Cheryl Huizinga found a Black Scoter along the lower dam at Deer Flat, possibly a female bird.
There is also a common loon and red-necked grebe near the dam.
You will need a scope for the Scoter. It is a ways from the dam.
Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho
Just in the last week I have had Evening Grosbeaks, Cassin’s Finches, Pine
Siskins, RB Nuthatches, BC Chickadees, DE Juncos, WC Sparrows, and RC
Kinglets and YR Warblers (the latter 2 heard only). That’s in addition to
the usual suspects of H. Finches, M. Doves, L Goldfinches and the occasional
A. Goldfinch in winter finery. N. Flickers still occasionally come to my
feeders, and all the activity also attracts “Alice Cooper,” to keep them all
in line.
It has already been an amazing fall in my yard, and my bike rides have
produced 41 species 2 out of the last 4 days, with 39 today. And tomorrow
there’s a big front coming down from the north that should make for even
more fun. And just 2 weeks ago I was having to bike 15 to 20 miles just to
find 30 birds.
I love the change of season!!!!
Tom McCabe, Boise
Over the past couple days my place in Idaho Falls has been quite Birdy.
Yesterday I saw a Wilson’s warbler which was a new yard bird. Several
yellow-rumped warblers were also flitting around as well as several juncos
which I only occasionally see. Also had a flicker.
Today I saw three Pine siskins which is the first time I’ve ever seen them
in my yard. I’ve seen quite a few ruby-crowned kinglets, a few American
goldfinches and lots of House finches. I still have Meadowlarks singing.
Brian,
Birded Valley County last week and saw plenty of yellow-rumped warblers,
mountain bluebirds, kinglets, and evening grosbeaks coming through around
Lake Cascade. That was my first time there birding in fall so I can’t
compare it to anything.
Here in Emmett I’ve seen a surprising number of yellow-rumped warblers,
with one or two kinglets, and the winter residents of white crowned
sparrows, oregon juncos, flickers, and cedar waxwings have arrived. The
canal is thick with goldfinches and lesser GFs.
Liz
Emmett – Gem County
We try not to take trips during our favorite time of yr in Idaho & that’s fall. Enjoy fall color, fall migration & fall-run of brown trout for fly-fishing. But, my wife & I just returned from a 2 wk small boat cruise of Canadian Maritimes & saw: Eastern Fall color (vivid maple tree reds), minke & humpback whales, went out on a lobster boat & visited many quaint towns & fishing villages. No new birds but had a great time, plus, in time for aspen & cottonwood color at home.
Before leaving, was disappointed that fall songbird migrating was just a trickle through our place. And, upon returning, seeing even less. Juncos have arrived but the only things flying seem to be the boxelder bugs! Reviewed IBLE reports & not finding much. Is anybody getting, or did locate, good numbers of migrating warblers, tanagers, etc???
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Hi Everyone,
It’s that time of year again where preparations are being made to conduct monthly raptor surveys for the East Cascades Audubon Society’s Winter Raptor Survey Project. We are entering our 9th winter of the project in Idaho and 16th winter overall since our start in Oregon during the winter of 2004-05. The chapter is based in Bend, OR. Last winter we finished up with 118 active survey routes throughout Idaho and 312 total routes in the project covering more than 18,000 miles of established transects throughout OR, ID, the Columbia River portions of WA, and the CA portions of the Klamath Basin in south central OR. Over 240 primary volunteers participated last winter. This winter, we are moving the project into all of eastern WA so it should prove to be a winter full of birds throughout the project! 🙂
My intent with this message is to advertise routes that do not currently have a volunteer and solicit your help to survey them this winter. The following routes and their lengths were developed at the beginning of the Idaho effort but have never been surveyed, they are all located in the Rupert/Burley/Minidoka area east of Twin Falls:
Acequia. 34 miles
Heyburn. 40
Minidoka NW. 68
Paul. 65
Rupert – Minidoka. 50
Rupert North. 65
The following routes are in the same R/B/M area and have been surveyed a time or two:
Burley SW. 62
Burley SE. 31
Churchill – Oakley. 69
The following new routes are located between Lewiston and Orofino:
Culdesac. 55.9
Winchester. 72.7
Craigmont – Mohler 55.6
Nezperce. 71.5
The following new routes are located just west of Lewiston and Clarkston in WA:
Cloverland. 56.3
Clarkston – Peola. 55.6
Pomeroy North. 77.2
Pomeroy South. 50.8
Other new never before run routes available include:
Worley. 67.9
Hwyy 93 Challis to Mackay Reservoir. 59.8
Genesee South 40.5
For those of you who enjoy viewing birds of prey, these surveys are a fun systematic way of satisfying that passion and we welcome all that wish to participate in this large and established citizen science project :). A few requisites include:
1. The ability to identify at least the 5 major raptor species in this project – Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, and Rough-legged Hawk. Together these make up over 90% of all birds recorded in this project. We have found 31 species of raptors over the 15 years of the project so ID knowledge of the other species besides the main 5 would be advantageous but we are also about learning about these great birds so don’t count yourself out if you don’t know them all, you can use this project to enjoy learning more about these birds!
