We drove up to Centennial Marsh, near Hill City, yesterday. The water is running around the refuge, but the birds are thin. Did see a mixed flock on pintails, northern shovelers
and mallards. A small flock of snow geese and a few canadians. Saw half a dozen Sandhill Cranes flying low. We then drove Old Bennet Mtn road and the Bluebird trail. Found about a dozen male Mountain Bluebirds along the lower stretch of the road.
Hopefully, the water holds out for the main migration. It is very dry on the prairie, already.
Tom Soniville
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Tom Soniville
Boise. West Bench
I photographed an Osprey yesterday morning 3-20-26 circling high over head above the Dianne Moore Nature Center Intermountain Bird Observatory Boise River.
On Mar 21, 2026, at 8:42 PM, Michael Koob via groups.io <mkoobidaho@…> wrote:
Also saw an osprey working on it’s nest on the pole on the east side of Linder Rd on Eagle Island this afternoon.
Mike Koob
I’m not sure if I’m one of the firsts to see an Osprey –or one of the last. When I got to Veteran’s Park Pond today, an Osprey was perched on top of a tree between the pond and the river. Amazing how many people were along the greenbelt and totally unaware of the bird. On my return, he was gone. But a hint of things to come.
Another treat was a flyover by a huge “V” of Snow Geese when I was at Willow Lane. Quick estimate was 30 to 40 birds in the “V” and a similar number in a more disorganized flock of Snow Geese. I’m not sure if both groups were at the same elevation but the disorganized bunch spread out and blended with the VERY symmetrical “V.” They were travelling rather fast and it took a moment of hearing their calls to realize they were not my normal geese.
Final treat was Western Wood Pewees in a number of places, all heard and none seen.
My final tally was 39 species in 13 miles. A decent number for the first full day of Spring.
Tom McCabe, Boise
(The day started with a Sharp-shinned Hawk catching an American Goldfinch in my back yard. Came and went in a flash.)
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
Also saw an osprey working on it’s nest on the pole on the east side of Linder Rd on Eagle Island this afternoon.
Mike Koob
I’m not sure if I’m one of the firsts to see an Osprey –or one of the last. When I got to Veteran’s Park Pond today, an Osprey was perched on top of a tree between the pond and the river. Amazing how many people were along the greenbelt and totally unaware
of the bird. On my return, he was gone. But a hint of things to come.
Another treat was a flyover by a huge “V” of Snow Geese when I was at Willow Lane. Quick estimate was 30 to 40 birds in the “V” and a similar number in a more disorganized flock of Snow Geese. I’m not sure if both groups were at the same elevation but the disorganized
bunch spread out and blended with the VERY symmetrical “V.” They were travelling rather fast and it took a moment of hearing their calls to realize they were not my normal geese.
Final treat was Western Wood Pewees in a number of places, all heard and none seen.
My final tally was 39 species in 13 miles. A decent number for the first full day of Spring.
Tom McCabe, Boise
(The day started with a Sharp-shinned Hawk catching an American Goldfinch in my back yard. Came and went in a flash.)
Broken record or not, I appreciate you trying to keep everyone honest!
I know I’m a broken record on this but the annual spate of early Swainson’s Hawk reports has begun in earnest in eBird. So far there are, as usual, no photos for documentation. Migration timing is very consistent so if you see a Swainson’s Hawk before about the 29th of March it’s really early. Please do your best to get photos, even if they aren’t very good. FWIW there are zero records so far this year for UT, CO, WY, NV, Mt. The closest reports are in AZ, NM, CA and one each for western OR and WA. If they do arrive early it’s important to document so keep your camera handy.
Here’s an interesting fact – early reports I’ve seen with photos, in Idaho and other states, tend to be subadult Bald Eagles as strange as that sounds. They appear hooded/bibbed flying or perched and have white in the wing linings in flight.
Cliff
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Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@…
Sandhill Crane flyovers here along the Snake River, too. Also, groups of 50+ Tundra Swans coming over, headed north. A few local Trumpeters as well.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds showed up at feeder a week ago. No females yet. And no hummers either.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Bleak birding here. Siskens flock has shown up after foot of snow. Six to eight blackbirds now hitting feeder.
Sandhill flyover today, two weeks early. Hills were open before midweek snow.
Hummers?
Bill Moore
HootOwl
Inkom
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