There’s a few signs of spring in Bannock County. The Portneuf River
wetlands along Siphon Road didn’t have as many new waterfowl migrants
as I hoped this weekend, but 6 double-crested cormorants flew over and
the first ruddy duck of the year appeared. The number of singing
red-winged blackbirds and song sparrows certainly increased. At least
one yellow-rumped warbler and a white-crowned sparrow survived the
winter here, but it’s been three weeks since the last marsh wren.

Not much at the Pocatello Water Pollution Control Plant except my
first killdeer of the year. Very little at my birdfeeders except a
new high count for the season of just over 200 pine siskins.

A big push of gulls came in during the week so I checked out Fort Hall
Mine Landfill. There were 1300 California, 300 ring-billed, and 7
herring gulls. After combing through them for almost an hr I finally
turned up a second winter lesser black-backed.

The golden eagle pair at Red Rock Pass appears intent on nesting there
again this year. The number of rough-legged hawks has gone way down
the past two weeks. A western meadowlark was just down the road from
Red Rock Pass also.

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