Monthly Archives: January 2021

Listserv Posts

Re: 2020 Retrospective and Thank-You’s

Quite an accomplishment. We put on 20,000 miles on the car the year we did an Idaho big year and didn’t get close to your number. Very impressive.
Apologies first for tagging a different topic on to this post but couldn’t get a  new post to work for some reason.
While birding east of Sandpoint on Sunnyside road we spotted a Eurasian Widgeon around 3 pm Saturday at the narrowest point of water between Fisherman’s island and Sunnyside rd.  We also spotted a Greater white fronted goose near Shaw inlet but the most unusual sighting for us was two Green-winged Teals spotted near the Eurasian Widgeon. Does anybody know if a Green-winged Teal has been spotted so early in the new year in the North Idaho area of Lake Pend Oreille?
Thanks Linda Lamb 
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Kestrels

Another poster’s msg. about a Kestrel prompted me to research my electronic photo file and refind the pics I took of a young American Kestrel on the roof of Mountain Home Junior High School three years ago. Adult AKs nested on a covered alcove under the arched roof of the brick building. As I photographed the fledgling, an adult Kestrel watched from a perch atop a utility pole. At first I thought I had found a Peregrine nest site, having good memories of the longtime Peregrine nest atop the 40-story Cathedral of Learning building on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
The fledgling was not at all wary of me and walked to as close as six feet or so from its perch on the edge of the roof.
Has anyone else ever chanced upon a similar rooftop Kestrel nesting?
Alan in Mountain Home

—


 

Alan C Gregory
Lt. Col., USAF, Ret.
Mountain Home, ID
Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association, life member
Member, North American Butterfly Association

Listserv Posts

Re: 2020 Retrospective and Thank-You’s

Carter the more I contemplate 321 species in Idaho in one year the more amazing it is !!

What discipline, perserverance, dedication, patience and wheel time buzzing around Idaho in all weather conditions and in the weird pandemic year of 2020.
Absolutely amazing !!

On Jan 1, 2021, at 10:53 PM, Carter Strope <cmstropep@…> wrote:


Greetings IBLE,

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year.

With 2020 finally in the rear view, I wanted to take a moment to look back on my year of birding and give some well overdue thanks to a number of people.

This year, as a result of determination, circumstance, and a great deal of luck I was fortunate enough to amass an Idaho State Year List of 321 species, just surpassing the longstanding Idaho Big Year record of 318. The previous record was, as many or most of you may already know, was set by the late Harry J Krueger in 2004.

Beyond the hardship we all faced as a global society, 2020 challenged me in ways I could not have expected.

While I had the incredible opportunity to see parts of this state, birds, and natural phenomena I had never seen before. Those moments of wonder came alongside many trials, and long days and, some even longer nights. Those hurdles were the experiences that made me a better birder and a better person at the end of it all. The moments that tried me this year were as valuable to me as the moments of rich triumph, and altogether made for an experience I am truly grateful for. 

12 months, 44 counties, and 321 bird species later I am left in awe, once again, of Idaho and all that it has to offer.

More importantly, however, I would like to thank a number of people. There are too many people to acknowledge here and now but I would like to give special thanks to Jay and Heidi Carlisle, Cheryl Huzinga, Lucian Davis, Darren Clark, Carl Lundblad, Cliff Weisse, James Petersen, and the many supportive and wonderful birders of the Wood River Valley including Jean Seymour, Poo Wright-Pulliam, and Larry Barnes, with whom I began this great adventure, and the late Harry J Krueger for setting a very high bar, that was both incredibly difficult and wildly fun to pursue. All of these people played an integral part in making this year possible, and as such have my eternal gratitude.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you the best of luck in 2021.

Bird on,
Carter Strope 

P.S. For those who are curious, you can find my final list here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-aBB2NtpJ3PrhsqWTGs2cIu1phTC3l6J7GxwlDxv79s/edit?usp=drivesdk

Ken Miracle
chukar28@…
208-570-2780
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” 2COR 3:5

Listserv Posts

Re: 2020 Retrospective and Thank-You’s

Congratulations Carter Strope !! 

Thank you to the entire group and to all who have patiently helped me as I ventured into E Bird and Sparrow ID and finding in 2020. I blame Heidi Carlisle for getting me hooked on the little brown birds 🙂 Thanks to Poo Wright-Pulliam for helping out in the Wood River Valley, and to Cliff Weisse, Heid and Jay Carlisle, Carter and many others for helping my correct my Bird ID on E Bird, Facebook and elsewhere with the most recent by Carl Lundblad who told me yesterday that I had found and photographed a Swainson’s Thrush on 12-24-20 at Barber Park not a Hermit Thrush … I had photographed one other Swainson’s Thrush, juvenile 8-3-16 in Seldovia Alaska. My rookie bird brain never even thought of anything besides a Hermit Thrush for Christmas Eve at Barber Park and completely ignored the buffy eye ring rounded head etc.. 🙂 

On Jan 1, 2021, at 10:53 PM, Carter Strope <cmstropep@…> wrote:


Greetings IBLE,

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year.

With 2020 finally in the rear view, I wanted to take a moment to look back on my year of birding and give some well overdue thanks to a number of people.

This year, as a result of determination, circumstance, and a great deal of luck I was fortunate enough to amass an Idaho State Year List of 321 species, just surpassing the longstanding Idaho Big Year record of 318. The previous record was, as many or most of you may already know, was set by the late Harry J Krueger in 2004.

Beyond the hardship we all faced as a global society, 2020 challenged me in ways I could not have expected.

While I had the incredible opportunity to see parts of this state, birds, and natural phenomena I had never seen before. Those moments of wonder came alongside many trials, and long days and, some even longer nights. Those hurdles were the experiences that made me a better birder and a better person at the end of it all. The moments that tried me this year were as valuable to me as the moments of rich triumph, and altogether made for an experience I am truly grateful for. 

12 months, 44 counties, and 321 bird species later I am left in awe, once again, of Idaho and all that it has to offer.

More importantly, however, I would like to thank a number of people. There are too many people to acknowledge here and now but I would like to give special thanks to Jay and Heidi Carlisle, Cheryl Huzinga, Lucian Davis, Darren Clark, Carl Lundblad, Cliff Weisse, James Petersen, and the many supportive and wonderful birders of the Wood River Valley including Jean Seymour, Poo Wright-Pulliam, and Larry Barnes, with whom I began this great adventure, and the late Harry J Krueger for setting a very high bar, that was both incredibly difficult and wildly fun to pursue. All of these people played an integral part in making this year possible, and as such have my eternal gratitude.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you the best of luck in 2021.

Bird on,
Carter Strope 

P.S. For those who are curious, you can find my final list here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-aBB2NtpJ3PrhsqWTGs2cIu1phTC3l6J7GxwlDxv79s/edit?usp=drivesdk

Ken Miracle
chukar28@…
208-570-2780
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” 2COR 3:5