2. We ask that you conduct at least one survey per month during the months of December through February. Optional surveys during November and March are available for those wishing more opportunities. These two months do have migration activity and this project is about monitoring winter populations but these extra surveys are encouraged if you have the desire 🙂
3. You should be comfortable driving during winter conditions in your area, snow, ice, and mud are not outside of reason to encounter :). SAFETY IS THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY in this project, we want everyone to enjoy their day in the field but also we want everyone to come home safely as well. To date, we have had zero problems with this and there have been 46,395 hours expended on these surveys while driving a total of 720,939 miles!
4. Participants should have at least a good pair of binoculars for seeing birds at a distance. Spotting scopes are not required but they would be a plus if you own one.
As part of ECAS’s desire to provide project data to the masses, we entered into an agreement with The Peregrine Fund two winters ago to supply them with our project data, they are now current with 15 years of data and we will continue to be involved with TPF for as long as this project remains active. To say the least, TPF is more than happy to have our data as they continue a major project of theirs to create a worldwide raptor database.. ECAS is happy to have this opportunity to support their efforts 🙂
If this sounds like something that you would like to get involved with, we would enjoy having your help this winter! If one of the listed routes interests you, please do not hesitate (I will necessarily have to fill these on a first come first served basis) to email me with your choice(s) and I will provide an additional amount of information, including a project survey protocol, to get you set up for your activity. We have routes in most parts of the state but if there is an area that you live in where we are not represented, I am more than willing to create a route specific to your area, I would especially like to see more representation in the extreme SE corner of the state as well as the Rupert/Burley/Minidoka area mentioned earlier. To get a better feel for the covered areas of this project, I invite you to visit the ECAS website (ecaudubon.org ) and click on “winter raptor survey” in the projects section on their home page and you will be able to access one of several monthly interactive species maps that display all of the route locations along with density and distribution of the 14 most prominent species in the project.
It would be really great to get any of the above mentioned routes into the project this winter, don’t hesitate to jump in and participate! :).. We have a little over three weeks to fill these routes, once November 1 arrives, my efforts will switch from securing volunteers for routes to processing data collected and submitted so if you are interested, please do get involved :). Thank you and I will look forward to hearing from those of you who enjoy this regal family of birds and wish to help gather information about them 🙂
Jeff Fleischer
Project Coordinator
Winter Raptor Survey Project
East Cascades Audubon Society – Bend, OR
I had a little backyard birding this morning that involved some behavior new to me. Right out in my alley in Boise’s North End, a trip to take out the garbage led to a very birdy few minutes. The Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches were very active, vocalizing and catching a bath in some standing water mid-alley, and some Dark-eyed Juncos were about as well. One of them, a female (or b-o-y?) landed on the south-facing (sunny) shingle roof on the neighbor’s garage, and as she moved around and changed positions, with a little of the shingles’ gravel flying, she seemed to taking a dust bath. Then a male flew in and gave her some attention. This behavior was akin to begging (seems late and out of place for that) so not sure exactly what these behaviors represented. Thoughts/insights?
(Originally posted on Facebook group, Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion, 10/5/19.)
One additional comment – it’s great having them back, isn’t it?
Howdy,
I drove the mudflats from AFR dam to the marina today and found six shorebird species and 31 individuals. They were KILL -6, BBPL -1, AMAV -2,
BASA 1, SAND -6, and LBDO -8. The plover, sanderlings, and dowitchers were in the bay just east of the marina. I also saw one late WFIB along the edge, but no terns.
Good Birding!
Chuck Trost
Always forward, never straight…
good challenge question, JT
aside from that stubby bill, would be a tough call, eh?
