When I found out the Plantation Island Bridge was being reopened today, I
decided to take advantage of the easier access it provides for downstream
bike rides. When I got to the bridge they were still having an opening
ceremony, so I had to hang out for a while. I already had 25 birds by that
time, and I was only shooting for a “Highly Recommended Daily Allowance” of
40 birds. Once I got past the politicians, I found my FOY Osprey on a light
tower at Hawk Stadium. Then I ran into Larry and Missy Arnold and we were
entertained by a very active Pacific Wren and some others.

Next I headed for Hyatt and found a number of birds that added to my tally,
including a FOY Ruddy Duck. By the time I left Hyatt, I had 41 birds and now
I was looking for 50 (you know how I like round numbers). The Bald Eagles
got me half way to 50, and Barrows Goldeneye and DC Cormorants put me even
closer. But as soon as I turned around, I got hit in the face with the winds
that had previously been helping me. So I put it in a lower gear and started
slogging.

I picked up a few stragglers on the way back, and my final tally was 52
birds in 25 miles. While only 2 are FOY birds, I did get a glimpse of some
swallows at Hyatt. Even though they were gone before I could get a firm ID,
swallows always boost my numbers. Migration is happening!

Tom McCabe, Boise

While we were exploring the Springfield area Saturday we bumped into a
birder who lives in that area. He says there were several thousand snow
geese around American Falls reservoir a couple weeks ago but they headed
north while the Mud Lake country was frozen. His guess was that they may
have overflown the snow country and headed straight up to the Freezeout
Lake area. He also had just seen a male European Wigeon in a flock of
wigeon on Yuma Road.

Saw no Trumpeters but saw Tundras on Springfield Lake, 1 with a blue
neckband. It posed in front of us and I sent the collar number in. Rather
amazing given how few Tundras are neckbanded.

Ruth Shea and Rod Drewien

wow, an alternate universe you describe, Cliff
we had about 5″ of precip last month in W Boise (per our little weather station), basically all of it as rain…
reminding us of summer monsoon in Albuquerque NM, 1996, and of hummingbirds!!
yes hummingbirds!

we inhaled plenty of insects on our recent shorebird quest around SW Idaho, cough cough

here, now, there are boocoo calling Say’s Phoebes

need migrants!!

LA

From: “Cliff and Lisa Weisse cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2019 6:29:23 PM
Subject: Re: [IBLE] Re: Bannock County Sightings

FWIW, I heard the firs Canada Geese heading north over the house in Island Park last night. No swans yet. We still have a lot of snow, although it has settled considerably during the warm weather we’ve had the past week or so – down to about three and a half feet in the yard.

Cliff
On 3/25/19 5:17 PM, Robert H Davis [ mailto:rhdavis@srv.net | rhdavis@srv.net ] [ible] wrote:

I saw about 550 Snow Geese last Saturday, flying just south of Mud Lake. But did not find any on the nearby fields.

Bob Davis

> On Mar 25, 2019, at 2:50 PM, [ mailto:lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com | lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com ] [ible] [ mailto:ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com | ] wrote:
>
> Like Steve, I’m seeing fewer Trumpeter Swans &, as of yet, have not seen nor heard any Tundras. Also, no Snow Geese. So, wondering, has anyone noted any Snow Geese on east side of the state? Perhaps, both Tundra Swans & Snow Geese migrated through farther to the west this spring, as there were reports of Snows on the west side of Idaho sev wks ago.
>
> Brian Carrigan
> Blackfoot
>
> ————————————
> Posted by: [ mailto:lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com | lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com ]
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—
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho [ mailto:cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com | cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com ]

Thanks all. I’ll start listening at night as can usually hear Tundras “talking” while flying over after dark. And Snows are usually coming through about the same time, so will keep an eye out.

So far this afternoon, the only flock of white birds I’ve seen was a group of White Pelicans. And along the Snake back of the house, the Canada Geese down here have all paired up. Glad to hear the snow is settling Cliff. Was going to head up to the cabin this past weekend, but once it starts turning spring down here, I’m done with winter. Plus, fly-fishing the midge hatches has been great!

As I write this, the Blue Jay is loudly screeching at the feeder!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

FWIW, I heard the firs Canada Geese heading north over the house in
Island Park last night. No swans yet. We still have a lot of snow,
although it has settled considerably during the warm weather we’ve had
the past week or so – down to about three and a half feet in the yard.

