It felt like July 4 th when the firecracker went off. I speak fondly of Sir Rufous, AKA male Rufous Hummingbird. =) In our five yrs here, we’ve never had a Rufous in this yard until late July or early August. In fact, we’ve never had an adult male Rufous in this yard, period. So today when our male Black-chinned got chased off the humfeeder by Sir Rufous, it was like being back on the Western Slope of Colorado, IN FALL , when Rufous migrated through, as in southbound .

Our brains got all twisted up over this, but our mouths are still smiling! And did I mention that we were in the yard transplanting humplant seedlings (salvia cultivars) when this cosmic event occurred? Ha!!

Oh Be Joyful, Happy Dance Day!!

Larry and Missy

There is a Golden-crowned Sparrow this morning in the University of Idaho arboretum near the largest pond. It’s hanging out with a small White-crowned flock. I have photos.

Greg Lambeth

Sent from Greg Lambeth’s iPhone.

Left hospital I’m in a rehab unit now got Cornell lab report today and
thought I would share tricolor has honor of largest colonies of any north
American song bird. but overall on numbers way down .they mainly stay
central valley ca.i know you can figure out why.

For the 23rd year that I’ve been keeping count, a Swainson’s Hawk pair returned today. If it’s the same pair, they always show at one of our front pasture cottonwoods, where they’ve nested sev times, and always within sev hundred yds from the same tree.

I was curious what would happen this spring, because a Red-tailed Hawk pair has been roosting in the tree & eyeing an old nest site. Well, the Swainson’s Hawks made dive-bombing runs on the Red-taileds & the last I saw of the Red-taileds, they were headed out & up river. The Swainson’s are now perched in the cottonwood.

Even though we frosted last night & low Sun is supposed to be 27°, the Swainson’s give me hope that the current shoulder season will, indeed, soon turn to real spring. I’ll know for sure when I hear the first Lazuli Bunting sing.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Super!! Contrats Ron! =)

> On Apr 26, 2019, at 2:17 PM, jflyons@gmail.com [ible] wrote:
>
>
> Congrats to Ron Riley of Boise, ID!
>
>
>
> https://ebird.org/news/ron-riley-march-2019-ebirder-of-the-month
>
>
>
>

Yesterday I saw a Calliope out the window and hurried up with feeders. Today, in the howling winds, I have several Calliopes hitting feeders. Earliest arrival by a couple days.

I see on the hummer migration map there were Hummers last week in Pocatello and earlier this week in Grace, cool site.

Get those feeders up eastern Idaho.

Sandhills seem to be nesting in fields.

Bill Moore
Hoot Owl Rd
Inkom

Went to Hulls Gulch today with my ornithology class. We stood directly next to a male Calliope in a currant bush and watched as he sat there on the receiving-end of the divebomb mating/aggression display of another male CAHU! So fun to watch, and my students were imitating the “pew!” sound and laughing about that display for the rest of the day 🙂
We always play it by ear for Idaho City banding early in the season, but our first scheduled date is May 21st for monitoring there (http://hummingbirds.eventbrite.com)
We also had a flyby of another hummer that seemed large enough to be an Anna’s at Hulls today, but could not confirm. I’ve seen others eBirding a male ANHU there….very worth keeping track of him: if we are going to get a first breeding record in Idaho, that’s going to be the place!
Have to admit, we haven’t even put out our home feeder yet! Slacking….
While I’m at it and taking the time to post on IBLE I may as well also share our upcoming songbird banding dates! Free for anyone who wants to watch and enjoy 🙂   https://intermountainbirdobservatory.eventbrite.com

On Thursday, April 25, 2019, 11:26:49 PM EDT, Jonathan Barnett jrb4jc@hotmail.com [ible] wrote:

I had what looked like a Female Rufous Hummer yesterday.  FOY Lazuli Buntings showed up today, and FOY Western Kingbirds yesterday, fyi…Jonathan, Horseshoe Bend

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 
From: ible@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Richard Rusnak rarusnak62@gmail.com [ible]
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2019 8:03:19 PM
To: LARRY ARNOLD
Cc: IBLE
Subject: Re: [IBLE] hummingbirds – what are folks seeing and where ???  
Rich here reporting from S Nampa,  no BCHU’s yet, earliest for my yard is 24th. 
Cheers, R Rusnak

Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 25, 2019, at 6:03 PM, LARRY ARNOLD larnold47@cableone.net [ible] wrote:

Missy just now got on our FOY male BCHU, our earliest date ever Black-chinned Hummingbird in W Boise…  early by three daysso, fresh zuka juice feeders are going out NOW
we saw CAHU a couple days ago along Boise Greenbelt, and our really close best friend Jennifer near Idaho City reported her 1st CAHU to us on Apr 18
Heidi, what are you guys seeing or hearing?  and where?
Tom and Susan?  
other humnuts like maybe Cheryl and Denise?

cats drool, hummers rule
LA

OI, thx for posting, love it Brian !!! way hormonal over here in T Valley as well

yeehah !!!!!

here hummer hummer hummer…………

From: “lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2019 12:51:41 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Still Here

The Blue Jay came in this AM for 2-3 visits. Others this week have been the arrival of House Wrens, immediately establishing their pair bonds & territories. Sev Red-naped Sapsuckers are now here, as well. A N Flicker has been busy excavating a new cavity in a backyard cottonwood for the past 5 days. Wood Ducks are already quietly nesting.

Yesterday, I had 2 White-crowned Sparrows scratching seeds from around the feeder base along with a full breeding-plumaged Harris’ Sparrow. The American Goldfinches are all in breeding plumage now, too. And, for the past week, I’ve had evening visits by 2 Wild Turkey toms squaring off, gobbling & spurring each other over 6 hens. They’ll all put on a show for nearly an hour.. The toms’ heads, waddles & necks turn crimson red with hues of bright blue when they get within a few feet of one another. Then they fan their tails, bristle their back feathers, puff out their chests to show their beards & square off for minutes at a time. Quite the show! Last evening, just the tom with the longer beard appeared with 4 hens. So, guess he’s the main winner of the standoffs.

Appreciate the advice & comments re: eBird. Hoping, the next couple of weeks brings the arrival of some colorful songbirds.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

ja, cautiously ja!!!

From: “Janet Phillips janet.misty11@gmail.com [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2019 12:39:57 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Yellow Warblers Yahoo

Finally back out birding regularly after major back surgery and I was ecstatic to finally see some Yellow Warblers at Foote Park. Spring is finally here?

Congrats to Ron Riley of Boise, ID!

https://ebird.org/news/ron-riley-march-2019-ebirder-of-the-month https://ebird.org/news/ron-riley-march-2019-ebirder-of-the-month