Jon Curd found a female Rusty Blackbird earlier this morning and I have since seen it again. Along east side of reservoir foraging around in mud and rusty red smartweed. Matches it habitat in coloration perfectly. Great sighting Jon! Thanks!
Cheryl
Cheryl Huizinga
Caldwell, Idaho
Thanks for the info, Larry. I’ve got to get Sibley’s newest ed. I grew up with blue jays, so have become partial to Stellar’s. But, it has been interesting to see one on a regular basis again. We’ve never had one winter-over, so will see. This one is definitely partial to the black-oil sunflower seeds and is also very adept at shelling & eating them on the spot, too. He pounds them open with about 3 good strikes of his bill & eats the kernels on the spot. After about 10 or so, then starts the crop & bill filling routine with unshelled seeds. He’s making quite a store of seeds, somewhere in our vicinity.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Brian’s BLJA observations are fascinating… inspired me to do a bit of research.
The BNA species account (Smith, K. G., K. A. Tarvin, and G. E. Woolfenden (2013). Blue Jay ( Cyanocitta cristata ), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA) revealed nada about eating and/or caching sunseed, as I call it. But maybe I skimmed through it too fast? Focus appears to be on eastern food sources, nuts, seeds, insects, and being omnivorous, they eat just about anything you can imagine, and they cache “things” – nuts and seeds – from < 150 m away to as far away as several km.
The current eBird bar chart for Idaho suggests BLJA is a “wintering species” and the bar chart for SE Idaho (10 counties including Brian’s) is even more emphatic about their status as “wintering.” So I’m thinking Brian’s bird will be A-OK if it hangs around his hood. =)
But, totally guessing now, I wonder how far north Brian’s BLJA hails from? Sibley (2 nd edition, 2 nd printing, July 2014, page 375), illustrates a year-round range well north of Idaho. And just for fun, Sibley illustrates on the same page a really cool looking (just in time for Halloween) hybrid BLJA x STJA (Blue Jay cross Steller’s Jay).
Just for fun, eh?
Larry
From: "lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible]"
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2018 6:27:52 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Blue Jay Cache
I had some time this last weekend to observe the blue jay coming in to my black-oil sunflower seed feeder. And, discovered that he’s caching seeds. In one visit to the feeder he can fill his crop (noticably so) with up to 36 seeds! Then maneuver another 5-6 in a row between his upper & lower bills. So, up to 42 black-oil sunflower seeds in a single visit. Much more efficient than the 1-visit/1-seed of the little black-capped chickadees.
Then the jay will disappear & repeat the process about 45 min to an hr later. He must be thinking of staying the winter?! Not sure the blue jay knows exactly what he’s getting himself into. Guess I’ll find out.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
I had some time this last weekend to observe the blue jay coming in to my black-oil sunflower seed feeder. And, discovered that he’s caching seeds. In one visit to the feeder he can fill his crop (noticably so) with up to 36 seeds! Then maneuver another 5-6 in a row between his upper & lower bills. So, up to 42 black-oil sunflower seeds in a single visit. Much more efficient than the 1-visit/1-seed of the little black-capped chickadees.
Then the jay will disappear & repeat the process about 45 min to an hr later. He must be thinking of staying the winter?! Not sure the blue jay knows exactly what he’s getting himself into. Guess I’ll find out.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Hi Everyone,
Planning efforts are underway in Idaho for another winter of raptor surveys sponsored by the East Cascades Audubon Society based in Bend, OR. This will be the 8th survey season in Idaho (15th overall for the project in OR and parts of WA and CA) and it should be a good one with 110 routes already in play around the state! There are currently over 225 folks involved in this 4 state project surveying just over 300 routes covering 16,000+ miles of transects, a significantly large citizen science project to say the least! :). Through these surveys on preapproved survey routes, it is hoped that we can get a good understanding of population levels for the various species wintering in the project area, how they change from winter to winter, and where the various species prefer to congregate.
