Monthly Archives: December 2019

Listserv Posts

Barber Park (Boise)… Sparrows

On the other side of the river from Barber Park I came across a loose flock of sparrows:. Mostly SONG, but also 3 AMERICAN TREE popped out onto the trail after giving their very quiet seep calls.  Also, I heard a SWAMP SPARROW which finally gave me fairly decent views.

A nice walk with plenty of other birds.  I had to return home for a wooly hat as I’m still getting used to the Boise climate after being away for a while!

 ….walk down stream from bridge (on other side of river from the car park for barber Park) past two benches and across two small wooden bridges you come to an open area with willows on your right).   Probably quarter of a mile from bridge.
Happy birding,
Steve Dougill, Boise
Listserv Posts

Re: Boise CBC December 14 – count week starts tomorrow! & feeder counters

In my prior message, I neglected to mention “Count Week” and the contribution of folks counting birds at their feeders.
Count week: the three days
either side of our count day (on Dec 14) are valuable for birds not found on Count Day but might be observed during the count week.  A few notes: 1) all bird species seen must be within the Count Circle; 2) no need to count individual birds, only note
whatever species seen; 3) the three days before Count Day folks can be out
scouting and bring up certain birds for folks in a given area to be on
the lookout for on count day; 4) the three days after Count Day would give folks a chance to go back out to look for birds missed on count day.
  • thus, if you have time in the coming days, it’d be great to get out scouting for some less common/rare species (i.e., Brant, any owls other than Screech or Great Horned, etc.).  But, I’d save your playback ’til count day as it’s more important to find these birds on count day if we can and we don’t want to disturb birds too much anyway
Feeder counts: if you want to participate by counting birds at your feeder, please let Rob (rmagill@…) and I (carlislejay@…), including your location, so we can coordinate effort and prevent double-counting.

Thanks!

Jay
On Sunday, December 8, 2019, 8:48:42 PM MST, Jay Carlisle wrote:
Boise area birders
As many of you are already aware, it’s almost Christmas Bird Count season (!) and the Boise count is this coming Saturday, Dec 14.  Please join us if you’re interested in helping to assess the winter bird population here!
Details:
  • Where to meet: unless you’ve communicated to Rob & I
    about an alternate plan, please come to Idaho Fish & Game’s state
    headquarters office at 600 S Walnut at 7am – go around the back (~NE entrance) and find us in the Trophy Room
    • by 730-745am, we’ll aim to have everyone assigned to a territory/team and on their way to finding/counting birds
  • Post-count dinner – our plan is to gather after dark (~530-6pm, depending on how long it takes folks to commute from where they finish counting)
    at Smoky Mountain Pizza at 1805 W State St where we’ve reserved a back
    room and will pre-order at least some pizzas to be sure the early birds
    get fed!
    • It will be very helpful for us to have a head count to approximate how much food to order – thus, please:
      • RSVP (not to IBLE! but to myself & Rob)
      • let us know your ideal for toppings
      • bring some cash to pitch in for the food & drinks!
  • The attached map file shows the CBC circle and the different “territories” we’ve divided the count circle into.  For most of these we have CBC veterans already assigned but we’re always happy to enlarge the team and very happy to add bird identification & counting skills 🙂
  • Rob Magill (rmagill@…) and I (carlislejay@…) are the co-compilers – you don’t have to sign up ahead of time but, if you haven’t already reached out and are planning on participating, we’d be happy to hear from you
  • Interested in some pre-dawn owling?  We’d love your help with that!  Please just coordinate with us so we don’t send 2 groups to the same area 🙂
Thanks for your interest & happy CBC season!
Jay

Listserv Posts

Brant

To follow up on Sandra’s postings, I was able to see the Brant this morning, but only briefly. I went to ITD to look for it, when a large group of C. Geese took off from in front of the main building. I scanned the flock, but no Brant. Then I realized that there were more geese still on the ground, but there was a car slowly driving towards them. That’s when a second, equally noisy flock took off, and the car continued moving toward the remaining birds. It was either a birder trying to get a better look, or a non-birder who wondered what the unusual bird was (or someone totally oblivious).

When the car finally got too close, the last of the birds took to the air. The Brant was clearly visible in the flight, smaller and much darker than the Canadas. It flew off to the southwest, but I scanned every flock along the greenbelt all the way to Plantation Island and never saw it again.

My consolation prize was the Bald Eagle at the back pond at Esther, on the top of a dead tree, its white head and tail gleaming in the sun like a commercial for patriotism. 😉

Tom McCabe, Boise

Listserv Posts

A reminder for viewing

Hi
I debated whether or not to say this-
The Brant and Canada geese were very cautious and easily startled compared to the last time I saw them. Please please please view quietly and from a distance(when next sighted). Even when an ITD employee walked along the sidewalk the geese were on alert. Also, the road into ITD off of State Street at the light is one way so you need to go to the right as you enter from State Street.
Thanks,
Sandra Zarate
Boise