-31T11:58:00.001-06:00

This past week was spring break at BSU, so (mostly inspired by the fact that Cliff and Lisa were pretty sure they'd located a Boreal Owl cavity) Jay and I decided to head off on a road trip for eastern Idaho! While we planned to leave on Tuesday morning, the weather had other plans, and we ended up leaving on Thursday instead. It was killin' us to keep postponing our trip! Needless to say, by Thursday we were pretty excited to finally be on the road!

It was a busy three days, so we are splitting the blogging duties on this one. Heidi's sections will be written in blue, and Jay's sections will be in red. Read on if you dare!

Our final destination was Cliff and Lisa Weisse’s house in Island Park, ID but we had a few other birding stops planned on the way. One of our first stops was to Massacre Rock, where Louie & Ileana Quintana had reporting seeing Juniper Titmice on their way to Wyoming a few days earlier. It was windy, and pretty freakin’ cold, so I guess it wasn’t surprising that the titmice were nowhere to be seen. So, after a few minutes of shivering, we hopped back into the car and headed to American Falls reservoir.

We only spent about an hour there and scanned the river from three different locations: near the landfill (no we didn't actually study gulls there as the landfill material apparently isn't as 'scrumptious' as the fare at those bigger-city dumps ;-), at the cemetary (where we also looked/listened w/o success for Juniper Titmouse - now Heidi's all geeked about finding them!), and just below the dam. There were TONS of birds at this always-very-productive spot, including over 2500 gulls (mostly Ring-bills but a smattering of Californias plus a few Herring and 2+ Thayer's was all we could muster) and many waterfowl. We also enjoyed our first Tree Swallows of the year and Heidi was able to study Violet-green vs. Tree in side-by-side fashion! Other highlights here were some pelicans and a few RB Mergansers among the many other waterfowl.

After our stop at American Falls, we headed for Pocatello where a local bird nerd, Chuck Trost, had told us about a Northern Mockingbird that had been hanging around there (& Louie & Ileana had found the day before). After less than a minute of getting out of the car and walking along a hedgerow, we spotted him! He was easy to find, even for me, with those flashy black and white wings and tail. He gave us some good looks, but then headed deep into the bushes when we tried to take a photo of him. Heidi lifer #1 for this trip!

The camera-shy Pocatello mockingbird. You can see its pretty, light-colored eye

Next we headed to Idaho Falls, where we birded along the river and looked for the Long-tailed Duck that a birder friend Steve Butterworth had posted about on IBLE. After arriving at the spot Steve described, it didn’t take us long to spot the white head among all the Goldeneye that were along the river. Sweet! He was a beautiful male in winter plumage! Jay started to think I was getting spoiled with all this super-easy birding…two lifers, both found within 2 minutes of arriving at the spots! (but we hadn’t seen anything yet!)

Even though it was pretty windy, and getting windier, we decided to at least try to visit Market Lake to look for the Short-eared Owls. It was about 3 o’clock by this time, so we didn’t have very high expectations of seeing any owls. Just after getting to the marshy area, though, we spotted a bird soaring above the marshy areas. A Short-eared Owl! He flew around, and then landed on a nearby fence post to look around, where we were able to watch him for a while before he swooped down into the cattails. Lifer #3 (again, in less than 2 min!! I mean, seriously, who does that? ... and on 3 straight target birds in 1 day!). We took some time to walk one of the windrows in the area and (along with some moose poo) found a flock of waxwings, including 5 Bohemians! Those guys are always fun to see :)

While we were in the area, we also decided to make a quick trip through Sugar City ot look for redpolls; a species we'd been searching for all winter, but didn't have much hope of finding so late in the season. While we didn't find any redpolls, we were happy to discover a male Cassin's Finch in one of the neighborhoods. It wasn't a lifer for me, but it was the first good look I've had of one (besides a few fledglings in the hand at IBO) and I was glad that I was actually able to tell that he was not a male House Finch :)

We continued birding, and eventually made our way to Cliff and Lisa Weisse’s house in Island Park. After meeting their litter of adorable 3-week-old puppies and eating a quick dinner of Cliff’s tasty green curry, we headed out to listen for Boreal Owls. In their back yard (yeah, aren’t we all jealous?) we snowshoed out to where Cliff had found the Boreal’s nest cavity. We stood at a distance as it slowly got dark (and slowly got colder!) and waited for the owls to start calling. After an hour+ with only a few short calls back and forth between the male and female, we heard a strange call from the male, and then it was all quiet. Lifer #4!! We quietly walked back to the house…and learned that it isn't all that easy to snowshoe/ski in the dark! :) When we were far enough away from the nest, Cliff and Lisa explained that the last call we heard had been a ‘prey delivery’ from the male! Cliff explained that during courtship the male has to feed the female plenty of voles before she’ll stick around and nest. aww, how romantic! :)

We also listened for Great Gray Owls later that night, but only heard some Great Horned Owls over all the wind....... to be continued

Don't forget that Wednesday is the day to send in your yearlist counts, and it's also the last day to vote in the handicap poll!!

eBird pledge

2009-03-27T14:53:00.001-06:00

Thanks to encouragement from Charles Swift (Moscow, ID birder - and blog follower! - who has pledged a donation to IBO on a 'per eBird checklist we submit' basis), several weeks ago we started submitting checklists from all our birding outings to eBird (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/) to ensure that all the birding we do isn't just for our fun but that the information can be put to use by the folks at Cornell & Audubon (see the eBird website for further info) that are trained in utilizing data collected by citizen scientists. And, we encourage all birders to do the same - it's a cool tool that doesn't take long and, who knows, maybe the info Idaho birders generate will help in bird conservation!

Thanks, Charles, for the encouragement, creativity, and generosity!!

Jay

(and, we should take a moment to also thank the other folks who have already made pledges or donations to Idaho Bird Observatory - thank you!!)
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Below is the mapping tool in eBird showing locations where people have birded in Ada County, Idaho ... just a hint at the utility of eBird.

hurry and vote!

2009-03-26T07:00:00.003-06:00

Hey Guys!

Just wanted to post a message reminding you to vote on our 'handicap' poll if you havent already
(it's located on the side of this page)
The poll will close on April 1st, which means this week is your last chance to help decide the fate of this competition!
Do you think 20 species for Heidi's handicap doesnt give poor Jay a chance? or do you think Heidi and her birding skills need all the help they can get? You decide!

On a similar note, remember that April 1st is the day to send us your yearlist totals (current up to the birds you see on 3/31) along with your favorite Idaho sighting so far this year. We already have a few birders' lists posted from last month, but hope to continue to get more and more as the year moves on. So, send 'em in!
You can send your list totals and sightings to me at heidithebirdnerd@yahoo.com

~Heidi

MORE gulls!

2009-03-24T14:02:00.008-06:00

It's spring break for BSU this week, so you all know what that means.....

That's right! It was time for Heidi and Jay to head to the dump! :)

(what...that's not what you were thinking?)

