I hope this never happens to any of you, beware. See photo, and be very careful if you clean your optics lenses of dust using a can of compressed air, designed for PC keyboards. The issue occurs when the can is held flat or upturned, resulting in extremely cold moist air to be released. My Vortex scope now has a damaged inner layer to the lens. Surprisingly the image viewing is not severely degraded and usable with only a tiny degree of opaqueness at all magnifications. Huge freak out when this occurred as you can imagine, but Vortex customer support is sending me a postage paid label to return the scope for no cost repairs. This is exceptional news and worthy of the price for Vortex HD series scope. Leaving for Malhuer tomorrow no less and this happens, LOL!😂 Cheers ya’ll, and happy lifer pursuits! Rich Rusnak
Warble Bird Songs, an ear-birding app, is requesting your help. Our small team is looking for beta testers to try out this nearly completed app and provide feedback. Tired of automatic app-generated identifications? Ever struggled with terminology to describe a sound? Warble Bird Songs will help! It builds ear-birding skills by developing your pattern recognition skills. It contains tutorials and provides a new and interactive approach to learning bird sound.
Warble Bird Songs contains accessibility features that make it an effective tool for blind and visually impaired users to learn ear-birding. In fact, that is the primary goal of the app. Yet sighted users will find it useful without even realizing these underlying features.
We’re a not-for-profit endeavor. Please help us improve the app that will allow the blind and sighted to become better ear-birders independently. All skill levels from beginner to advanced are welcomed. For more information or to sign up as a beta-tester, please visithttps://warblebirdsongs.wixsite.com/warble-bird-songs
I thought I’d make a list of spring birds that have been around the house (Moonlight Mine area, east of Pocatello) and nearby sage and fir slopes this weekend: northern house wren, mountain chickadee, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, pine siskin, American robin, common raven, black-chinned hummingbird, hairy woodpecker, Canada goose, song sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, yellow-rumped warbler, wild turkey, red-winged blackbird, orange-crowned warbler, spotted towhee, green tailed towhee, saw-whet owl, ruffed grouse, great-horned owl. I’m sure I’ve missed a few…
After a slow start, hummer pressure is rising, quite a few on feeder, three usual species but fewer calliope. Lazuli showed up and I thought I saw a black headed grosbeak. We never got any Evenings this year. Swallows and house finch working satellite dish mast.
Gives new meaning to term “bird-brained”, lol! I have to wonder how many of the Spring arrivals: warblers, BH Grosbeaks, etc…have been to the yard & feeder in previous years. And, if this adult male Black-chinned was one of the adults from last year or a juvenile, hatched here, now returning? Fascinating, no matter which.
Put out nectar feeder a week ago. Refreshed & refilled sev times since. Moved to a diff’t spot in yard, to keep wasps away from deck, this yr. And, a Black-chinned male just flew by with gorget catching the sun (first of yr), looking at exact spot where feeder was last year (have read hummingbirds can remember exact location of individual flowering plants, yr to yr). Then, it found the feeder farther out in yard.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