LA
From: “Jason Talbot”
To: “Carl Lundblad”
Cc: “Larry Arnold”
Sent: Wednesday, October 2, 2019 1:17:58 PM
Subject: Re: [IBLE] Fwd: Epic seawatch from Point Pinos, Monterey County — Arctic Tern spectacle
What do you look for this time of year to differentiate an Arctic Tern from the Common or Forster’s here in Idaho?
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 30, 2019, at 8:36 AM, Carl Lundblad [ mailto:carl.lundblad@gmail.com | carl.lundblad@gmail.com ] [ible] < [ mailto:ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com | ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com ] > wrote:
And some of these Arctic Terns are making it inland, with individuals documented yesterday/Sunday in Nevada and Montana. Take a close look at any late Sterna terns you might encounter in the coming weeks!
Good Birding,
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, Idaho
On Sun, Sep 29, 2019 at 11:04 AM LARRY ARNOLD [ mailto:larnold47@cableone.net | larnold47@cableone.net ] [ible] < [ mailto:ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com | ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com ] > wrote:
BQ_BEGIN
in case we have a seawatch fan on IBLE, take a peek at these lists posted by Brian Sullivan….. =)
Larry
From: [ mailto:CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com | CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com ] [mailto: [ mailto:CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com | CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com ] ] On Behalf Of Brian Sullivan [ mailto:heraldpetrel@gmail.com | heraldpetrel@gmail.com ] [CALBIRDS]
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2019 10:05 PM
To: CALBIRDS
Subject: [CALBIRDS] Re: Epic seawatch from Point Pinos, Monterey County–Arctic Tern spectacle
And here’s what happened after I left. I should have stayed!
[ https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60197815 | https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60197815 ]
On Sat, Sep 28, 2019 at 8:32 PM Brian Sullivan < [ mailto:heraldpetrel@gmail.com | heraldpetrel@gmail.com ] > wrote:
BQ_BEGIN
Hello birders,
In keeping with the unprecedented appearance of Arctic Terns close to shore this fall, this afternoon during 20-25 knot NW winds we had an amazing seawatch from Point Pinos that included hundreds (conservatively) of Arctic Terns, all three jaegers and skua, 5 shearwater species including 100+ Buller’s and 3 Manx, etc. It really was one of the best afternoons I’ve ever seen out there. My checklist is here for the time I spent this afternoon, but others stayed later and recorded ever more rarities:
[ https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60196395 | https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60196395 ]
—
——————————
Brian L. Sullivan
Digital Publications Lead
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
——————————-
—
——————————
——————————
BQ_END
BQ_END
What do you look for this time of year to differentiate an Arctic Tern from the Common or Forster’s here in Idaho?
Sent from my iPhone
> On Sep 30, 2019, at 8:36 AM, Carl Lundblad carl.lundblad@gmail.com [ible]
>
> And some of these Arctic Terns are making it inland, with individuals documented yesterday/Sunday in Nevada and Montana. Take a close look at any late Sterna terns you might encounter in the coming weeks!
>
> Good Birding,
>
> Carl Lundblad
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>> On Sun, Sep 29, 2019 at 11:04 AM LARRY ARNOLD larnold47@cableone.net [ible]
>>
>>
>>
>> in case we have a seawatch fan on IBLE, take a peek at these lists posted by Brian Sullivan….. =)
>>
>> Larry
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> From: CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Brian Sullivan heraldpetrel@gmail.com [CALBIRDS]
>> Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2019 10:05 PM
>> To: CALBIRDS
>> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Re: Epic seawatch from Point Pinos, Monterey County–Arctic Tern spectacle
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> And here’s what happened after I left. I should have stayed!
>>
>>
>>
>> https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60197815
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Sep 28, 2019 at 8:32 PM Brian Sullivan
>>
>> Hello birders,
>>
>>
>>
>> In keeping with the unprecedented appearance of Arctic Terns close to shore this fall, this afternoon during 20-25 knot NW winds we had an amazing seawatch from Point Pinos that included hundreds (conservatively) of Arctic Terns, all three jaegers and skua, 5 shearwater species including 100+ Buller’s and 3 Manx, etc. It really was one of the best afternoons I’ve ever seen out there. My checklist is here for the time I spent this afternoon, but others stayed later and recorded ever more rarities:
>>
>>
>>
>> https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60196395
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> —
>>
>> ——————————
>> Brian L. Sullivan
>>
>> Digital Publications Lead
>> Cornell Lab of Ornithology
>>
>> ——————————-
>>
>> —
>>
>> ——————————
>> ——————————
>>
>>
>
>