I was already questioning my own sanity when I woke up this morning...but my doubts were reinforced when, on his way to work, my dad tactfully asked "um...didn't you already see all the gull species this weekend?" (...oh wait...does my family read this? heehee :) Hi daddy!)

ahhh, the dump! (is that Heidi driving that thing? ;-)

Anyway, this time we decided to try the Hidden Hollow landfill in Boise to see what it would turn up.
We got there around 9 this morning, and there were tons of gulls! There were mostly California's (~1600), but also plenty of Ring-billed's(~500). Interestingly, there were very few Herring gulls compared to Pickles Butte: less than 5 individuals, versus around 30 at pickles.

Within a minute of arriving, we spotted one of the cool gull species: Our friend, the Lesser Black-backed gull! He was out in a large group of gulls hanging out around some puddles. (wow, much easier to find than last time!)
This bird was a 3rd winter, so we aren't sure whether this is the same guy we saw on Saturday or not. But here's some of the pics we got today...what'cha think? is it the same dude?

The Lesser Black-backed gull! is he the same one we photographed on Saturday?

A new sub species? the LLLBBG (long-legged lesser black-backed gull)

Seeing what could possibly be the same LBB gull made us wonder how many of the birds from the Boise dump also travel over to Pickles butte. And if that's the case, it also made us wonder more about why there would be more Herrings at Pickles. hmmm...intriguing, eh?
so, only 4 gull species, including just one crazy migrant (gee, are we spoiled or what?) a pretty darn good trip to the dump!

We stayed at the landfill till around 11 (please note that that was only two hours!!), and then headed to a nearby park. Earlier in the year one of our birder friends, Danette, had reported a Eurasian Wigeon in the ponds there, and Jay and I had looked without success for this bird in February. When we pulled up today, we saw plenty of wigeons, and after a few minutes of scanning we spotted him! He was on the banks of the pond, where it begins to narrow into a sort of canal. He definitely stood out among all the green heads and pinkish sides around him! what a sweet bird! Thanks Danette! :)
and he was a year bird to boot!

The Eurasian Wigeon with his American buddies

Well, that's all for now! stay tuned, as Jay and Heidi are (hopefully!) soon headed off to parts unknown (aka Island Park) on what is sure to be a great adventure!

~Heidi

More gulls and the awe-inspiring Snake River canyon

2009-03-22T17:20:00.007-06:00

Earlier in the winter on a visit to the Swan Falls area, I'd mentioned to Heidi that a visit to the Snake River canyon in early spring is very worthwhile for the great views of Prairie Falcons & other raptors flying at eye level. Thus, we'd penciled a late March return to this area on the calendar .... and, although we'd heard both a Canyon Wren & a Rock Wren back in January while looking in vain for Gray-crowned Rosy-finches near Lucky Peak dam, Heidi was itching to get a good look at both species. Thus, it was decided that we'd head towards the canyon. BUT, the gull frenzy that started almost 3 weeks ago (with Cliff's find of that interesting, 1st-winter 'Iceland-like' Gull) had continued in the past week and 1/2 with RL Rowland (another admitted 'gull-a-holic') and other birders finding not one, but two Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Pickle's Butte landfill (the first one was found one the same day that RL was able to see the Iceland Gull adult - not a bad day!). And, neither of us had gotten a chance to look so we both agreed that a quick stop at the dump on the way to the canyon was in order.

Thus, en route to the Snake River canyon, Heidi & I stopped to study gulls at Pickle's Butte (Canyon Co) Saturday morning and ended up staying for 4 hours (yeah, quick stop, huh?!). Many birds left the area not long after we arrived but they kept coming back in and it took a while until we finally located some rarities. A couple times (once we'd been there a couple hours) I wondered if Heidi was getting bored so would ask, "Whad'ya think, should we move on?" to which she'd reply, "I don't know, what if something else good is about to fly in?". Morale of the story (much as this might sound crazy to non-birders): it's hard to pull yourself away from the dump when the gulling is good! Overall there was slightly less diversity than a couple weeks ago but we did succeed in finding 1 of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls (an apparent 3rd-winter bird - lifer for Heidi!) as well as 1 Glaucous-winged Gull (1st-winter), 5 Thayer's (including 1 photographed adult), 30 Herring, and loads of Ring-billed (450) and California (>1500).

Lesser Black-backed Gull (3rd-winter - i.e., not quite full adult; top-center facing left). In the same picture are several adult Ring-billed and California Gulls as well as a 1st-winter Thayer's Gull.

Here's the adult Thayer's Gull stretching its wing (though Thayer's appears to be annual in Idaho, the vast majority have been immature [1st-winter] birds and this is the 2nd adult I've photographed this year!)

We also located an apparent Glaucous-winged x Western hybrid 1st-winter bird ... I still need to study it more but, much as I wanted it to be a pure Western, hybrid was my first instinct and that was Cliff's best guess after looking at my crummy digi-scoped photos (of which one is below).

1st-winter probable hybrid Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (the big, dark dude in back). I'm still getting up to speed on the complex world of gull hybrids and their ID but this bird had a larger bill, different head shape, and chunkier overall appearance than nearby Herring Gulls. Also, although the bird appears dark enough to suggest a Western Gull, it's primaries look dark brown with a pale edge (as opposed to black) which suggests it's not a pure Western. Bumber b/c I've never seen a Western in Idaho but it's the first gull with any 'Western blood' that I've seen in the state so at least I'm headed in the right direction!

From there we headed towards Celebration Park (along the Snake S of Melba) and saw a migrating flock of 9 Long-billed Curlews just a couple miles N of the park (!!) and a female Yellow-headed Blackbird at the feedlot N of the park. At the park, we had great views of singing Rock & Canyon Wrens (lifer views for Heidi), Bushtits (another Heidi lifer!) building a nest, courting Say's Phoebes, tons of Violet-green Swallows, a Lincoln's Sparrow in with White-crowns, and a surprise Caspian Tern (another Heidi lifer!) along the river.

Between Celebration Park & Dedication Point, we enjoyed some very cooperative raptors including an adult Harlan's Red-tail and 2 Ferruginous Hawks. Dedication Point was awesome for close views of Prairie Falcons, Red-tails, & more ... we also saw/heard a calling pair of White-throated Swifts (the 6th life bird for Heidi on the day!).

Heidi & Jay at Dedication Point overlook with the awesome Snake River canyon behind.

View down the Snake River canyon from Dedication Point

View up the Snake River canyon from just above Swans Falls dam

We ended the day searching for recently-returned Sage Sparrows (just above where the road leads down towards Swan Falls dam) and struck out as a storm was on its way in. But, we did enjoy more Say's Phoebes, Prairie Falcons, Turkey Vultures, and Red-tailed & Rough-legged Hawks. Hawk migration (especially Red-tails and some Turkey Vultures) was apparent throughout the day.

