Sounds good!! There are some advantages to growing older!!
Monthly Archives: August 2020
Re: Trip for Tufted and Horned Puffins
I’d love to go but I can’t get away from work. Next year at this time though I’ll be free as a bird. 🙂
Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho
Trip for Tufted and Horned Puffins
Is anyone interested in going on a 3-hour tour boat this Thursday to see the several Tufted Puffins and 1 Horned Puffin around Smith Island off Fidalgo Island (Anacortes, WA)
They have been there since August 3rd and weather report is good. This is a whale tour company but they have a group of WA birders who want to go out (max. 8) for the puffins. You have to get to Seattle at least by Thursday a.m. and take ferries from Anacortes to San Juan Island for a departure of 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Bill and I are leaving tomorrow but flying is an option. Reply by email if you want contact information for the tour company—Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching
They have been there since August 3rd and weather report is good. This is a whale tour company but they have a group of WA birders who want to go out (max. 8) for the puffins. You have to get to Seattle at least by Thursday a.m. and take ferries from Anacortes to San Juan Island for a departure of 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Bill and I are leaving tomorrow but flying is an option. Reply by email if you want contact information for the tour company—Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching
Ada County Rare Bird Alert
great birds in crazy locations, eh? esp those nutcrackers =)
gotta say that the weather has definitely felt “shifty” hereabouts (Boise) over the last couple of days
Larry
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: “ebird-alert” <ebird-alert@…>
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2020 8:46:41 AM
Subject: [eBird Alert] Ada County Rare Bird Alert <daily>
*** Species Summary:
– Hairy Woodpecker (2 reports)
– Clark’s Nutcracker (2 reports)
– Gray Catbird (1 report)
– White-crowned Sparrow (2 reports)
– Green-tailed Towhee (1 report)
———————————————
Thank you for subscribing to the <daily> Ada County Rare Bird Alert.The report below shows observations of rare birds in Ada County. View or unsubscribe to this alert at https://ebird.org/alert/summary?sid=SN36228
NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated.
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Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus) (1) CONFIRMED
– Reported Aug 30, 2020 07:36 by Peter Olsoy
– Boise River WMA–Headquarters, Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.5748436,-116.022469&ll=43.5748436,-116.022469
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72995568
– Comments: “Louder peek call (compared to downy) and size impression was robin sized.”
Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus) (1) CONFIRMED
– Reported Aug 30, 2020 07:36 by Katie Sorenson
– Boise River WMA–Headquarters, Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.5748436,-116.022469&ll=43.5748436,-116.022469
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72995569
– Comments: “Louder peek call (compared to downy) and size impression was robin sized.”
Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) (5)
– Reported Aug 30, 2020 09:40 by Jay Carlisle
– Bitteroot neighborhood , Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.599982,-116.278439&ll=43.599982,-116.278439
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72988407
– Comments: “Big surprise!! Heading ~N. Gray body, black wings & tail with white patches, almost as big as nearby SS Hawk. Seen simultaneously with Ann S – alone McMulllen E of Cole”
Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) (5)
– Reported Aug 30, 2020 10:24 by Ann Swanson
– Canal Bank between Cole Rd. and Aurora St., Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.5977459,-116.269083&ll=43.5977459,-116.269083
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72991532
– Comments: “First seen and identified by Jay Carlisle as we were chatting on the street. as we turned to go our separate ways, he called back to me identifying the CLNU. He saw 5, I saw 3. Birds were flying away from me along McMullen St. near Cole St. I saw a bird a bit larger than an American Robin with a long tail. Tail had obvious white along sides. Wings had white on the trailing edges.”
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) (1) CONFIRMED
– Reported Aug 29, 2020 06:35 by Jay Carlisle
– Intermountain Bird Observatory at Lucky Peak, Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.6056275,-116.0600716&ll=43.6056275,-116.0600716
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72993520
– Comments: “First heard calling and then later seen by SM. Gray body, long tail, rufous UTCs.”
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) (1) CONFIRMED
– Reported Aug 30, 2020 07:36 by Katie Sorenson
– Boise River WMA–Headquarters, Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.5748436,-116.022469&ll=43.5748436,-116.022469
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72995569
– Comments: “Juvenile white-crowned, right after the gate. A bit early”
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) (1) CONFIRMED
– Reported Aug 30, 2020 07:36 by Peter Olsoy
– Boise River WMA–Headquarters, Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.5748436,-116.022469&ll=43.5748436,-116.022469
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72995568
– Comments: “Juvenile white-crowned, right after the gate. A bit early”
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) (1) CONFIRMED
– Reported Aug 29, 2020 06:35 by Jay Carlisle
– Intermountain Bird Observatory at Lucky Peak, Ada, Idaho
– Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=43.6056275,-116.0600716&ll=43.6056275,-116.0600716
– Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72993520
– Comments: “Banded. Greenish-gray upperparts, wing coverts, and rectrices. Grayish-white underparts with contrasting white throat and malar. Dark reddish cap molting in. Hatch year. Photos.”
***********
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Re: Close Encounter
An astonishing moment, Tom. Even for one who has seen or heard thousands of birds over the years, a close encounter of the life-and-death kind would be intense. Thanks for sharing. I read that Cooper’s sometimes rocket about at their own expense. In studies of deceased Cooper’s, about 20% had broken sternums, presumably from crashing into tree parts as they’re nipping through the foliage at high speed.
You’re also a known and respected person in certain corners of local law enforcement. I was recording ducks feeding in the shallows near the West Greenbelt Bridge several weeks ago when a couple of middleaged gentlemen from the Boise Police Departement strolled up to say hello. They walk and bike the Greenbelt keeping an eye out for the random citizen raising a ruckus. When they saw my interest in the ducks they told me about a chap they see all over the Greenbelt accounting for the local birds. “Is he riding a bike and is his name, Tom?” I asked. They grinned and said, “The very same.” They had warm praise for you and asked me to tell you hello.
Kevin Merrell
Re: Close Encounter
Tolls would be nothing. What if you’d been asked to produce a passport. ;-}
CGB. RL
Re: Close Encounter
What drama, Tom!
Have the same theatrics playing out in our backyard – just feet away from us – bold as brass – terrorizing the birds at the feeder.
Liz Medes
Emmett – the east side
Re: Close Encounter
Good one, Tom =)
This reminds me of Placerville (Boise County), which has a parking meter right in front of the rest room, worthy of a good laugh every time.
Close Encounter
We have a Pine Siskin that seems a little slow. Or maybe he’s just more tolerant of humans. Anyway, I was walking my bike across our back yard, approaching the tray feeder with the “Slow Siskin” in it, when a rocket flew by me and the slow poke Siskin rocketed out of the feeder. He managed to stay ahead of the Cooper’s Hawk and get up into the maple. The rocketing Cooper’s came closer to me than any hawk ever has. And the whole event was over in a flash. Way cool.
It was also quite cool, almost cold, on my bike ride today, but the birds were not cooperative. I ended up having to go all the way downstream to the end of the paved path (20 miles round trip) before I achieved my “Recommended Daily Allowance” of 30 species. Thirty has gotten more difficult of late, but this was crazy. On the bright side, I got to watch a Great Egret glide in for a landing at one of the ponds near the end of the paved.
BTW, weird that I start in Boise, pass into Garden City, then back into Boise and end up at a rest room maintained by Eagle. I should be glad they don’t all charge tolls. 😉
Tom McCabe, Boise
Bit of an Exodus
With an arriving cold front, am seeing a bit of an exodus. Appears I’m down to a single juvenile Black-chinned Hummingbird at the feeder. After having a rush, for the past 2 weeks, of almost exclusively juv Calliopes. Not a single Broad-tailed, as of yet. Also, where I was seeing upwards of 15 juv Black-headed Grosbeaks at seed feeder all last week, yet to see any this AM. And, a good crop of juv Lazuli Buntings appear to have exited.
Sure hoping for a good fall warbler migration. Last year was a bust at my area. Not a single Townsend’s. Miss seeing the mixed groups of 50+ warblers, kinglets & vireos pushing through in waves, that I could used to count on witnessing. Last couple of falls have had much fewer numbers.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot