Despite several inches of fresh snow, I had a prolonged and very satisfying
encounter with the continuing Mann Lake PALM WARBLER late this morning. It
was way up beyond the model airplane area (circling the lake
counter-clockwise), almost to the upper end. In this area are 2 large
stands of cottonwoods, and between the stands is a bit of an opening in the
willows and other dense vegetation. The bird was up in there, near and in
a stand of what I think are white poplar/silver maple. I saw no
yellow-rumps, but the palm was near but not directly foraging with a small
flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Bewick’s Wren. I did not detect any
of the other rarities present earlier this month, but a nice AMERICAN TREE
SPARROW made an appearance. The lake was up to 80% open, but there weren’t
a ton of water birds present.

See rare photos of a Palm Warbler in the snow, in my eBird checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41272284

Good Birding,

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID

The Nampa CBC had a cold, snowy start but ended under sunny skies. Cheryl and I want to thank everyone who participated; we couldn’t do it without you.

The people who supplied food are heroes; what could be better than a bowl of chili or soup, buttered bread and holiday desserts after a cold day of counting birds. Thank you.

The unofficial count day total is 105 birds. There is one gull species that still needs to be confirmed which could put the count at 106. There is also 1 species for count week.

Highlights include 5 blue jays in one place, Swamp Sparrow, Dunlin, Least Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Goldfinch.

There were a few surprise misses: Double crested Cormorant, Black-crowned Night Heron, and Orange-crowned Warbler.

Thanks again. See you next Saturday in Bruneau.

Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho

Thx for reporting, Jay. Very informative to see sp listed with few appearances over the years, as well as misses, *crazy* misses, eh?

Missy and I marched several miles through a few inches of snow – in the dark – early this morning for the Nampa Count, and found three each Great-horned and Western Screech-owls. We chummed for Barn, Long-eared, and Saw-whet, but dipped on these (not surprising I suppose).

Owls Rock!! =)

Larry

From: ible@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ible@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jay Carlisle carlislejay@yahoo.com [ible]
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2017 11:37 AM
To: IBLE To Post
Subject: [IBLE] Boise CBC preliminary info

Happy holidays everyone! And thanks to CBC participants in Boise & elsewhere – one of my favorite birding times of year 🙂

We (& by we I mean mostly RL who has done the heavy-lifting on this count for years 🙂 are still collecting data from all the groups and prepping for a #s count on all species but we can report that we encountered 100 species on the dot on count day and an additional 4 count-week species for 104 species in the count period – one of the best years ever. Though we’re still awaiting the #s tally, the impression of many at the post-count dinner (thanks again Libby!) is that #s were down for at least a few species/groups, possibly especially sparrows. TBD.

We had more hikers in the foothills – especially the higher elevation areas – than ever (at least recent memory) and that helped us turn up a several species not found elsewhere, like Clark’s Nutcrackers, as well as more Golden Eagles than usual. Thus, I think we’ll have to keep recruiting adventurous hikers!

Highlights (I’m likely leaving out a few :-):

* Golden-crowned Sparrow – 2nd appearance, found by RL (I think Marianne Williams Park)
* Say’s Phoebe (2nd time)
* Clark’s Nutcracker (4th time)
* Brown-headed Cowbird (4th time)
* Bewick’s Wren (5th time)
* Yellow-headed Blackbird (5th time)
* D.C. Cormorant (6th time)
* Osprey (6th time)
* Canvasback (9th time)
* W.B. Nuthatch (10th time)
* Red Crossbill (10th time)
* likely a record # of Golden Eagles (10 were counted in 1998 & I *think* we beat that)
* Red-naped Sapsucker (6th time) – 2 elusive individuals on the day but good for count week
* American Tree Sparrow – count week

Key “Misses”:

* Ring-necked Pheasant
* American Dipper (lots of human activity at usual spot below diversion dam)
* Western Meadowlark

Good luck on the rest of the CBCs!

Jay