A great day that yielded 6 lifers for Heidi, including a rare gull and some fun new arrivals! Oh, and (b/c I had already seen VG Swallow last week in Lewiston) that species pulled Heidi one closer in the fierce competition ;-).

Happy birding,

Jay

Grouse-n-about

2009-03-15T23:00:00.007-06:00

Yesterday morning, Jay and I headed out for an exciting early morning adventure to Midvale, ID! We joined up with Dave Hazelton, Bruce Ackerman, and Mike Morrison, along with our special visitors Kenn and Kim Kaufman at the entirely too early hour of 6 AM, to head out in search of Greater Sage-grouse. A busy week and about 4 hours of sleep the night before made both Jay and me pretty tired, but we were looking forward to a fun day. (We were also thankful that daylight savings came early, since that meant our meeting time was at 6 instead of 5!).

We started from Meridian, driving to Midvale and taking the highway through Oregon to get there. Luckily it was dark, so no “list-birding” time was lost in Oregon ;) We did run the risk of seeing some Oregon owls , but we were back on the Idaho side by the time it was light enough to see a Great-Horned fly across the highway in front of us. Since he was driving, Jay didn’t see the bird well enough to ID it, but Kenn and I coulda’ sworn it was an Eastern Screech Owl, and I was just about to jot it down on my year list when Jay said he wouldn’t accept it! He wouldn’t believe either of the very reliable and un-biased witnesses who saw the bird. What’s up with that? :)

Kenn and Heidi: perhaps finding yearbirds without Jay :)

"What do you mean you didn't see the Steller's Eider, Jay? it was right there!"
Steller's Eider and Eastern Screech Owl were only a few of the dozens of birds Jay wouldn't let us add to my list...and just because we were paying better attention than him! (hmm...who do you think Kenn is rooting for in this competition? ;)

Once in Midvale, Dave took us to the spot he had scouted the day before. On the way there, we spotted a flock of Wild Turkeys perched in some trees along the roadside. Not only was it cool because I had not seen Turkeys perched that high before, but they were also one of the species Jay picked up in Moscow. (That’s ONE down NINE to go for Heidi to regain the lead!) We reached one of the spots, and sure enough, there were 5 Greater Sage-grouse (including one female)! LIFER for Kim and I!! I’d seen them in photos and stuff before, but nothing prepares you for how really silly (…er…sexy?) they look. They looked so poofy and soft that I just wanted to squeeze them! (I won’t speak for Kim as to what she wanted to do with them, but as she’s now been famously quoted: “I’m no grouse, but I’m kinda diggin’ it!”) I don’t know about the other car (Dave, Bruce and Mike) but there was sure a lot of giggling going on in ours!

At the next lek Dave brought us to, there were 9 grouse, this time all males, and they were really strutting their stuff! The giggles continued, and cameras clicked away as we watched these guys do their thing.

One of the macho Greater Sage-Grouse at the lek.
This photo taken by Kim Kaufman! (see more of her photos on the Kaufman's blog)

In the background here, and throughout the day, were other boy birds showing off in perhaps the more conventional way. Meadowlarks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brewers Blackbirds, and Horned Larks were singing everywhere! While watching the grouse we also saw a couple hundred Snow Geese and Canada Geese, with of course a few Ross’ Geese mixed in. My favorite part of the stop though, was another visitor to the lek. In the same field of view with my first lifer of the day (the sage grouse) was a Say’s Phoebe!! Second Lifer for the day! Hooray! :D

The obligatory "Bird Nerd Salute" photo :)
are these birders confused? or were there just a lot of birds?

The gang enjoying some delicious flan (courtesy of Sue Hazelton) by the lek. Now that's some gourmet birding!
Bruce, Mike, Heidi, Kenn, Kim, and Dave (once again Jay is hiding behind the camera :)

Okay, I just had to add this photo...you're welcome Mike and Bruce :)
mmmm, flannnn...

After our stop at the lek, we parted ways with Dave, Bruce and the Kaufmans, who had to leave to prepare for the GEAS banquet that evening. So Jay, Mike and I headed off on our own to explore the back roads of the area. We searched barns for Barn Owls, and looked around for anything else we might see. We spotted some Western Bluebirds, and saw our first Vesper Sparrow of the year. We also saw some beautiful raptors, including plenty of Red-tailed Hawks, a few Rough-Leggeds, and some Ferruginous hawks, including one bird in some sort of display flight! Very cool!

On the hill out of Midvale we stopped to watch as 2 Red-Tailed adults (1 rufous morph), 1 Golden eagle, and 3 immature Bald Eagles circled overhead! Also, within less than 10 minutes, we had a Prairie Falcon buzz through! How cool!

A short distance up the road from there, at a patch of water called Devil's Elbow we thought we spotted a Eurasian Wigeon which turned out to be a hybrid (are we allowed to count it as a ‘half-bird’ and combine it with our hybrid sapsucker for our list?) We also spotted other waterfowl including Tundra Swans, Common Mergansers, Mallards, Gadwall, Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Canada Geese, C. Goldeneye, and a group of male Ring-necked ducks hanging around with one female Canvasback.

With an hour’s drive back to Boise ahead of us and the GEAS banquet coming up at 6, we nixed our plans to once again visit the dump and made a dash for home. We all were ready for a nap after our early morning, but didn’t have much success with that!

I have to throw in a note here that I would have had a much easier time with my nap, but had to go take care of a ‘coned’ bulldog I’m babysitting this weekend…did you know that when a dog is scratching one of those plastic cones, it can get kinda loud? :) Ironically, as I type this, the accused nap-robber is snoring away on my lap! and now for your viewing pleasure: poor Bubba, the cone headed doggy

~Heidi

Uh-oh ....

2009-03-12T23:14:00.009-06:00

I should have posted this a couple days ago but between getting ready for my talk Wed and attending talks/networking with many biologists at the TWS meetings, I didn't have time ... sorry for keeping Heidi (& readers) in suspense!!

I never thought I could be so gleeful at the sight of an exotic (non-native) species like a Gray Partridge (sometimes known as 'Huns' or Hungarian Partridge) ... After all, as anyone's who birded with me knows, I have a great disdain for non-native species and the impacts they can have on native birds - and I can get downright whiny if I see too many non-natives (such as the growing number of Eurasian Collared-doves along the Snake River Plain in SW Idaho - and elsewhere - that we've been seeing in #s on virtually every birding trip this year). I should say that it's not the birds' fault and I don't blame them - I'm just not happy that, for example, the European Starling is now the most abundant bird in the US. ... Then why, you might ask, would I have been so pleased to see a group of 6 Gray Partidge in an agricultural field just S of Moscow (the destination for the TWS conference) on Monday afternoon? Because, after almost 2 months of playing catch-up in this year-list competition (I was 'out-of-bounds' in Venezuela until Jan 17) and after a fly-over Clark's Nutcracker along Hwy 55 earlier in the day, these Gray Partridge vaulted me into my first lead over the upstart challenger (otherwise known as Heidi) in the year list competition. "Woo-hoo!!", I thought to myself as my two Idaho Fish & Game traveling companions continued along completely unaware of this momentous event ....

