To add to the popular topic of hummingbirds, here are my observations from the North End/Highlands area of Boise.

First, going back to the start of the year my FOY hummers were in late April. There was one really early Black-chinned, around April 25 as I remember, then no more until May 1st. A bit earlier than average but not remarkably so. What was different is that I did not see a single Calliope nor Rufous this year on their northbound trek. Normally a few pass through the yard, and maybe they did, but I never saw one. This is the first year I can remember this happening.

We had two Black-chinned nests in the yard this year. One nest was used for a second year in a row. It would be fascinating to know whether it was the same bird that used it in 2017. This nest I know had two young and the other nest had one. Whether they successfully fledged I don’t know as we were out of town for long periods this summer. In both cases the young were there when we left town but were not there when we returned. What was interesting was the timing difference between the two nests. I would say the nest with two young was about 20 days earlier than the nest with one young.

Now returning to today, clearly, we are in period of where big changes are going on. Male Black-chinned were the first to go. Numbers started decreasing noticeably about 10 days ago and I saw my last one three days ago. The only Black-chinned coming into the feeders are now females and/or juveniles. Their numbers have decreased noticeable the last couple of days as well. My sense is they are mostly juveniles as they have bright white underparts. I won’t claim to be an expert on separating females and juveniles, but it just seems that way. Also, finally in the last 2-3 days there have been a few Calliope’s and a Rufous or two coming into the feeders.

Based on past experience I expect hummingbird numbers to be almost zero in another 10 days. Usually by the end of the first week in September they are gone. It is sad we only get to enjoy them for a bit more than 4 months a year. But, it sure is fun while they are here.

Scott

I hope you get an Anna’s, Larry! My way, I’m down to Calliopes only (not complaining!), which is a big change from last year. Last year, I had Black-chinneds through the month of September & they were my final hummingbird visitors of 2017.

My last Black-chinned feeder visitor is nearing 2wks ago. One visit only by a Broad-tailed this yr. And Rufous outlasted, by about 4-5 days, the Black-chinneds. Leaving only Calliopes now &, it appears, their numbers are rapidly dropping. The most I’m seeing at one time now is 2. I did have another N Catbird come through this evening & saw 2 E Kingbirds & another Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

According to the annual cycles illustrated in their respective BNA species accounts (The Birds of North America, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY), Black-chins and Broad-tails are essentially half-way through their fall migration periods, whereas Rufous and Calliope are roughly 2/3 of the way through theirs. But these are generalized migration periods for the purpose of graphic illustration, i.e., not precisely the same throughout their ranges (north/south in particular), and our Black-chin numbers are already less than half of what they were a couple weeks ago. The graphic for Calliope shows “??” for October, whereas every year in W Colorado we had Calliope linger to about the 2nd week of October, and one year an adult male remained into November. Broad-tails were nearly always first to depart, and Black chins were last (one year a hatch year bird almost made it to our Grand Junction CBC). Lots of variables are at play regarding migration, oui?

Heidi, our eyes are peeled for a first-of-season Anna’s, as in “ Here, hummer-hummer-hummer!!”

Speaking of Anna’s, their annual cycle in coastal California includes “??” for both migration and molt ( Clark, C. J. and S. M. Russell (2012). Anna’s Hummingbird ( Calypte anna ), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.226 ). FWIW, I’m attaching this below, not knowing if it will survive cyberspace and be legible………

Larry

Enlarge Figure 5. Annual cycle of Anna’s Hummingbird in coastal California.

Figure 5. Annual cycle of breeding, migration, and molt in a coastal California population of Anna’s Hummingbirds. During migration, birds move into mountains and southeastward across deserts; they depend on finding ephemeral food sources and may stay weeks in a place if food persists. Thick lines show peak activity, thin lines off-peak.

After spending about 2 hours shivering on my back deck, I can finally say
with confidence that there is a female Calliope Hummer coming to my feeders.
She is also terrorizing the Black-chinned females who only want to share.

Susan and I think we had a male Calliope in the spring years ago, but
neither of us are confident of that, so it’s “kind of” a new yard bird. And
we haven’t seen the Rufous in days.

Tom McCabe, Boise

Hi Larry and all

We are at 3000’ east of Viola. Mixed Ponderosa, Douglas-fir and native shrubs. Sorry about using the bander codes – we had to leave for Lewiston and I was writing email on my phone in the car where I usually have to retype lots of the words so I went for the shortcut.

The ebird list is at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48091255 but I haven’t loaded any photos yet.

I hope a few of these birds might be around tomorrow morning with the light rain this afternoon. It was really fun watching the bluebirds bathe and the white-breasted nuthatchs (a regular) interacting with the brown creeper (much less regular).

Nancy Miller

Viola, Idaho

From: LARRY ARNOLD
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2018 1:46 PM
To: Nancy Miller
Cc: IBLE
Subject: Re: [IBLE] Mixed flock moving through

I love your use of banders’ codes, and I hope no one chastises you for it…. so much easier and quicker, especially while birding, and wow what a great list Nancy!!!

Google reports your elevation as 2,631 feet, very close to ours in west Boise, 2608 feet, who knew?

