The elusive & squirrelly Green-tailed Towhee ...

You might reasonably wonder what the victorious (& only sometime gloating) Heidi & I have been up to for the last few weeks. On July 15th, we drove up to Lucky Peak with a couple other 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'

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

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 ...)

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!

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 ....

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!

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