Cliff

On 3/25/19 5:17 PM, Robert H Davis rhdavis@srv.net [ible] wrote:
>
> I saw about 550 Snow Geese last Saturday, flying just south of Mud
> Lake. But did not find any on the nearby fields.
>
> Bob Davis
>
> > On Mar 25, 2019, at 2:50 PM, lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible]
> wrote:
> >
> > Like Steve, I’m seeing fewer Trumpeter Swans &, as of yet, have not
> seen nor heard any Tundras. Also, no Snow Geese. So, wondering, has
> anyone noted any Snow Geese on east side of the state? Perhaps, both
> Tundra Swans & Snow Geese migrated through farther to the west this
> spring, as there were reports of Snows on the west side of Idaho sev
> wks ago.
> >
> > Brian Carrigan
> > Blackfoot
> >
> > ————————————
> > Posted by: lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com
> > ————————————
> >
> > To Post a message, send it to: ible@yahoogroups.com
> >
> > To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
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> > ible-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> > To view archived messages go to:
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> >
> > To view the IBLE Photos archive go to:
> >
> > http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/ible/lst
> > ————————————
> >
> > Yahoo Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
>

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

I saw about 550 Snow Geese last Saturday, flying just south of Mud Lake. But did not find any on the nearby fields.

Bob Davis

> On Mar 25, 2019, at 2:50 PM, lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible] wrote:
>
> Like Steve, I’m seeing fewer Trumpeter Swans &, as of yet, have not seen nor heard any Tundras. Also, no Snow Geese. So, wondering, has anyone noted any Snow Geese on east side of the state? Perhaps, both Tundra Swans & Snow Geese migrated through farther to the west this spring, as there were reports of Snows on the west side of Idaho sev wks ago.
>
> Brian Carrigan
> Blackfoot
>
> ————————————
> Posted by: lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com
> ————————————
>
> To Post a message, send it to: ible@yahoogroups.com
>
> To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
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>
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> ————————————
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Hi Brian, et al,
Yes, on Saturday on a PVAS field trip we found between 5-7000 SNGO,with several ROGO mixed in a field off of Strang Rd., SW of Sterling. Also, Darren Clark reported several thousand near. Mud Lake WMA. Much of Am. Falls Res. Is still frozen, as is Mud Lake, so the geese and swans seem to be hanging around for ice out. I saw flocks of Tree Swallows yesterday at. Willow Bay Marina, and hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers are on the Snake below the dam.
Cheers,
Chuck Trost

Always forward, never straight…

> On Mar 25, 2019, at 2:50 PM, lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible] wrote:
>
> Like Steve, I’m seeing fewer Trumpeter Swans &, as of yet, have not seen nor heard any Tundras. Also, no Snow Geese. So, wondering, has anyone noted any Snow Geese on east side of the state? Perhaps, both Tundra Swans & Snow Geese migrated through farther to the west this spring, as there were reports of Snows on the west side of Idaho sev wks ago.
>
> Brian Carrigan
> Blackfoot
>
>

Like Steve, I’m seeing fewer Trumpeter Swans &, as of yet, have not seen nor heard any Tundras. Also, no Snow Geese. So, wondering, has anyone noted any Snow Geese on east side of the state? Perhaps, both Tundra Swans & Snow Geese migrated through farther to the west this spring, as there were reports of Snows on the west side of Idaho sev wks ago.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

The shallow wetlands in the Marsh Valley, Portneuf River Valley and Swan
Lake areas of Bannock County are thawed out and providing superb habitat
for migrant waterfowl and even a few shorebirds right now. The large pond
at Swan Lake Slough was mostly frozen yesterday, but there were many
Canvasbacks and a sprinkling of Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American
Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, and American Coot. The big numbers were in the
upper reaches of Oxford Slough and adjacent playas where I counted over 700
Northern Pintail, close to 200 Green-winged Teal and 18 Sandhill Cranes. I
found my 1st Cinnamon Teal of the year as well as 2 early American Avocet
and 2 Long-billed Curlew. I thought I was hearing things when the first
curlew called. It seemed to be very close to my car, but I never did see
it. How could I not be able to get my eyes on such a large bird that
sounded so close!?! When it called a second and third time, I switched
thoughts from thinking I was delusional to appreciating that their powers
of remaining out of sight are better than I realized. Interestingly, the
scenario repeated itself when I stopped at another location a couple miles
down the road!

A surprise to me was the lack of swans. I found three groups of 2-6
Trumpeter Swans, but no Tundra Swans at all. It seemed like the perfect
time and habitat conditions. Perhaps the Tundras are still at Bear River
Migratory Bird Refuge.

Other migrants included almost 60 Mountain Bluebirds moving in a wave
across a large pasture and hayfield at Oxford Slough, Turkey Vulture flying
over Chubbuck, several singing Western Meadowlark at several locations, and
Yellow-headed Blackbirds singing at Swan Lake Slough. A couple Marsh Wrens
were singing vociferously at Oxford Slough, but I believe these birds
over-wintered. The Pine Siskins have all but disappeared from my feeders
in Chubbuck.

Steven F. Kahl
Deputy Project Leader
Southeast Idaho National Wildlife Refuge Complex
4425 Burley Dr., Ste. A
Chubbuck, ID 83202
C (208) 252-0805
P (208) 237-6615 ext 112
F (208) 237-8213

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