As it turns out, this was just the start & Heidi now has some work to do to get even! On Tuesday morning, I was picked up at my hotel by the avid birder & photographer Terry Gray and another area birder, Diana Jones, for an AM of birding before I returned to my hotel (b/c I still had to practice the talk that I was invited here for ... but I couldn't miss this opportunity to get ahead, right?) around noon. I had met Terry briefly a couple summers ago and both he & Diana were great company and excited to be helping me find year birds as well as just enjoying a great winter day's birding.

March 10 birding team: Diana, Terry, and Jay ... Diana and Terry were a lot of fun and very enthusiastic birding partners!

We explored some areas E & NE of Moscow - including feeders and other birding areas that Terry is very familiar with. We saw a great bunch of very active birds - probably especially active b/c of the snowfall the night before - including an adult Northern Goshawk hunting California Quail (an exotic species - guess who I was rooting for!), loads of Varied Thrushes (at least 30 during the morning including 12 in one area!), and good numbers of finches, chickadees, and nuthatches.

Varied Thrush male - one of many seen throughout the AM (photo by Terry Gray)

One of many very cooperative, and sometimes vocal, Pygmy Nuthatches that we saw on Tuesday (photo by Terry Gray)

In all, Terry and Diana helped me find 6 'year-birds' during the morning, including Wild Turkey, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch (lots!), White-breasted Nuthatch, Evening Grosbeak, and Pine Grosbeak. Not a bad morning - and the snowy scenery was great! I should note that I'm sure Terry and Diana would be glad to show some of these same birds to Heidi ... but maybe for a price!

But, much as I was gleeful about the partridges, excited to see all the birds on Tuesday AM and finally be in the lead, (beware - Heidi might falsely claim that this is just a sympathy ploy on my part!) I did wish that Heidi could have been along and enjoyed the birds as well - especially because several species are would-be (and much desired - see her wishlist on the 'stats' link) 'life birds' for her and she would have been at least as excited as I was to see/hear them. She'll see them soon enough .... it just might take her a little while to catch up!!!

Jay

The Suspense is Killin' Me!

2009-03-09T13:13:00.003-06:00

Jay has just hit the road, and is headed for Moscow to speak at a meeting of the Idaho Chapter of The Wildlife Society (http://www.ictws.org/meeting.php).

Uh-oh!! This means a chance for Jay to pick up some of those 'mountain birds' without me!
I'm shakin' in my boots!

cross your fingers guys! Heidi's fate hangs in the balance! ;)

~(a very nervous) Heidi

Fort Boise WMA and more!

2009-03-08T16:24:00.011-06:00

Jay and Heidi joined the Golden Eagle Audubon Society for a fun field trip out to the Fort Boise WMA this Saturday! We were just askin’ for trouble, with a car full that included Sue Norton, Mike Morrison and Gary Robinson ;)

"Team" shot (where's Jay?;-)

Our first stop was a road in the WMA where we were able to see the huge flocks of Snow and Greater White-Fronted Geese (with a few Ross' Geese mixed in) flying over and landing in the nearby ponds. (Claire, who works at the WMA and lead us through the area, said there were about 50,000 Snow Geese in the flocks this year!) We stayed there for a few hours to see the geese and other waterfowl as well as a few Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers and also 5 Red-tailed Hawks circling overhead that gave us quite a show! We also got to hear plenty of Virginia Rails, Marsh Wrens, and Song Sparrows.

GEAS members stand on the road to admire the huge flock of (mostly) Snow Geese!

(don't worry, only a few birders were hit by passing vehicles :)

After visiting the geese, Claire led us on a special tour of the WMA where we saw plenty of birds, including a cute Song Sparrow couple (that little guy was obviously 'twitterpated'!), chickadees, RC Kinglets, and a Golden Eagle. We also got to see a very patient Great-Horned Owl sitting on her nest. Everyone got a great view through a couple scopes they set up

Field trippers line up to view the owl

After a fun time in the WMA it was time for lunch, and our car-load of birders headed off for parts unknown (aka New Plymouth) to search out a Harris' Sparrow that had been reported in the area. After less than a minute in front of the house, we spotted him!! Not only was he a totally sweet bird but he was my 200th LIFER!! woohoo! *now imagine Heidi's "200th lifer happy-pants dance"...which is not at all like RL's "awesome gull happy-pants dance" *It was cool for Jay too, who's only seen 3 in Idaho. Here (and other areas throughout the day) we saw some Sandhill Cranes fly over-another cool year bird!

Sue, Mike, Gary and Heidi checking out the Harris' Sparrow (Sue is showing off her amazing talent of hiding in every one of these photos!--those are her feet at the end--you'd think she didn't want to be seen with us or something :)

Just down the road for the Harris' house, we visited the scenic New Plymouth sewage ponds. There were tons of Snow and Greater White-fronted geese there too, as well as birds like ring-necked duck, lesser scaup, pintails, and through the scopes we were able to spot a Cinnamon Teal! It was another Lifer :) It was a pretty long distance to look out over the ponds, and Sue was saying we should paddle out closer to our birdie friends in a canoe (heehee!)....we were trying to let her down easy, and explain it wasn't exactly a super-duper plan, but then she thought better of her idea when we saw a lovely dead muskrat nearby (eww! no, not because he was dead...but he'd been swimming in there!)
We left the sewage ponds and hit the highway, where we saw our first Turkey Vulture of the year! (They say TV's use their sense of smell to find their food...we wondered if he was headed for that tender muskrat morsel?)

Where might we be headed on that highway, you ask? To the dump of course! No day of birding would be complete without a stop at at least two smelly destinations. We were in search of the Lesser Black-backed gull this time, but didn't have any luck in the 1/2 hour we were there. The dump closes at 5:30 and while Jay begged us to leave him there over night (gosh, that guy might like gulls a little too much, huh? :) we didn't like the looks of some of the mattresses he was considering, and drug him outta there just in time.

hehe, maybe after this (obviously truthful) story Jay will think twice before posting incriminating photos of *ahem* certain people enjoying themselves at the dump (what? Heidi is obsessed with gulls and the dump too??)
With a little bit of daylight left, we decided we wouldn't be true birders if we didn't make one last stop before dark, so we headed off to Wilson Springs. We walked the loop there and saw lots of birds, including Coots, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Mallards, Bufflehead, Pied-billed grebes and Gadwall. We also saw a Bald eagle and a red-tail, our first Eurasian Collared Doves of the day, Brewers and Red-Wing blackbirds (including one that was chasing down a Kestrel) another singing Marsh wren, and a group of almost 60 magpies! wow!

It'd been a fun day, but I think we were all ready for a nap as we piled back in the warm car at sunset and headed for home.

