I birded in the Lewis-Clark Valley, this Sunday, with excellent results. I
started at the Port of Lewiston, where I quickly the reported LONG-TAILED
DUCK swimming along the south side of the river, southeast of the east
grain terminal. A boat soon flushed it, and I lost track of it and moved
on. A singe BOHEMIAN WAXWING (my first of fall and not common in the
valley) flew a couple of circles, overhead.
Mann Lake was characteristically enjoyable with highlights including ~70
Snow Geese, 5 DUNLIN, 2-3 SWAMP SPARROWS, 1 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, 4
American Tree Sparrows, 1 Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler, and as I was
leaving a single calling (and briefly “binoculared”) LAPLAND LONGSPUR flew
over the creek inlet area with a few Horned Larks. The longspur is
presumably not chase-able. The Swamp Sparrows were foraging well away from
the water and with many song sparrows on the east side of the lake, beyond
the juniper row if traveling counter-clockwise from the mode airplane
area. Photos and complete list on eBird:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49861553.
Hell’s Gate SP had a lingering Say’s Phoebe. I birded Kiwanis Park,
uneventfully, and then Clearwater Landing, along the Lewiston Levee east of
West Pond. From there, I scoped across the river. With patience I refound
the Long-tailed Duck swimming right next to the barge directly across,
diving frequently, staying under water for a long time, and only surfacing
for a few seconds at a time. In the nearby trees I found my latest
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER for north Idaho. There are no previous November or
winter records of the warbler in eBird for north Idaho, but there are a
couple from the Clarkston, Washington area.
I ended the day in Washington at Swallows Park, finding none of the recent
rarities, and a quick trip up to Anatone for a Prairie Falcon, an American
Tree-Sparrow, and a probably flock of Gray-crowned Rosy-finches.
Good Birding,
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID