While I normally don’t go out on days where I might encounter ice, a couple of days with no biking made me change my mind. The greenbelt was generally clear, with a few bad patches in shady areas. Esther Simplot had both a Ring-necked Duck and a pair of Buffleheads, and Veterans had a ton of Hoodies and my first Barrow’s Goldeneyes of the year. Remington St. only produced Starlings, but things began to pick up on the way back. RB Nuthatches were being quite noisy just upstream from Silver Lake, and when I stopped I discovered a Downy. But I was still short of 30 birds at that time, and the wind was becoming a real problem, since it really helped going downstream but was resisting my efforts to go upstream.
At Veterans, there was a PB Grebe calling to me (just to make sure he got counted), and the A. Coots at Esther gave me 30. (Whew!) California Gulls and an A. Kestrel helped, but the real treat came when I got home. I noticed a bunch of new “whitewash” near my feeders, and when I looked up, I discovered a Great Horned Owl perched on a branch overlooking my yard. He hung out for a while until the A. Crows discovered him, but he only moved across the street to a bare branch where we could watch the crows dive bomb him. He seemed totally unconcerned throughout. Final tally was 35 birds in 10 ½ miles.
Started out Murphy’s neck partially frozen 3 juvenile bald eagles sitting on ice.went to outlet canal lower dam least sand piper still there plus says phoebe watched for about 5 mins. continue jumping up and moving around like fly catching. Anyone know what he would be feeding on in 34 degree temps .returning to Murphy’s neck 3 eagles were still there now with food on the ice one finally picked up meat and flew off
Jack, Thanks for the prose, on this amazing region of avian diversity. I remember it before fire, weeds, and ATV trails scoured the lush native shrub steppe, at which time there were many more raptors, rodents, passerines etc. “It” is now a pale version of its former self, (not to anthropomorphize) and a lesser and somewhat sad experience when I tromp through the landscape on birding and photography hikes.
— — Jack — ================================== <https://shadeTreeImaging.com/> Wildlife Photography with Emphasis on Birds ==================================
I do not chase birds as much as I chase places.
I can enjoy the birds I meet, if I enjoy the place I meet them.
================================== Find me at the intersection of Anywhere and Everywhere ==================================
We’ve had a singleton show up the past few winters. Always a surprise but now seems to be a pattern. We discovered them in pairs, usually, for the first time among our vineyard trellising in summer about 10 years ago, but now they’re present all over our rural neighborhood off Frozen Dog Rd. Still, this winter visitor comes alone.
I was surprised to see a Say’s Phoebe in my Emmett yard this snowy Sunday morning (Jan 12, 2020). They regularly stick around into the late fall, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in January.
3 Blue Jays still coming into feeders. Otherwise, no unusual feeder visitors. N Goshawk moved out of area before Christmas. Great Horned Owls are vocal at night & should be nesting soon. Also, wanted to post & check out new IBLE site!
Access road to noble island e.of hyway 45 rough leg hawk — great horned owl Murphy’s neck lake lowell mergansers comm.& hooded. big surprise trees along right side 9 great blue Heron never seen that many together there maybe good feeding with low water
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