Hey Carl, thank you 10^6 for this informative and fun read about crossbills!!Missy and I are now packing to move back to N Idaho…😉We esp love that Hoodoo area, almost any day at o’dark-thirty… camping thereabouts has got to be incredible! I’m getting homesick just thinking about all the places you mention. And since you mention it, I’ve also been longing to return to the Rubies this year, first place our daughter did a seriously long hike with us.
North Idaho has been experiencing a veritable “Crossbill-apalooza” in recent weeks, with crossbills of various types in just about every wooded habitat from residential areas on the prairie to subalpine fir and every forest type in between. Red Crossbills of “call types” 2-4 have been commonly detected, and we are also hosting more White-winged Crossbills (and not just in the northernmost mountains of Boundary and Bonner Counties) than I have ever seen, here. Abundant cone crops are ripening on many of our conifers and perhaps especially the hemlocks but also among other species. Birders in southern Idaho (and maybe places like the Ruby Mountains of northern Nevada) should also be alert for White-winged and various Red Crossbill types.
This past week I spent some time in the St. Joe Mountains, between the St. Joe and CDA Rivers and northeast of St. Maries Idaho. Crossbills were everywhere, and the BLM Sheep Springs Trailhead, Overlook, and “Campground” was a particularly good location for observing and recording crossbills. Among my many recordings, crossbill expert Tim Spahr picked out a recording of a Type 10 (“Sitka Spruce”) Red Crossbill: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72406027. This same location also hosted Red Crossbill types 2,3, 4, and a couple of flyby White-wings. Tim believes this is probably the first-documented Type 10 Red Crossbill for Idaho, and indeed it is the only eBird record between the Washington Cascades and the prairie of eastern North Dakota.
The area around nearby Crystal Lake was also full of crossbills, and as one leaves the lake (heading south and west towards the Pearson Peak trail) White-winged Crossbill became the most common crossbill: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72405939.
The Crystal Lake and Sheep Springs area is all part of the Crystal Lake Wilderness Study Area and provides delightful high-elevation hiking and birding in Benewah County, accessed by long rough approach roads from either the St. Joe. or CDA Rivers. Other interesting birds in the general area included a Rock Wren near Pearson Peak, a couple of fly-by Clark’s Nutcrackers, and a Northern Goshawk.
Nearby in the CDA River Valley and Chain of Lakes region, I checked out the shorebirds at Schlepp Ranch, recently reported on by Doug Ward. Present on Thursday afternoon were numerous mostly-distant shorebirds including a Pectoral Sandpiper, 4 Black-necked Stilts, 3 Baird’s Sandpipers, Western, Least, and both Yellowlegs. A few more Least Sandpipers were at the Canyon Rd. Marsh, north of I-90 at Rose Lake (see eBird hotspot). Earlier in the day, 3 juvenile Franklin’s Gulls were at Sandpoint City Beach with the first adult Herring Gull of the season. Two Solitary Sandpipers were where Edgemere Cutoff Road crosses Hoodoo Creek in the Hoodoo Valley of SW Bonner County. It was nice to wake up to the calls (“skiews”) of a Northern Saw-whet Owl and then the toots of a Northern Pygmy Owl, at my random campsite on Hoodoo Mountain, Thursday morning.
It was Bill Moore who peaked my interest in estimating total hummingbird numbers to my feeders. He uses a caloric intake calculation which would be a quite accurate method. In Googling his method & others, I’ve also found another calculation. Take most hummer numbers seen at feeders at one time & multiply by 6.
I’ve been checking both methods the past week & found that each gives results within 2-3 birds of one another. Yesterday, at most, by each calculation would have had 36 hummers. This AM, 18. This AM, seeing juv Black-chinned & Calliope only. Makes me wish I had watched real-time Doppler last night (as previously discussed with Robert) to look for an outgoing rush of “biologics”. As seeing much fewer BH Grosbeak numbers this AM, as well.
In any case, appears fall movement to the south of songbirds has started in earnest. Not surprising, with recent onset of heat wave, wildfires & cool mornings.
Interesting, re: the molting info, Bill. Earlier in the week, I was seeing some “scruffy” juveniles, mainly Black-chinned. Since Thu, all are bright & fresh looking.
I haven’t seen an adult of any, Black-chinned, Rufous nor Calliope, since Wed. All are juveniles & still getting all 3. Although, Rufous are fewest in number, as of today. No Broad-taileds here, as of yet.
I’m still getting many hummers. I refilled feeder number 132 today after three yesterday. That’s a few ahead of last year’s figures, retired engineers do numbers. I guess I’ve got all normal species, but not many rufous if any. They are displaying and charging each other with passion.
One observation after Jay’s molting facts, are some are brilliantly feathered, M & F, and some are quite dusky and mottled. Last year the feeder numbers dropped precipitously at August month end.
We are a breeding mecca for house wrens. There were two batches in the garage, two in bird house on driveway and several batches around the house. Now I think a pair is trying one more time in the yews under the front window.
Brian, we had a flurry of black-chinned and rufous duking it out for a week, and now near silence. They did drain the 2 cup feeders in a matter of days, I guess I should do the math but that sounds like plenty. I’m waiting for a broad-tailed to show up. Or at least a Calliope. The hummers are hitting the hyssop fairly hard as well.
Seeing lots of juvenile hummingbirds. Have: Black-chinned, Rufous & Calliope. The only time they’re semi-tolerant of one another is right at daybreak. They’re at least civil, with a hummer perched at each port & sev hovering, waiting their turn. But, after about 20 minutes, pure chaos. I’ve seen at least 11 individual hummingbirds, including a juv Black-chinned with some leucistic wing feathers.
Based on previous correspondence with Bill Moore, calculated by how much nectar they’re consuming, at least 35 diff’t hummers are hitting the feeder. Also, saw 2 juvenile Spotted Towhees scratching under the seed feeder, bringing nesting birds to #31 for the place.
Many thanks for that foot tip. I’ll remember that. The chest pattern told me RT but all the white on the face made me think otherwise. Happy to be set straight. Between here and Montour at the moment it is thick with raptors, particularly late evening. Nice place to practice.
Yes, Chuck is correct – I didn’t see the original photos from your yard, and assumed we were talking about the photo in the second post. But the photos of the hawk in your yard are indeed of a juvenile Red-tailed, as Chuck says.
I feel that stability has returned to the universe, as it was very disconcerting to me to disagree with Chuck on an i.d. 😉
Liz, note the difference in the feet on your photo on the fence post, and the Macauley Library photo of the Swainson’s.
