I took advantage of the unsettled weather and spent most of Sunday seeking
migrants in north-central Idaho. Active landbird migration is often
difficult to observe in this area (except for at the UI Arboretum), but
Sunday was a major exception. Every stop was practically dripping with
expected migrant songbirds, as well as with light rain. The best stop was
the UI Arboretum in Moscow, where I had the CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER,
AMERICAN REDSTART, and many additional migrants as previously reported and
detailed in eBird: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59610273. 2
Red-necked Phalaropes were at the Genesee Sewage Lagoon. Next, I birded
the IDFG Wildlife Habitat Area in Lewiston Orchards which produced a late
EASTERN KINGBIRD plus a good crop of migrant flycatchers, vireos, warblers,
and sparrows. Mann Lake had a nice selection of the expected shorebirds, a
few other waterbirds, but again the main action was with migrant songbirds
in the vegetation including warblers, sparrows, and another late-ish
EASTERN KINGBIRD. Spalding Site (Nez Perce National Historic Park) was the
slowest stop of the day, but a couple hundred Violet-Green Swallows were
streaming overhead and down the Clearwater River. An early COMMON LOON was
in the Port of Lewiston and the shrubs there also had migrants. Hell’s
Gate SP had a few small flocks of migrants including a late YELLOW-BREASTED
CHAT and a nice LEWIS’S WOODPECKER which appears to be a first for that
well-birded site. Finally, I returned to Moscow and the UI Arboretum
around 6:15PM, searched for half an hour and was about to give up when I
heard the smacking somewhat junco-like calls of the Chestnut-sided
Warbler. I briefly observed it in the Prospector Elms northeast of the
upper pond, and then it flew into the spruces directly north of the pond,
where it chipped for another minute and then apparently went to bed, and I
headed home. A great day to be out observing migrants, which I wished
would never end.
Monday, I birded the UI Arboretum for an hour after work and observed my
second GRAY FLYCATCHER for north Idaho along with still a good crop of
common western migrants.
Good Birding,
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, Idaho