I had 4 Orioles appreciating my food offerings this evening and I
appreciate their beauty. And tonight I walked outside at 10:40 p.m. and
could hear at least 2 Common Poorwills calling in the l sagebrush valley
just below my house. Last year was the first year I have been aware of
their presence in that area.

Was just now watching the feeders to see if today’s rainy weather brought in any spring arrivals & was pleasantly surprised to find a male Lazuli Bunting, with that impossible turquoise blue head, come in for seeds. My favorite spring arrival! Other spring residents shouldn’t be too far behind.

Appears (cautious statement) that the Blue Jay has moved on. Haven’t seen since last Fri nor heard since Sun. But, it has surprised me, when I’ve thought the same, by suddenly appearing. However, I’ve not heard its loud morning or evening announcements since Sun AM.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Birders, Listers, and everyone else,

attached file is complements of RL, an updated checklist for Idaho =)
it lacks status and occurrence info, but i’m guessing most folks don’t use that anyway, or can easily find it on eBird, eh?

hope you don’t mind – RL – because this took me by surprise and I think other folks ( not on eBird for example ) might have an interest

Larry
Boise

p.s. apologies if this was already posted on IBLE, if so i missed it

From: “Ronald Rowland”
To: “Larry Arnold”
Sent: Monday, April 8, 2019 8:46:48 PM
Subject: New IBRC State Checklist

Larry, RL here.
Happened to be looking at Idaho Birds Facebook sightings. Saw a message that the new Official Idaho State Checklist is out. You can download it at the IBRC website, but I took the liberty to make the pdf. attachment here for you.
432 official species now. Enjoy.
CGB. RL

10 Wilson’s Phalaropes on the Roberts Sewage Ponds yesterday.

Kit

Kit Struthers
Idaho Falls, ID
kit619@centurylink.net

I had 2 Orioles on Saturday just east of Idaho Falls. They flew away before
I could get food out. I heard them again today so hopefully they will find
the food!

Today, had a Chipping Sparrow arrive. It was just getting its breeding color rufous crown.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

We had our first Bullock’s Oriole checking out our feeders yesterday here
at our home in Blackfoot . He was not impressed with the seeds and told us
to get busy and put out the oriole food.

Ruth Shea

Scott, sincere thanks for your note. I’ve often heard male CAHU sound like they have a “loose or worn primary” or something that might sound like that? but that was during fall migration, at locations that had Calliope only during fall migration. I support your call to caution on ID of male BTLH by wing sound, and I’d say the same for males of other species, unless we have them at our feeders annually and hear them daily, like all day long. Experience is key. I’m tempted to say more because hums are fascinating, but it’s Time for me to get back out there among our feeders and check on the status of our hum-cussing and hum-fussing… =)

Larry

From: “Scott Tuthill satuthill@cableone.net [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2019 2:34:41 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Hummingbird Report — Boise Highlands

Let me follow up from Larry’s Hummingbird Report with my own
observations here in the Highlands area of Boise.

I got our feeders up on April 30th and immediately had both
Black-chinned and Calliope visiting the feeders. I don’t keep as
accurate of records as Larry but in the last 10-12 years I think we have
had our FOY hummers in April only 2-3 times. The more normal date is May
3-5 or so. So yes, this is an early year.

So far I have only seen male Black-chinned but have both male and female
Calliope. Like Larry’s place, outside of spring and fall migration, the
only hummingbirds we have are Black-chinned. Calliope and Rufous are
brief visitors, hanging out only until they feel like moving on to
where they really want to be.

I want to pass on an observation and see if others have comments.
Yesterday I heard a hummer come in that sounded like a Huey Helicopter.
It’s wings were really loud. Almost like some of the flying beetles I
have seen and heard. Of course I immediately thought it was a
Broad-tailed – a specie I have only seen 2-3 times here and in the fall.
When I finally got a good look at it I realized it was a Calliope – no
doubt. The question then is why was it’s wingbeat so loud? A damaged
primary? Moulting? Any thoughts? I also want to caution folks to make a
Broad-tailed ID call based on wingbeat noise. I noticed a bunch of
recent eBird sightings of Broad-tailed that referenced this usual field
trait. But, it also seems like there might be “noisy Calliope’s” out there.

Scott Tuthill

About a week ago a neighbor told me she had a Rufous in her back yard. I was skeptical until I saw the chubby little ball of fire. That same day we had our first BC male at our feeders here in the North End. And yesterday I had a female Black Chinned come to our feeders 3 times while I was sitting outside with binos (and a beer). And I saw a male Calliope in Hulls Gulch last Thursday, but none in my yard so far.

Lots of other arrivals are making it easier for me to meet my 30 bird quota every day.

Tom McCabe, Boise

From: ible@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ible@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Scott Tuthill satuthill@cableone.net [ible]
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2019 2:35 PM
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBLE] Hummingbird Report — Boise Highlands

Let me follow up from Larry’s Hummingbird Report with my own
observations here in the Highlands area of Boise.

I got our feeders up on April 30th and immediately had both
Black-chinned and Calliope visiting the feeders. I don’t keep as
accurate of records as Larry but in the last 10-12 years I think we have
had our FOY hummers in April only 2-3 times. The more normal date is May
3-5 or so. So yes, this is an early year.

So far I have only seen male Black-chinned but have both male and female
Calliope. Like Larry’s place, outside of spring and fall migration, the
only hummingbirds we have are Black-chinned. Calliope and Rufous are
brief visitors, hanging out only until they feel like moving on to
where they really want to be.

I want to pass on an observation and see if others have comments.
Yesterday I heard a hummer come in that sounded like a Huey Helicopter.
It’s wings were really loud. Almost like some of the flying beetles I
have seen and heard. Of course I immediately thought it was a
Broad-tailed – a specie I have only seen 2-3 times here and in the fall.
When I finally got a good look at it I realized it was a Calliope – no
doubt. The question then is why was it’s wingbeat so loud? A damaged
primary? Moulting? Any thoughts? I also want to caution folks to make a
Broad-tailed ID call based on wingbeat noise. I noticed a bunch of
recent eBird sightings of Broad-tailed that referenced this usual field
trait. But, it also seems like there might be “noisy Calliope’s” out there.

Scott Tuthill

Let me follow up from Larry’s Hummingbird Report with my own
observations here in the Highlands area of Boise.

I got our feeders up on April 30th and immediately had both
Black-chinned and Calliope visiting the feeders. I don’t keep as
accurate of records as Larry but in the last 10-12 years I think we have
had our FOY hummers in April only 2-3 times. The more normal date is May
3-5 or so. So yes, this is an early year.

So far I have only seen male Black-chinned but have both male and female
Calliope. Like Larry’s place, outside of spring and fall migration, the
only hummingbirds we have are Black-chinned. Calliope and Rufous are
brief visitors,  hanging out only until they feel like moving on to
where they really want to be.

I want to pass on an observation and see if others have comments.
Yesterday I heard a hummer come in that sounded like a Huey Helicopter.
It’s wings were really loud. Almost like some of the flying beetles I
have seen and heard. Of course I immediately thought it was a
Broad-tailed – a specie I have only seen 2-3 times here and in the fall.
When I finally got a good look at it I realized it was a Calliope – no
doubt. The question then is why was it’s wingbeat so loud? A damaged
primary? Moulting? Any thoughts? I also want to caution folks to make a
Broad-tailed ID call based on wingbeat noise. I noticed a bunch of
recent eBird sightings of Broad-tailed that referenced this usual field
trait. But, it also seems like there might be “noisy Calliope’s” out there.

Scott Tuthill