Coincidentally I saw my first Swainson’s for the year north of
the Snake River Plain in the Island Park area this afternoon.

Cliff

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. 

Brian Carrigan 
Blackfoot 

-- 
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@...

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. 

Brian Carrigan 
Blackfoot 

This is weird; I did not post this. You are right, I had a Harris’ Sparrow a few years ago in December. This looks like my post from that period.

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

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.

Eric

On Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at
8:24 PM bike4birds via groups.io <tmccabe9=outlook.com@groups.io>
wrote:

And they’ve
been in Boise about the same.

Tom

 

From: IBLE@groups.io
<IBLE@groups.io>
On Behalf Of
Tim Reynolds via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2024 4:50 PM
To: IBLE@groups.io
Subject: Re: [IBLE] Not one, but two

 

 

SWHA have been north of Idaho Falls
for a week or two.

From: IBLE@groups.io
<IBLE@groups.io>
On Behalf Of lcarrigan_55
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2024 4:16 PM
To: IBLE@groups.io
Subject: [IBLE] Not one, but two

 

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. 

Brian Carrigan 
Blackfoot

—

Eric Rude

Teacher: Forensic Science, Dual Credit Biology

Pocatello High School

Pocatello, Idaho

-- 
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@...