I had similar weekend plans as Stoddard and Ellen, including trying to
clean up some Idaho bird list needs and explore some new areas in extreme
SE Idaho.
Saturday afternoon I birded City of Rocks for the first time and enjoyed
the most of the usual specialties minus Pinyon Jay. I stopped to look for
the Narrows Road Blue Grosbeak some time after 6PM, mostly as an
afterthought (I hadn’t actually realized I would drive right past it en
route from northern Utah to City of Rocks). I did not find the Grosbeak,
so was bummed to learn it is still present (but glad the Davenports got to
see it). Probably not the best time of day- hopefully I was in the right
place. Cool birds near the nearby bridge over the Raft River included
Eastern Kingbird and Belted Kingfisher.
I camped on Saturday evening near the navigable end of Kelsaw Canyon on the
west slope of the Black Pine Mountains. Near the mouth of the canyon I was
treated to a flock of 35-40 Pinyon Jays, which was a delight after missing
them at “The City”. Kelsaw Canyon hosts a very nice juniper woodland with
Gray Flycatchers, Bewick’s Wren, and a possibility of other juniper
specialists. Near the end of the road, Cordilleran Flycatchers and a
Virginia’s Warbler were among the rewards. Common Poorwill was the only
nocturnal bird heard from my camp, but the canyon looks good for
Flammulated and Long-eared Owls.
After leaving Kelsaw, I didn’t get out to the Stone Hills area until mid
morning Sunday, where I followed Stoddard’s fresh tracks on the freshly
graded roads (wondering whose they were and sensing they belonged to other
birders). I also failed to find Scott’s Oriole despite several hours of
diligent searching by vehicle and walking hills and ridges on foot. I did
have TWO NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS singing on either side of the road in the
same general location as reported by Stoddard. A Grasshopper Sparrow was
near the famed Stone Hills/Black Pine intersection/eBird hotspot, and
Eastern Kingbirds could be found in the agriculture-wetland-desert
interface east of the Stone Hills.
Sunday afternoon and Monday morning I explored Bear Lake and Franklin
counties which were notable for the lack of unusual birds and the usual
abundance and diversity of regular bird life. Bobolinks were in their
stronghold along Paris-Dingle Road and Flammulated Owl was found in
“Squirrel Hollow” on Cache FR 467, on the west side of Emigration Pass
(with approximately one hundred thousand mosquitoes, estimated by 100s).
Good Birding,
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID (currently traveling for field work)
On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 11:01 AM, Stoddard Davenport
s_g_davenport@hotmail.com [ible]
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> Hi birders,
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> Saturday afternoon Ellen and I headed out to camp at Curlew Campground
> (Curlew National Grasslands) and bird around Oneida and Cassia counties. Saturday
> evening didn’t turn up anything too interesting, but Sunday was much
> better. My apologies for the tardiness of this report – we had very
> little cell service over the weekend and got home pretty late last night.
>
>
> First, we searched the Stone Hills for Scott’s Orioles. No luck on this
> trip. Although we succeeded in 2014 and 2015, our batting average has gone
> down quite a bit since then. We tried on 6/5, 7/2, 7/4 of 2016, and have
> tried on 5/13, 5/14, 5/21, 6/17, and 6/18 so far this year and have not had
> any success yet. The May dates were likely a bit early, but we’ve been
> trying to figure out how early in the year they typically arrive. After
> studying the typical amount of time typically required for pair formation,
> nest building, incubation, fledging, etc. in Birds of North America, and
> comparing that to the dates people have reported seeing juveniles in past
> years, I’d guess that they typically arrive sometime between 5/15 and 6/9,
> but the earliest date confirmed so far in eBird is 6/9. On a positive note,
> the road that drops down into the Stone Hills looks like its had some work
> done on it this spring and it’s actually in pretty good shape right now.
> Additionally, I’m not sure how long it will stay this way but so far the
> gate has been unlocked every time we’ve been this year – I think the cattle
> that had been grazing in there have been moved over to another nearby plot.
> With the road repairs, not having to mess with the fence, and the lower
> temps this spring, it’s been much more pleasant to visit the area than past
> years.
>
>
> Our best find in the area was a Northern Mockingbird (lousy pictures are
> on our eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37682805).
> They don’t seem to be particularly unusual for the area, but are always a
> treat to see in Idaho. This is our fifth time finding Northern Mockingbirds
> in the area, and they’ve all been probably within 1/2 a mile of the same
> area each time (42.05298,-112.8226.)
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> Next, we headed towards City of Rocks with a detour through the area along
> Narrows Road (just east of Almo) that had a Blue Grosbeak a couple of weeks
> ago. Just 10 minutes or so before we got to that area we were treated to a
> surprise Lark Bunting on Stanrod Road. The exact location is in the map
> link from our eBird checklist (http://ebird.org/ebird/view/
> checklist/S37682809). Unfortunately we were moving pretty quick on
> a gravel road and couldn’t come to a stop before we passed (and flushed)
> the bird. When we did get stopped we saw it again briefly on the top of a
> sagebrush further out on the east side of the road before it dropped to the
> ground and we lost track of it.
>
>
> Next, we were able to re-find the Blue Grosbeak that had been reported a
> couple of weeks ago along Narrows Road. I think the first report was on
> 6/3, and the last report (before yesterday) was 6/6, and I wasn’t sure if
> that was because it had moved along or because nobody had been back since
> 6/6, but it looks like the latter. That makes at least 2 weeks for this
> bird in the same location. Hopefully it’s got a lady friend somewhere
> nearby and is planning to stay put for the summer. Photos and the
> exact location can be found in our eBird checklist (
> http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37682810). We had a brief but
> dissatisfying glimpse at Austin’s Blue Grosbeak from Big Cottonwood WMA
> last year, but this encounter was much much more satisfying. You can also
> find a few pictures of the bird on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/
> photos/102015389@N03/?). Many thanks to the original finders of this
> great bird!
>
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> After that we spent the afternoon at Castle Rocks SP and City of Rocks. We
> had lots of the usual pinyon/juniper/scrub specialties, which is always
> enjoyable, but nothing really out of the ordinary. We were hoping for a
> Pinyon Jay but didn’t find any.
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> Good birding!
>
> Stoddard and Ellen Davenport
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> Boise
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