No doubt about that – congrats and great find!
Carl Lundblad
Reno, NV
Monthly Archives: October 2023
Possible Ancient Murrelet at lower dam lake Lowell
Winter Raptor Survey Project route vacancies
Hi Everyone,
Back at the beginning of this month I posted a list of available routes to survey in our Winter Raptor Survey Project sponsored by the East Cascades Audubon Society based in Bend, OR. Last winter we wound up surveying 551 routes covering more than 32,000 miles of transects throughout all of OR, ID, WA, the northern portions of CA and UT, and western MT. A total of 450+ volunteers survey these routes once a month during December thru February with additional optional survey months available for November and March.
We are about to enter our 20th survey season and I still have several routes in your state available that need a volunteer to do surveys and I would be grateful if some of you would like to take on a route or two this winter 🙂 I have done these route advertisements on IBLE in past years and have been successful in securing help, hopefully some of you will keep that success going:)
Here is the list of routes with their corresponding lengths:
Winchester 73 miles
Nezperce 71
Moscow South 56
Troy – Deary 78
Coeur d’Alene 75
Churchill – Oakley 68
Jerome North 63
Richfield 44
Heyburn 41
Acequia 39
Rupert North 69
Rupert East – Minidoka 55
Burley East – Lake Walcott 67
Burley SW 51
Burley SE 34
Albion 36
Raft River – Idahome 65
There are only a few requirements to participate:
1. I ask that volunteers commit to doing one survey per month for the three primary months of December thru February, surveys can also be done in November and March but these are optional months. More than one survey can also be done for any given month as an additional option
2. Volunteers should be comfortable with IDing the common species of raptors in your chosen area and be willing to increase your knowledge of these regal birds
3. You should have at least a pair of binoculars to help you spot and ID birds, a spotting scope would be nice to have but not a requirement
4. Survey dates are determined by each volunteer based on their monthly life schedules and hopefully to skirt inclement weather when birds can be sheltered and out of view
If this sounds like something you would like to do, please email me as soon as you can with your choice of route(s), to be fair I will fill the routes on a first come first served basis. I will then provide you with the necessary material to get you properly prepared for what you will be doing:)
I would really like to make this 20th season something special and filling these routes will be a big part of that effort, looking forward to hearing from you soon, thank you 🙂
Jeff Fleischer
Project Developer / Coordinator
Winter Raptor Survey Project
East Cascades Audubon Society – Bend, OR
Re: Fave Winter Resident
Great photo of juv Solitaire! Spent this morning hiking trails along Jenny, String & Leigh Lakes in Teton Nat’l Park. Saw a juvenile bird splashing & diving along shallow edge of Leigh Lake. Took me a minute to identify it as a juv American Dipper. A bull moose & a couple of Ruffed Grouse, rounded out the morning.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Re: Fave Winter Resident
Mine as well Brian, yet it’s late summer when the Solitaire’s including the juvie’s are staking out their fav Serviceberry trees in the Pondererosa understory near our place in Valley Co. Cheers, Rich Rusnak Boise
Re: Fave Winter Resident
Also, saw my first of season group of Tundra Swans heading South, fly over yard, this AM.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Fave Winter Resident
My favorite winter resident arrived today, Townsend’s Solitaire. We have a good number of Rocky Mountain juniper on our place & the solitaire is a winter altitudinal migrant, appearing & staking out their favorite trees for the season. Their main competitor is the American Robin for best trees loaded with juniper berries. Some of the trees have a bumper crop this season & the “squabbles” between Solitaire & Robin have already started!
The RB Nuthatches are still busy gathering sunflower seeds from the feeder. Appears the YR Warblers & RC Kinglets have moved on through. Weather’s due for a change to winter-like conditions starting Sunday.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Re: Red-breasted Nuthatches
Thanks, Diann! Always amazed at how quickly a moose can “disappear” just by walking behind a bush. To be so big & yet, can disappear, so fast. And, of course, your AK moose are even larger.
This AM, the RB Nuthatches are still hoarding seeds & Juncos are even more numerous.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Re: Red-breasted Nuthatches
That’s a wildlife haven! I’ve had one deer, one badger, and several raccoons over the years here on the Boise Depot Bench. I do miss seeing moose regularly since moving here from Anchorage.
Red-breasted Nuthatches are in the pines daily, Black-capped Chickadees almost as frequent. The past several days I’ve heard Flicker but haven’t seen it yet.
Diann Stone
Boise Depot Bench
Red-breasted Nuthatches
Fresh snow on area mountains. Fall color fading fast. Freezing at night & warm days to mid-60s. A few trout rises on the river with some beaver working the edges. Other mammals: muledeer, moose & least chipmunks are in the yard daily. My fave time of the year!
A handful of YR Warblers moving through. A few White-crowned & White-throated Sparrows, with a smattering of Chippings around. DE Juncos ever-present now. Feeder attracting: House Finches, BC Chickadees & American Goldfinches. Best visitors, though, have been 2 industrious RB Nuthatches. They must have a heck of a stash of sunflower seeds in one of the spruce trees. As, have been making back-&-forth forays to feeder & tree for several days now!
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot