Info about Lynwood Drive Dairy Ponds in rural Canyon County, SW Idaho

There are 2 dairy ponds along Lynwood Drive south of Nampa in Canyon County. With shorebird migration upon us, there have been quite a few sightings of shorebirds at these two ponds. The Sunridge Dairy pond is on the west side of Lynwood between Bennet Rd. and Big Foot Rd. We can scope only from the road at this big pond. 
The 2nd pond is at Moo-riah Dairy between Big Foot Rd. and Melmont Rd. on the east side of the road and gives much closer birding. There’s been more sightings of shorebirds here recently. I talked with the owner of this dairy today and here are the guidelines for us birders to follow if we want to continue birding there.
1 -TEXT her – Siska Reece 208-409-2996 – when planning on birding there so she’ll know who’s there.
2 – Park at the dirt road entrance to the pond and scope or binoc from that corner only. Please don’t drive/walk around the pond on the berm. 
3 – If photos are taken she wants them passed though her before posting any of them to any social media including eBird as she wants control of where her property is being seen. Fair enough. Just text them to her for her approval. 
She also owns Copper Cow Creamery on Hwy 45 with lots of great dairy products so check out her store. 
Thanks Birders!
Cheryl Huizinga

Herring Gull Reports

FWIW, I’m seeing a bunch of eBird reports for juvenile Herring Gulls in Idaho lately so I thought I’d comment. This is extremely early for juveniles in this area (or any other age). All the photos I’ve looked at are of juvenile California Gulls. They look much like juv HEGUs but they’re smaller, lack the pale window in the inner primaries, and they have a more attenuated look with long primary extension. The bill is black and gradually gets pale as they age – I’ve seen some in December that still have a mostly black bill rather than the sharply bicolored bill typically shown in field guides. Just wanted to make everyone aware of this ID pitfall.

Cliff


Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@…