~Heidi

finishing the day at Wilson springs!
Sue, Gary, Mike and Heidi

adult ICELAND GULL!!!! (and Heidi pulls ahead :-(

2009-03-03T23:13:00.008-07:00

Heidi & I finally headed back to 'the dump' (Pickle's Butte landfill S of Caldwell) this AM to see if we couldn't find that confusing 'Iceland-type' 1st-winter bird, the 1st-winter Glaucous, and anything else we could stumble across. Heidi had bemoaned the fact that this meant not sleeping in on her only day of the week (aside from Sunday - correct me if I'm wrong ;-) to do so ... but I'd say the below info and her smiles/excitement suggested it was worth it! And, b/c the Glaucous Gull was one of the few species I had over Heidi for the year so far, seeing it vaulted her back into the lead.

Here's Heidi scanning the gulls (garbage not too far away) - she's really hoping her non-birding friends don't get wind of this embarrassing shot!

The BIG story: soon after arrival, I caught a 2-second glimpse of an adult, apparent 'white-winged' (Glaucous or Iceland) gull in flight that went back down into the 'pile' (active dumping area) below where we could see (pretty much right where Heidi's looking in the above photo). I was pretty worked up & we set to looking for it and Heidi soon spotted what turned out to be an adult Glaucous-winged ... a nice find (!) and a new arrival to the dump this winter.

Adult Glaucous-winged Gull - note the pink legs, dark eyes, primaries (wing-tips) only slightly darker gray than the mantle (back), and chunky shape.

Raised wing of the adult Glaucous-winged Gull showing the only slightly grayer primaries.

Even though I was pretty sure I'd seen something with even paler wingtips, I eventually surmised that this was likely what I'd glimpsed - especially as 2 more hours went by and no 'white-winged' adults were seen.... As the clock struck 11 and guilt began to creep in (I'd graded tests 'til 1030pm the night before to afford some 'hooky' time in the AM but still had loads to do;-), we both kept thinking, "we should go". But, we kept noticing funny-looking immature gulls (see far below in this post) that caused a lot of head-scratching ... We finally headed towards the car around 1130 and I said, "One last scan of this area (the 'pile' and slope behind), OK?" That's when I spotted an adult Iceland Gull!!! (to be honest, it took us a few minutes of studying the bird to be sure it wasn't an adult Glaucous - see notes below photos for ID criteria) - perched out in the open in plain view. (So I wasn't totally nuts when I saw those white wings earlier!!). We watched it for 20 minutes as the wind picked up and then rain & hail began ... I was trying hard to get pics b/c an adult Iceland is BIG-TIME for Idaho (immatures of rare species like this are rare enough but adults show up even less often) but I couldn't hold the scope steady in the breeze (or maybe it was my shivering and/or excitement at what we were seeing?). Fortunately, though they're blurry (and thanks for bearing with me ;-), a few turned out decently enough to help verify the identification ...

Adult Iceland Gull - critical ID features include pale wingtips (at rest, as shown here, no contrast with mantle or even a little whiter), pink legs, deep chest/belly, rounded head, and relatively small bill (for a biggish gull). Not shown here but noted was a yellowish-colored eye (not bright yellow like a Herring Gull but not brown like most Thayer's).

The adult Iceland Gull (at left) shown here next to an adult California Gull (hard to see but note darker mantle and yellowish legs) whose bill, though tough to see in this picture, appeared relatively longer than that of the Iceland.

I know this is ridiculously blurry (better than most I tried!!) but a closer view of the wingtip pattern on the adult Iceland Gull.

There were likely 1000+ gulls around from 9am (when we arrived) to 1150am (when we split during a hailstorm) with some gull arrivals (mostly) & departures. They were VERY cooperative and the weather was mostly so ... until the storm drove the adult Iceland and many others off towards Lake Lowell (presumably). In total we saw 7 gull species plus a couple of likely hybrids (the bane of gull-watchers - at least this one!) - including 30+ Herring Gulls of all ages, 1 1st-winter Glaucous, the adult Glaucous-winged, the Iceland adult, ~5 Thayer's Gulls, ~800 California Gulls, and ~400 Ring-billed Gulls. Charles - I'll post to eBird in the AM!!

All in all, a pretty awesome day to be at the dump!!

Parting Shots: those of you with little patience for gull ID have likely long-since fallen asleep on the keyboard (and thanks for coming this far!). BUT, for the gull-enthusiasts (Ryan O. - I know you're still with me!), here are a few individual 1st-winter birds that we observed today whose identities were challenging our brainpower (comments/opinions welcome - as always).

1st, here are a few shots of the potential 1st winter Iceland Gull found last week by Cliff Weisse. To my knowledge, Cliff, Heidi, and I are the only folks to have seen it well and all agree it definitely has Iceland 'blood' - and maybe wouldn't even be questioned as an Iceland if seen in their normal winter range - but is it 'pure' enough to definitively be an Iceland Gull in Idaho (and/or is there also a bit of Thayer's Gull blood)??

1st-winter potential Iceland Gull. Note pale coloring, rounded head, bulky chest/belly, and extensive patterning on wing coverts.

Here, note the extensive white outlines to each primary (wing-tip) feather.

Here you can see the individual primary feathers as well as - from the side - the tail. The tail looks darker than most Icelands ... but has an extensive pale base & terminal band - ???

Next, 2 other immature birds that made us wonder ... "Are they just variants on Herring Gulls or something else?"

Mystery juvenile #1.

Mystery juvenile #2 (Cliff Weisse suggested a likely Herring x Glaucous-winged hybrid which I can buy but I'd rather if it was a Slaty-backed Gull!!).

Ciao!

Jay

A Wood River Valley excursion

2009-03-01T15:55:00.005-07:00

Jay and Heidi, along with dedicated volunteer IBO-ers Gary and Jean, headed out for a day of mountain birding on Saturday. We met in Mountain Home to pick up Gary in the early hours of the morning and were soon on our way. No sooner had we hit the highway, after listening to Jay's “Hey guys, what do you say, let’s book it to Sun Valley and only stop if we see something totally amazing” when a blinker went on, the vehicle suddenly decelerated, and we heard those infamous words: “hey, was that a gull?!” We scanned the water for a few minutes, finding mostly mallards and swans, and NO gulls before moving on. (this was grim foreshadowing of the rest of the day, as we did not see any gulls the whole trip! poor poor Jay)

We were on the road! On the drive there we didn’t see much more than blowing snow drifts and the occasional roadside magpie.

After arriving in the valley, we first stopped in Bellevue at a house that had been visited by a Harris’ sparrow. We had no luck with the sparrow, but saw our first batch of gazillions of Pine Siskins that would greet us everywhere we went throughout the rest of the day.
Then it was off to Jean’s house, between Hailey and Ketchum. On the turnoff to her house, we spotted a bunch of crossbills in some conifer trees near the road. We hopped out and soon had some good but fleeting views of both Red and White-Winged crossbills! The White-Wings were LIFERS for both Gary and I! It was great to see both males and females of each species at the same time, and getting to compare their appearance as well as the calls of each species was especially cool.