I prefer to use the codes as well, since I can’t type. I think of them as simply learning another field mark… very easy with a bit of practice! 😉

Larry

_____

From: “Nancy Miller nmiller@moscow.com [ible]” >
To: “Inland” >, “ible” >
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2018 2:18:47 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Mixed flock moving through

Just had a mixed flock moving through our place east of Viola. Pretty amazing and I probably only saw half the species. They were in garden, hawthorn, bird bath, water feature, willows, etc. RCKI, OCWA RNSA WBNU BRCR WAVI SWTH AMRO YRWA. Watch for them moving thru with cold weather.
Nancy miller
Viola, ID
Sent from my iPhone

Birders,
With birds departing and/or going silent, I thought I should share a list of what Missy and I have encountered along the Greenbelt so far this month (below).
This also illustrates the new improved AOS phylogenetic order of things avian, which will take me a while to internalize.
Tom McCabe found us The Coot, which has otherwise been AWOL hereabouts, if you can imagine this!?
We are very happy to see the smokey days behind us (hope-hope), with daily high temperatures dropping a wee bit! Yeehah =)
Larry, Boise.

Species Name High Count
Canada Goose 175
Mute Swan 4
Wood Duck 45
Northern Shoveler 5
Mallard 100
Common Merganser 14
California Quail 50
Ring-necked Pheasant 1
Wild Turkey 10
Pied-billed Grebe 4
Western Grebe 1
Rock Pigeon 30
Eurasian Collared-Dove 15
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove 35
Common Nighthawk 2
Common Poorwill 3
Black-chinned Hummingbird 20
Rufous Hummingbird 3
Calliope Hummingbird 1
hummingbird sp. 1
American Coot 1
Killdeer 10
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Ring-billed Gull 4
California Gull 10
gull sp. 15
Double-crested Cormorant 40
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 4
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 15
Cooper’s Hawk 5
Sharp-shinned Hawl 3
Bald Eagle 1
Swainson’s Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 8
Western Screech-Owl 3
Great Horned Owl 2
Belted Kingfisher 14
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 10
American Kestrel 3
Prairie Falcon 2
Western Wood-Pewee 3
Willow Flycatcher 10
Empidonax sp. 1
Say’s Phoebe 1
Western Kingbird 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
flycatcher sp. (Tyrannidae sp.) 1
Warbling Vireo 3
Black-billed Magpie 45
American Crow 4
Common Raven 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Tree Swallow 6
Violet-green Swallow 40
Bank Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 100
Cliff Swallow 2
swallow sp. 80
Black-capped Chickadee 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
Rock Wren 1
Canyon Wren 1
House Wren 6
Bewick’s Wren 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 4
Gray Catbird 4
European Starling 120
Cedar Waxwing 15
House Finch 60
Lesser Goldfinch 3
American Goldfinch 15
Chipping Sparrow 4
Brewer’s Sparrow 2
Lark Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 12
Spotted Towhee 4
sparrow sp. 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 3
Bullock’s Oriole 1
Red-winged Blackbird 240
Brewer’s Blackbird 20
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
MacGillivray’s Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
American Redstart 1
Yellow Warbler 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Wilson’s Warbler 1
warbler sp. (Parulidae sp.) 2
Western Tanager 2
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
Lazuli Bunting 3
House Sparrow 10

—

I love your use of banders’ codes, and I hope no one chastises you for it…. so much easier and quicker, especially while birding, and wow what a great list Nancy!!!
Google reports your elevation as 2,631 feet, very close to ours in west Boise, 2608 feet, who knew?

I prefer to use the codes as well, since I can’t type. I think of them as simply learning another field mark… very easy with a bit of practice! 😉
Larry

—– Original Message —–

From: “Nancy Miller nmiller@moscow.com [ible]”
To: “Inland” , “ible”
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2018 2:18:47 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Mixed flock moving through

Just had a mixed flock moving through our place east of Viola. Pretty amazing and I probably only saw half the species. They were in garden, hawthorn, bird bath, water feature, willows, etc. RCKI, OCWA RNSA WBNU BRCR WAVI SWTH AMRO YRWA. Watch for them moving thru with cold weather.
Nancy miller
Viola, ID
Sent from my iPhone

Just had a mixed flock moving through our place east of Viola. Pretty amazing and I probably only saw half the species. They were in garden, hawthorn, bird bath, water feature, willows, etc. RCKI, OCWA RNSA WBNU BRCR WAVI SWTH AMRO YRWA. Watch for them moving thru with cold weather.
Nancy miller
Viola, ID
Sent from my iPhone

I am thinking about going to look for our endemic Crossbill.  Is there a particular place SE of Twin Falls that I should look?This maybe my only LIFER of the year, so I am serious about finding it.  I am planning on going the 31st, anyone interested in joining me, an extra eye is always welcome.

Thanks,Brad Hardenburger

Today has seen a sudden change in migrants. My nectar feeder is down to single visits by Calliopes only now, I think I can identify 2 or 3 individuals. But, others are now migrating through. I had an Olive-sided Flycatcher show. A flock of 25-30 Brewer’s Sparrows & a handful of juvenile Chipping Sparrows. Also saw a juvenile Red-naped Sapsucker & a couple of Wilson’s Warblers.

Most interesting to me was a group of 3 N Catbirds this evening working thru the trees. And activity by one I’ve never seen before as it sallied out from some underbrush to nab a flying midge.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot