Fascinating, what a few miles difference makes. Patty’s report of Lesser Goldfinches makes me envious. And, as the crow flies, our places couldn’t be more than 15 mi apart & I have yet to see a Lesser Goldfinch at our place.

I’ve been looking closely, for the past month, at all the American Goldfinches (30+) & the Pine Siskins (20+) & no Lessers. I’ll try to encourage my Blue Jay to make a quick bird-exchange visit to you for a few of your Lessers heading my way, lol. A new arrival today was a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Haven’t heard one in sev months.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot (west of, near Snake River)

We have plenty of Pine Siskins to share. They are vying with the American Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches for a spot at the finch feeders. Surprisingly, the Legos outnumber everyone.

Far fewer juncos this year than ever before.

I wish Brian’s Blue Jay would wander a bit farther afield. Would love to see him here.

Patty Gailey
Blackfoot
(East of Blackfoot near the Blackfoot River)

Sent from Windows Mail

I stopped at Coeur d’Alene City Beach late Saturday afternoon and was
pleased to find a first-cycle KUMLIEN’S ICELAND GULL, a Thayer’s Iceland
Gull, and a nice adult MEW GULL that posed well. There were quite a lot of
waterfowl and other birds around including a flock of Canvasbacks at
Independence Point. Gull pics in eBird:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52795335.

Good Birding,

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID

Glad a Pine Siskin showed up your way, Larry! Their numbers just keep increasing at my feeders. I had over 20 emptying the thistle feeder twice today. They’ll also go after the black oil sunflower seeds but thistle is their favorite. When a flock of siskins took to the air & into the treetops, there were easily 35+ birds present.

Also saw an American Robin with a leukistic face. And a very orange male House Finch. The Blue Jay continues its daily visits & prefers, above all else, whole corn kernels.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Tom, Brian, are either of you missing a siskin this morning? 😉

One just now showed up at our feeders
a first since mid-November
yay, finally!

Larry, W Boise, with a light dusting of snow

From: “‘Tom McCabe’ tmccabe9@cableone.net [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2019 10:37:57 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Pine Siskins!

Apparently the trail of bread crumbs and seeds that I put out from my house to Brian’s in Blackfoot has finally worked. Today I had my first Pine Siskin in ages. He didn’t stay long, but now I know they’re here. I’m hoping we’ll get the numbers we had a few years ago where they would eat out of my hand. 😉

Tom McCabe, Boise

Today has seen more Pine Siskin visitors. I had about 10 coming into the feeders, again, all quite tame. Then, I got distracted by a flyover of 3 Rough-legged Hawks. Followed by heading down to the river where I watched Common Goldeneyes diving for a bit.

On the way back to the house a group of small, chatty birds flew into the top if a cottonwood & started eating buds. I counted at least 20 more Pine Siskins. And, then 2 groups of larger birds came in, taking over & pushing the Siskins out. About 30 Cedar Waxwings in 2 different groups. The Blue Jay is still coming in, as well.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

The other day it was just one Pine Siskin. Today it’s about a dozen, along
with a slew of American Goldfinches, Lessers, House Finches (RED against the
snow), and Mourning Doves, A. Robins, and N. Flickers. We have rudbeckia all
over the yard that we allowed to die in place and dry out, so now it
provides a lattice work of perches and feeding stations. All the different
finches love the rudbeckia seed pods. What’s amazing is that they barely
bend the branches when they land. Way cool.

BTW, yesterday was also a good day for birds in the back yard, so when the
streets cleared I had to get on my bike. I thought I would stay in the North
End, but dry streets and more birds got me as far as Esther Simplot (and a
few icy patches that caused some concern). But what was great is that I got
my 30 birds in less than 6 miles, including a Say’s Phoebe flying around
near the greenbelt underpass, and then a flyover by a Bald Eagle. Now if he
would just fly over my house today, that would be even better. 😉

Tom McCabe, Boise

Here’s the latest set of records IBRC has completed voting on. Of note
is the removal of Swamp Sparrow from the Review List for the Panhandle
region in Winter. Seems birders have figured out when and where to
locate them so they are now being reported regularly. Thanks to all who
clarified the species’ distribution in the region by submitting
documentation.

Cliff

Accepted in first round (7-0):
Whimbrel 13-B-2017
Hudsonian Godwit 12-B-2016
Dunlin 4-B-2016
Say’s Phoebe 77-B-2015
Hermit Warbler 40-B-2016
Red-flanked Bluetail 1-A-2017
Williamson’s Sapsucker 44-B-2016
White-rumped Sandpiper 43-B-2016
American Bittern 41-B-2016
Winter Wren 39-B-2016
White-winged Dove 40-B-2016
Great Crested Flycatcher 3-A-2017
Brown-headed Cowbird 2-B-2017
Swamp Sparrow is removed from Review List for Winter/Panhandle

Not Accepted in first round (0-7):
Greater Roadrunner 1-A-2016

Accepted in second round:
Little Blue Heron 59-B-2015 (7-0)
Red-shouldered Hawk 35-B-2016 (7-0)

Not Accepted in second round:
Winter Wren 4-A-14 (0-7)
Glossy Ibis 24-B-2016 (1-6)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 31-B-2016 (2-5)

Not Accepted in third round:
Red-shouldered hawk 39-B-14 (4-3)
Black-throated Blue Warbler 19-B-2016 (1-6)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I’ve been asked a few times about the meaning of the alpha-numeric codes
shown after the species name in the list of reviewed records I send out
in these updates.  All records are in this format:
Species name, Record Number, (Vote).
Species name is self explanatory.
The record number is in 3 parts separated by hyphens.  The first part is
the number of the record within a given year.  The second part is a
letter, either A or B, which designates whether the report is for a
species with previous Idaho records (B), or if the report is for a
species not yet documented in Idaho (A).   The third part is the year in
which the report was submitted.
The numbers in parenthesis are the final vote arrived at by IBRC for the
record, with the first number for “accept” votes, the second for “not
accept” votes.  First round votes must be unanimous to be decisive so
any record Accepted/Not Accepted in first round is necessarily 7-0 or 0-7.

Here’s an example:
Lincoln’s Sparrow 11-B-13 (7-0)
In this case the species is Lincoln’s Sparrow.
The record number, 11-B-13, shows that this is the 11th report submitted
to IBRC during the year, the “B” shows that there are previous records
for Lincoln’s Sparrow, “13” is the year, 2013.
The numbers in parenthesis, (7-0), are the final vote on the record.  7
votes to Accept, 0 votes for Not Accept.

Accepted in first round:
Bewick’s Wren 15-B-13

Accepted in second round:
Lincoln’s Sparrow 11-B-13 (7-0)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

-Report rarities to the Idaho Bird Records Committee via the online form
at:
http://www.idahobirds.net/ibrc/rarebirdreportform.html or you can email
your report to rarebirdreport@idahobirds.net
-Helpful tips for preparing your report can be found in this article:
http://www.idahobirds.net/ibrc/documentation.html
-Don’t forget to check the Review List before taking the time to prepare
a report:
http://www.idahobirds.net/ibrc/reviewspecies.html
-You can contact the Secretary via email at this address:
secretary@idahobirds.net
-As always you can email any Committee member with questions. Addresses
can be found here:
http://www.idahobirds.net/ibrc/members.html

—
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com

Well, Tom let’s keep that seed trail going from SE ID to Boise & back. ‘Cause it was fun having the Pine Siskins so close. They practically did eat out of my hand, as they were clinging to the thistle feeder, while I was still holding it. Tame & ravenous little birds! My sister sent me a photo of an Anna’s Hummingbird visiting their feeder outside Gig Harbor, WA with 6 inches of snow in the background. Interesting winter!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Tom –

Same thing on my FOY Pine Siskins yesterday. Caught them going and coming
on my morning walk to Hyde Park. I noted on my eBird checklist for the day
that I also had other flocks of finches, though strangely no American
Robins, European Starlings, or House Sparrows, in addition to other “sure
things”. Blowing snow and cold temps, in my analysis, seemed to contribute
to the absences. (That’s a data point of one of course!)

—
Jim Lyons
jflyons@gmail.com
208-340-0533

On Sun, Feb 10, 2019 at 10:38 AM ‘Tom McCabe’ tmccabe9@cableone.net [ible] < ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

>
>
> Apparently the trail of bread crumbs and seeds that I put out from my
> house to Brian’s in Blackfoot has finally worked. Today I had my first Pine
> Siskin in ages. He didn’t stay long, but now I know they’re here. I’m
> hoping we’ll get the numbers we had a few years ago where they would eat
> out of my hand. 😉
>
> Tom McCabe, Boise
>
>
>