We met up with Jean, and all piled into her vehicle (with wonderfully heated front seats, which I enjoyed immensely :) and we were off to search for Black Rosy-Finches. We drove through the small community of Triumph and other area neighborhoods, but had no luck with the Rosy’s or our other 'target bird', Redpolls. We did see a new and adorable species for the year, Mountain Chickadees, along with plenty of Black-capped Chickadees, Siskins, Am. Goldfinches, Juncos, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Flickers and House finches.

We headed to a tasty burrito place in Hailey for lunch, where we met up with Robin, Jay and Jean’s cool biologist friend. Then we went for one last check on the Black Rosies in Triumph before journeying back to Bellevue. While we still didn’t find the finches, we did get an awesome view of some Cedar waxwings in the bushes right next to the car. And mixed in with them was a Bohemian! It wasn’t a Lifer, but I was still excited to see it so close up, and be able to compare it with the cedars. I’d only seen Boho’s twice before, and had never gotten to see the wing pattern! Gary also got some great photos, including this awesome comparison shot of a cedar with his big fatty cousin :)

A Cedar Waxwing (on the left) with his Bohemian buddy (right)
--Photo by Gary Robinson--

At another stop after this, Jay claimed to have seen a Hairy woodpecker fly over (a new year bird) but also claimed he didn’t see where it had gone (a likely story, I say! ;) Nevertheless, this meant that Jay was now ahead of me in the competition!

We checked one last time for the Harris’ sparrow in Bellevue, and then met up with Robin again to search for a Barred Owl and Yellow-shafted Flicker that had been reported in the area. After looking for the owl for awhile, Jay decided to try his best “who cooks for you?” call. (He actually did a good job…but that didn’t stop us from laughing at him!)

Heidi, Jay, Robin and Jean have a laugh while calling for the Barred Owl
--Photo by Gary Robinson--

Much to his dismay, the owl never answered Jay; but soon after, we were able to spot a bunch of flickers, including the Yellow-shafted Flicker! We got to check out the cool red marking on the back of its head, and of course the yellow on his wings when he flew! This was another new bird for me…though not technically a lifer.

Next we headed off down the valley to the Hayspur fish hatchery to look for sparrows. The girls took the lead in Jean’s car, while the boys followed in Jay’s vehicle. On the road there, Jay called to say they’d spotted another Hairy woodpecker. And thus we were tied on the year list again! (yeah, I guess Jay can be pretty nice sometimes ;) At the hatchery, while a little bunny looked on, we spotted a White-Throated sparrow!!! We watched him for a while and got some good looks as he hopped around the brush piles with the other birds. How cute! Another LIFER!! (This bird was probably the same one that Jean and the valley’s other birders found on their CBC. A great find!)

As the sun was setting we headed to the silver creek area, where we spotted plenty of water birds, including Lesser Scaup, ring-necked ducks, common mergansers, goldeneye, trumpeter swans, American widgeons and mallards. Finally, with the last few minutes of sunlight, we drove the back roads in the area, keeping an eye out for short eared owls and snow buntings, but finding only a few Horned Larks. After dark, we said goodbye to Jean and headed for home, stopping for burgers and malts in Fairfield on the way, and running in to some ‘fun’ patches of strong wind gusts, with lots of blowing snow! We reached Boise at about 10:30, worn out from a fun day of birding!
~Heidi

Jay and I are now tied at 120 species so far this year! We're putting together a page of other birders' year lists (with species seen as of 2/28) but need some numbers to put up first! So if you want, tally up your Idaho lists for January and February and send them in! You can post them as a comment here on the blog or just send them to heidithebirdnerd@yahoo.com! We also may be including people's 'top sighting' of the year along with their tally so far, so feel free to send that in as well!

A Day at the Dump! (or, "finally some exciting gulls")

2009-02-26T11:35:00.005-07:00

On Monday around noon I got a call from Cliff Weisse - a birder from Island Park who was on this side of the state on business and doing some birding. In the years since I first met Cliff and starting birding with him and/or exchanging notes on bird identification, I've learned that when he calls out of the blue, it usually means he's found something good. Thus, given that I had tons of work to do and not enough time in which to do it, when the phone rang & I saw his name, I got that sinking feeling that said, "Here's another pot-shot at my productivity ....". I was right, he had just seen a potential Iceland Gull (a species with 11 prior reports in the state and none since 2002) at the Canyon County landfill (Pickle's Butte) which sits just a few miles S of Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge and a few miles E of the Snake River. Thus, (if you're a gull :-) the dump is a great place to grab a quick bite of something tasty and then head to a body of water to wash it down!

potential Iceland Gull at Pickle's Butte, Feb 23, 2009 - photo by Cliff Weisse
please feel free to post comments on the ID of this bird

Fortunately for me, Cliff said the gulls had just gotten up and flown away so no need to rush out there. That gave me the rest of Monday and into the late night hours to finish editing a manuscript (officially accepted Wednesday!!!) and finish writing the exam I'd be giving to my Conservation Biology class on Tuesday afternoon. I wasn't sure until I woke up on Tuesday whether I was going to go 'chase the bird' or not. The thing is ... birding in a landfill is a lot harder to justify playing hooky for than birding in the mountains or desert or other natural area. After all, most of us get into birding for aesthetic reasons - fascination with and/or love for nature and b/c it's an outlet for connecting with nature - and I don't really 'peace out' or do a lot of 'bonding with the scenery' at the dump! Thus, even for an Iceland Gull (a bird I've wanted to see out West for a long time), I really had to twist my arm .....

I met Cliff out there on Tuesday AM and he said he'd already seen 'the bird' as well as a few pretty pale Thayer's Gulls (the closest look-alike and closest relative for an Iceland) so we set to looking for it. Cliff also mentioned having seen a 1st-winter Mew Gull and I quickly was able to pick that out (no pics - too preoccupied with finding 'the bird'). Pretty soon, Cliff called out, "Here's a Glaucous!" and, though it took me a few moments, I was able to locate a 1st-winter Glaucous Gull as it flew around with other gulls. We were able to enjoy many good looks at this bird over the next hour. Even though this is one of the more frequent of the 'rare' gulls to appear in Idaho, this is only the 2nd I've seen in the state!! Thus, worth the trip already ...

1st-winter Glaucous Gull (center - photo by Jay Carlisle) - note the pale wingtips and the long pink bill with the dark tip

another view of the same Glaucous Gull - photo by Jay Carlisle

In spite of the very gusty winds (it really was a challenge to stay focused with shaking scopes and all!) and even though it left with a large groups of gulls after about 30 minutes (maybe because it had just swallowed a HUGE landfill morsel that we saw it gorge down while taking flight at one point), we were able to get several views of the potential Iceland - both perched and in flight. I say 'potential Iceland' b/c this is a tough ID and Cliff & I (the only ones to have decent, if any, views of this bird) are still uncertain if we can rule out a hybrid with Thayer's Gull. That said, at one point I could see the potential Iceland on the ground near the Glaucous and both appeared similarly pale (the Glaucous maybe being a touch paler). The big issue for me is that the primaries appear darker than the body and that's not seen on most Icelands (although some similar-looking birds from within the normal range of Iceland Gulls can be found at this link: http://www.pbase.com/jpkln/kumliens_1). Thus, more research .... and hopefully more views of the bird.

.... AND, back to that aesthetic aspect of birding, into the evening on Tuesday I was still removing sand (yes, landfill sand!) from my ears as the wind caused a frequent sand-blasting effect!

Aside from the gulls, we also ran into fellow bird-nuts Cheryl Huizinga, RL Rowland, and Mark Collie out at Pickle's Butte.... Assuming this does turn out to be an Iceland, we saw 7 gull species on Tues, including a 1st winter Glaucous, a 1st winter Mew, several Thayer's, several Herring, and the hordes of California and Ring-billed. Also a potential Glaucous-winged/Herring hybrid ...

But, I haven't counted the Iceland for my list so Heidi still has a portion of the lead (as the Glaucous Gull brought me to a tie!) ....

Jay

Jay pulls even! ... but Heidi regains the lead

2009-02-22T16:19:00.006-07:00

Headed out birding on Saturday, Feb 21 along with Heidi, Louie Quintana, and Tom McCabe from Boise and we met up with Gary Robinson (Mountain Home, a long-time MVP volunteer with IBO) at Ted Trueblood WMA near Grandview.

from left: Heidi, Louie, Tom, & Gary plying the waters of CJ Strike Reservoir (probably trying to find gulls to make me happy ;-)

Our main target birds for the day were a couple of White-throated Sparrows (that Cliff, Darren, and Steve - E Idaho birders - had found the weekend before), gulls, and anything else fun. After scoping the main pond at Trueblood and enjoying a variety of waterbirds (including hearing a Virginia Rail) but very few gulls, we moved onto Riverside Rd in Grandview where we searched in vain for White-throated Sparrows (would have been a lifer for at least Heidi, Louie, & Tom) - we'll have to keep searching. But, at one of the spots we ran into 100+ White-crowned Sparrows and, while chatting with the friendly nearby homeowner, we noticed a female Varied Thrush that had perched up pretty high in some dead branches. I was definitely a bit surprised to find this species here (b/c the vegetative cover is not very extensive).

We moved on to the dam at CJ Strike Reservoir where the sometimes elusive Great-tailed Grackles were very cooperative - including a singing male and this silent male that was out in the open.

Great-tailed Grackle male (photo by Louie Quintana)

Much to Heidi's chagrin, this pulled me even with her in our year list competition since she had already seen it in January!!

Heidi looks on disapprovingly while Jay enjoys close views of a cooperative Great-tailed Grackle (photo by Louie Quintana)

In spite of the strong winds, we enjoyed good company and several more birding highlights interspersed throughout the day. Possibly most exciting was a pretty close view of a Long-eared Owl in a Russian Olive thicket (no photo - we didn't have cameras handy and were trying not to harrass this bird). This was a life bird for Heidi and it's always fun to enjoy the excitement that a new species brings - especially something as cool as a Long-eared making itself as long and thin as possible to avoid detection! Other highlights were a Common Loon on the reservoir, a few Red-breasted Mergansers (swimming right behind some Commons offering a nice comparison - according to Tom, the first of this species he'd seen well in over 30 years!!), both Western and Mountain Bluebirds, and - always a favorite for me - an adult male Merlin that was burning some ground.

Western Bluebird female at Bruneau Dunes SP (photo by Louie Quintana)

One of the last birds of the day - and one of the most exciting for Heidi - was an adult Northern Shrike (too distant for photos) that flew across Hwy 78 as we were heading towards the dunes. It took a while to re-find it once we'd turned the car around but it cooperated by perching up at a distance and allowed us to study its features through the scope. I'm always excited to see a shrike of any kind (I became obsessed with shrikes when I studied Loggerheads in CA years ago) and, especially since we'd been aiming to find one for Heidi for months (and I'd heard, "we need to find a shrike" many times ;-), this was no exception. BUT, because I had seen one on the way back from a solo snow-shoeing trip back on Superbowl Sunday, this was a new year bird only for Heidi which means that by day's end she had regained her slim lead (she was pretty pleased about this part!).

Happy birding & blog-reading ;-)

Jay

The Competition Begins!

2009-02-16T23:59:00.005-07:00

So, some of you many be wondering how this all started:

While still in Venezuela around the turn of the year, Jay (who has kept an ABA area ‘year list’ since 1994) suggested to Heidi via e-mail that she might enjoy starting and maintaining an Idaho year list for 2009 (year list: list of bird species observed in a calendar year). Some history: Heidi and Jay became friends after Heidi became a regular and enthusiastic volunteer at Lucky Peak for the Idaho Bird Observatory in summer 2008. Both are avid birders in their free time and will be in the field a lot doing bird surveys for the bird observatory during the spring, summer, and fall of 2009. Because Heidi is newer at birding (but learns very quickly and has a lot of passion for birds), Jay was thinking that the year list might be a fun way for her to track her progress during her first full year dedicated to birds.

Then, after arriving back to the states and heading out for a birding day, (partly under the evil influence of fellow birders Louie and Harry :-) Jay & Heidi started discussing ways to make it into a fun competition. (… at least that’s Jay’s story—and he’s stickin’ to it—although Heidi suspects he had the competition idea in mind all along!). Although Jay has kept ABA area lists annually and, while supposedly working on his PhD research, tried a big year in South Dakota (314 species; 6th in state) in 2002, he has never maintained an Idaho year list. Thus, 2009 will be the first time either Heidi or Jay has kept an Idaho year list.

Lastly, because it is always a challenge to raise enough $$$ to run the Idaho Bird Observatory’s fall migration study at Lucky Peak, we then realized that we could also make this into a fund-raising effort (see details below). Disclaimer: we fully understand that today’s economic climate is forcing people – including us – to be more careful with $$. Thus, we would very much appreciate any support for the Idaho Bird Observatory you can provide but we would also be very happy to simply get comments, birding tips, etc. from you.

The Handicap: Because Jay has many more years of birding experience than Heidi and, therefore, is likely to be able to detect/identify more species seen poorly and/or heard but not seen, we agreed that a ‘straight-up’ year list competition might not be completely fair. But, what would be a fair handicap? Jay has more birding experience and knows the vocalizations better BUT Heidi & Jay will be birding in many of the same locations throughout the year (birding on weekends, field work during summer and fall in the same general areas, etc.). During this time Jay will be trying to help Heidi observe and learn as many species as possible (after all, if she’ll be conducting official bird surveys in the summer, it’s in Jay’s best interest that she know the birds!!). Meanwhile, Heidi may or may not be trying her hardest to prevent Jay from getting as many species as possible (after all, it is in Heidi’s best interest!). Strategies such as, “What? that’s not a great-tailed grackle…are you blind?” or “LOOK behind you! An eagle!” may be employed to further her goal of thwarting Jay’s birding. However, Heidi is not completely cruel-hearted, and may ‘allow’ Jay to find the occasional good bird … such as a hybrid sapsucker :).

After long deliberations and discussions with a number of Boise area birders, we have settled on a ‘handicap’ of 20 bird species for the year and 15 species for the mid-year cut-off (July 10). Thus, to win, Jay will have to see 21 more bird species than Heidi for the year and 16 more species by July 10.

The ‘Loser’: Our friend, and fellow bird-nerd, Melanie (who is very creative and has ‘exotic charm’) has agreed to help embarrass the loser at both the mid-year cut-off (July 10) and the final year list total. We have, in principle if not in detail, agreed upon the ‘punishment’ for the mid-year ‘loser’ but are still seeking ideas for the final year list total.

The ‘loser’ at the mid-year cut-off will have to wear a T-shirt designed (to embarrass) by Melanie during the first week of training the new field crew at Lucky Peak and other embarrassing locations to be determined in the future…birding fieldtrips with the Golden Eagle Audubon Society? classes at BSU? parties with friends? The possibilities for humiliation are endless!

While Heidi and Jay are confident in their creative abilities (thoughts of pink frillies and “I wish I was as awesome as _______” on the loser’s T-shirt are already dancing in their heads) they would also appreciate any other creative suggestions you can offer! Feel free to post these publicly in a blog ‘comment’ or, if you’re more shy (or feeling a bit sneaky and devious!), you can send ideas directly to your birder of choice through email (Jay: jaycarlisle@boisestate.edu or Heidi: heidithebirdnerd@yahoo.com). We foresee inspiring conversations beginning over this topic, and know that if we all work together, we can accomplish something great!

Raising $$ for the Idaho Bird Observatory:
If you are so inclined, 100% of ALL DONATIONS will benefit the Idaho Bird Observatory’s fall migration study at Lucky Peak.
People can support the Idaho Bird Observatory in one of two ways: direct donations or pledging (read more about how to donate <--here or on the side bar) As pledges come in, we will post updates and a bar graph showing who (Jay or Heidi) has raised more $$!! Other Birder’s Year Lists: If you are a birder that is also keeping an Idaho year list in 2009, please feel free to tell us/other blog readers about it and keep us posted!! We may even come up with a ‘2009 Idaho Year List standings’ feature ….

Tips on finding rarer species that we haven’t seen yet? Feel free to send them in!

That's all for now, Folks!

More updates (and refinements to the site) are coming soon!

-Jay and Heidi

THANKS!

Dams, Dumps, and Cemeteries

2009-02-07T20:00:00.001-07:00

Jay and I had a pretty cool day of birding today! 61 species total!
Raven mobsters, Rosy Finches, dashed hopes, gazillions of Robins and more! :D

We started out the morning heading to Swan Falls Dam. On the way, we spotted a couple bunches of Horned Larks (even a couple that were singing) and raptors, including Rough-legged hawks, Golden Eagles, Ferruginous Hawks, Red-Tailed Hawks, and a Prairie Falcon.
We also saw tons of Ravens.

On the road, we spotted some big bird chasing a much smaller bird, flying very fast! We realized it was a raven, chasing a pigeon! the raven followed right on the pigeons tail, and then totally took it to the ground! (poor pigeon) Then a mob of about 6 ravens started attacking the pigeon while it was on the ground. They would swoop over the pigeon's head and tumble it, or walk up and poke at it.
A rough-legged dropped by for a while to check out the action, but didnt end up taking the pigeon, even though it was right in front of him!
(we wondered why the mob didnt kill the pigeon after going to all that trouble....maybe the dude owed them money? ;)
After a while most of the ravens left, and we decided to continue on the road, leaving one dorky raven dancing around not knowing what to do with himself.

At the dam not much was happening. Besides some ravens goofing around on the canyon walls, we saw a bunch o' coots on the water, along with a few common goldeney and a western grebe.

BUT, on the road out of the dam we spotted a flock of unusual looking birds. They flew up by the car, then landed on the side of the road. gray-crowned rosy finches!!!

A LIFE BIRD for me! :D

They ate on the side of the road and worked their way to within a few feet of the car, and we were able to watch them for about 10 minutes. We counted 15 birds. Mostly Hepburn's, with at least 2 of the interior race. They flew and landed a couple more times as we drove up the road.

it was awesome!

Then it was off to Canyon Hill Cemetery for the crossbills. On our way we spotted other birds including a pheasant, meadowlarks, collared-doves, some cute kestrel-couples and some more of the same raptors as before.

At the cemetery we saw pretty much everything except the crossbills! Creepers (one climbing up the side of a tombstone), both kinglets, BC chickadees, yellow-rumps, townsend's solitaires, siskins, house finches, nuthatches, A. goldfinches, starlings, robins, flickers, canada geese, green-winged teals, a cormorant, and mallards. Also a pair of cool displaying red tails!
after more wandering, we finally heard crossbills! a group of four came in and landed in the tree tops. All females, and no white-wing's!

next we headed to Pickle's Butte, where we ran into the SIBA gull group, lead by RL Rowland; just leaving after not finding much there. We tootled around with them for a while, searching for barn owls, and seeing mostly song and white-crowned sparrows and one northern harrier.

A short drive took Jay and I to the park in Marsing, where the third time was not the charm, and the Green Heron still eluded us. (this wasnt surprising though, since with the warm weather came lots of families and fisherman)

We saw plenty of other birds though, including a few immature herring gulls (mixed in with the ring-billed' s and california's) marsh wrens, ring-necked ducks, a pied-billed grebe, common mergansers, and 5 red-breasted mergansers-3 males and 2 females
There were plenty of goldeneyes, but sadly (oh so sadly!) for Jay's year-list situation, not a single barrow's could be found!
He scanned and scanned with the scope (in the shade of course, because DUDE it was HOT!...yes, this was coming from the previously-dubbed tropical flower :) Thats at least one species on Heidi's Idaho year list that's not on Jays! hahah!

then we returned to Canyon Hills Cemetery, with no luck on crossbills. But we were able to find one of both a Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned hawk's.

Our last stop, just at sunset was to Dry Creek Cemetary on Hill road. The hoped-for Eurasian Wigeon wasnt spotted, but in the cemetary itself were TONS of robins, starlings, and california quail! We guessed there were at least 1,000 robins, flying in to roost from all directions. And who knows how many starlings and quail (enough birds that we were surprised we made it out without being poo'd on :) and it was crazy-loud!
we also saw brewers blackbirds, cedar waxwings, juncos, house finches and a great-horned owl there.

it was a totally sweet day! :)

~Heidi