The purpose of this message is to let everyone know that there are routes available for adoption and I would love to get them filled 🙂 Here is the list of available routes that have had some survey work done in the past:
Gooding North
Dietrich
Richfield
Hazelton
Churchill – Oakley
Burley SW
Troy – Southwick
Inkom – McKammon
Arimo – Virginia
Montpelier – Bear Lake
Sandpoint North
In addition to the above, I have several routes put together in the Burley/Rupert/Minidoka area that have never been surveyed. They include:
Heyburn
Burley SE
Paul
Rupert North
Rupert – Minidoka
Acequia
Minidoka NW
In addition to these routes, I would like to get some new ones in place in the SE corner of the state south of Pocatello, the Moore to Challis area along Hwy 93, the Leadore/Lemhi area along Hwy 28, the Sandpoint area, the Priest River area, the Clark Fork area, the Harrison – Canyon area, the Deary area, the Tensed/DeSmet area, the Plummer/Worley/Setters area, and the Orofino/Nezperce/Craigmont area. This is a large shopping list I know but if anyone residing in these areas would like to get involved this winter with the project, I will certainly spend the time to work with you to create survey routes to accommodate that desire to participate 🙂
For this project, volunteers are asked to do one survey a month during December, January, and February. Most of these routes are 40-70 miles in length and you should expect to commit 3-6 hours ( or more if you find lots of birds!:) ) to do the surveys. A survey protocol is in place to instruct you how to do the surveys and how to report collected data back to me. You should be able to comfortably identify the primary species such as Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, Northern Harriers, Bald Eagles, and Rough-legged Hawks and be on guard for the less common species of buteos, falcons and accipiters and even owls. Binoculars are pretty much a must in order to get close looks at birds and spotting scopes would be a bonus if you have one. It goes without saying that volunteers should be comfortable with driving in typical winter weather conditions for Idaho, driving safety is the primary goal for all project related activities. You can certainly bring along friends and/or family to share the experience with and to have extra eyes looking for birds 🙂
I can pretty much guarantee that you will enjoy the survey effort if you get involved and by the end of the survey season you will hopefully have a much better understanding of raptor winter biology for your efforts 🙂 You might even get hooked like the current cadre of volunteers to continue this activity for winters to come 🙂 Do join us in learning more about this regal family of birds! 🙂 If you want to take on one of the routes listed above or start up a new one in your area listed above, please email me directly and I will get you involved right away 🙂 Thank you,
Jeff Fleischer
Project Coordinator
Winter Raptor Survey Project
East Cascades Audubon Society – Bend, OR
raptorrunner97321@yahoo.com
you guys with BLJA rock !!
green here… 😉
LA
From: “lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2018 2:31:20 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Blue Jay
Hey Barbara, you’re blue jay photo is a lot better than mine! I wouldn’t even try to post mine…just a blue smudge. My blue jay is going on a week now with feeder visits. Maybe more around E Idaho.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Hey Barbara, you’re blue jay photo is a lot better than mine! I wouldn’t even try to post mine…just a blue smudge. My blue jay is going on a week now with feeder visits. Maybe more around E Idaho.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Hello everyone,
This morning I visited Pipeline Campground on the Snake River in Power Co.
Notable birds present today were one 1st winter/ juvenile Surf Scoter and 2
juvenile American Golden-Plovers. Both bird types were observed upstream of
the main parking spot less than a quarter of a mile, although the scoter
moved around some. Many fly fisherman out this weekend, which limited me
from scouring the gull flocks.
Here is an eBird checklist with some photos and descriptions:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49493015
Good Birding,
Austin Young
Pocatello
—
Austin Young
Promise not to laugh at my iPad photo, but at least you can tell what it is!
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
Around December of 2001, I made some of my first postings to IBLE with a visit to my yard feeder by a female Purple Finch. Charles Trost & others verified the sighting. This AM, while finishing stacking my last cord of firewood, I saw a different finch at the feeder. Another female Purple Finch. Haven’t had a yard sighting in years (first one was 12/16/01). The Blue Jay continues with irregular visits, too.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot