Coincidentally I saw my first Swainson’s for the year north of
the Snake River Plain in the Island Park area this afternoon.
Cliff
On 4/29/24 08:34PM, lcarrigan_55 wrote:
Thanks to all for the information & sightings of Swainson’s
Hawk & info of spring arrival dates. Appreciate your info,
Cliff. I’m starting to review data on eBird more often, esp as
spring warbler migration gets underway. BTW, still waiting for my
first spring warbler this yr.
I did see another Swainson’s this afternoon. For our location,
have always considered them a “May” bird, as that’s when a pair
that used to arrive…for a number of yrs…would appear &
would nest on either our place or neighboring farm. Unfortunately,
after a good 15 yrs, they stopped showing a couple of yrs ago.
Definitely agree that migration timing, even within same general
region, is quite fascinating.
Thanks to all for the information & sightings of Swainson’s Hawk & info of spring arrival dates. Appreciate your info, Cliff. I’m starting to review data on eBird more often, esp as spring warbler migration gets underway. BTW, still waiting for my first spring warbler this yr.
I did see another Swainson’s this afternoon. For our location, have always considered them a “May” bird, as that’s when a pair that used to arrive…for a number of yrs…would appear & would nest on either our place or neighboring farm. Unfortunately, after a good 15 yrs, they stopped showing a couple of yrs ago. Definitely agree that migration timing, even within same general region, is quite fascinating.
FWIW, Migration timing for Swainson’s Hawks is very consistent
and they show up in eastern Idaho/upper Snake River Plain during
the second week of April. Earlier than that is unusual but there
are typically a few records in the first week of April. eBird data
bears that out. This year there was an obvious uptick in reports
starting on the 12th. I’ve always been fascinated by this…
Cliff
On 4/28/24 08:56PM, Eric Rude wrote:
I saw one in Chubbuck on 4/12, then five more as I
traveled along the north side of the American Falls Reservoir
(going from Sterling to Ferry Butte) on 4/20.
Just returned home after taking a
Sun morning drive over to Sun Valley. Coming back
home, saw my first Swainson’s Hawk of the year at
Carey. It flew right overhead, so I pulled over &
put binocs on it to confirm the field markings. Then,
just NW of Blackfoot on Hwy 26, saw my 2nd Swainson’s
of the day. I’m going to have to check my records, but
believe this is my earliest date of arrival for
Swainson’s Hawk.
Back home, still have good numbers of Cassin’s Finches
hitting the sunflower seeds. Yesterday, counted at
least 20.
I saw one in Chubbuck on 4/12, then five more as I traveled along the north side of the American Falls Reservoir (going from Sterling to Ferry Butte) on 4/20.
Hello! Occasionally something cool shows up in my backyard. This morning I’ve had a juvenile Harris’s Sparrow hanging out along the canal behind my back fence with a couple dozen Juncos and a Song Sparrow.
On the off chance that someone is interested in seeing it, the best/easiest way would be to go to the corner of Alpine and Wheeler St., cross the railroad tracks, and look along north side of the canal. The flock has been moving around a bit. My backyard, which borders the canal on the north, has a big blue shed in it; the flock has been in that section for an hour or two.
Interesting. Over our 35+ yrs along the Snake River, have found that areas of E ID to the north & east of us tend to get migrant songbirds a WK to 10 days before they start showing here. Have always watched the reports from Mud Lake & Camas, esp for warbler sightings. As, can usually count on seeing same here about a week later. Appears, works out with the Swainson’s, too.
