Hi Jay and other IBLE members, Cheryl Huzinga, Bob Kiernan, and I were there earlier this afternoon and observed only a single Second Cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. There were much lower gull numbers overall at that time.
In my recent visits shorebird numbers appear to peak around 3-5 there and drop steeply after that. Definitely a productive spot this fall. There were many sandpipers present including Dunlin and Stilt, Western, Least, and Semipalmated Sandpipers.
-Carter Strope
Hoping to run into some of the exciting shorebird action, Heidi & I tried Dry Lakes in the last hour before sunset. No golden or BB plovers but at least 1,000 gulls cycling through and we observed the most
Lesser Black-backed Gulls in one location I’ve ever seen in Idaho! Some ~passable digiscope pics in this eBird checklist: ebird.org/checklist/S75005540 – no full adults but a 1st winter, a couple ~1.5 year-olds (2nd cycle), and a presumed 3rd-cycle (based on a mostly yellow bill that doesn’t show up on the pics I got before the whole flock took to the air).
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eBird Checklist – 17 Oct 2020 – Dry Lakes Area (view only from public ro…
Submitted by Jay Carlisle.
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I only wish this place was a bit closer to home – if so, I’d go 2x/day 🙂
Jay
My apologies for cluttering up your inbox, but I had enough interesting birds today that I felt the need to share. First, a W.S. Owl woke me just before dawn. Later, I discovered a Cassin’s Finch in my back yard maple. I could see him clearly, preening on a branch. The female next to him was obscured by leaves, but I think it was also a CAFI. Once I started my bike ride I had a goodly number of regulars, all being cooperative, before seeing 2 Blue Jays in the bare branches of a tree on Plantation Island.
Things started to get even more interesting after that, with a trio of Ruddy Ducks on Silver Lake, an altercation between a Great Blue Heron and a Red Tail at a bend in the river, and then a Lesser Scaup at the lower end of Veterans Pond. My final tally was 39 birds in 13+ miles, and there were a couple that I didn’t count because they didn’t repeat for me. Isn’t migration wonderful?
Tom McCabe, Boise
In case Carter Strope, Denise Hughes, or Cheryl Huizinga monitor this site, or someone can relay a message to them — your October 14th eBird list from Dry Creek mentioned: “Photos soon. Large pluvalis plover with dainty bill and dark rump” on the Golden-Plover. Any chance you can post those photos on eBird? And did you get any of the Black-bellied Plover?
Scott
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
