Saturday was a very cold and cloudy day but with little wind. 48 people came out to help with the count. Cheryl and I appreciate everyone who spent the day (partial or whole) with us.

We tallied 106 species on count day. We saw most of the usual birds and included a few uncommon birds…Long-billed Dowitcher, California Scrub Jay, Northern Shrike, Least Sandpipers, Varied Thrush and Short-eared Owls. So far count week has given us another 3 birds including a Broad-tailed Hawk and Blue Jay. (These numbers are preliminary until data has been checked.)

The lake was mostly frozen so duck and geese numbers will probably be down. Wilson Springs Pond is probably the best place in the Treasure Valley to see almost every species of duck. So we did see most of the duck species but total number of ducks will probably be lower than usual.

All of the area groups talked about the large number of American Robins that they saw. I haven’t added up the data yet but the Ebird trip report is showing about 5,000 robins and there are a few more areas to add to that tally.

If you participated in the Nampa count but didn’t register please contact me at den.hug100@…. Audubon is adamant that any birds counted must be from registered participants. Also if you haven’t turned in all of your count paperwork please scan it and send it to me. Or take a photo of each page and email it to me.

A huge thank you to everyone who brought food for our after count get together. The soups and chilis were what everyone needed to warm up after being out all day. From what I heard the food was pretty tasty.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! See you in Boise and Bruneau for those counts.

Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho
den.hug100@…

On December 1, the Bend, OR based East Cascades Audubon Society’s Winter Raptor Survey Project began its primary survey season survey efforts on 540 routes throughout all of OR, WA, ID, and parts of northern CA and UT, and a recent expansion effort into western MT.  This is the projects 19th survey season, 12th in Idaho.  This is a very large and active citizen science project, with over 450 active primary volunteers, that has provided a very large data base to the Peregrine Fund to augment their worldwide data base for birds of prey.

Idaho has 146 routes and the following are in need of a volunteer to do surveys this winter:

Weiser West                           32 miles long
Hill City – Fairfield                 110
Winchester                             70
Nezperce                                71  new route, never been surveyed
Coeur d’Alene                        75
Churchill – Oakley.                 65
Heyburn                                 40
Acequia                                 39
Rupert North                          69
Burley SE                              31     
Paul                                      65  new route, never been surveyed
Minidoka NW                        68  new route, never been surveyed
American Falls NW               77

We ask that our volunteers commit to one survey per month during December through February, that they have a good grasp of raptor ID, and that they have at least binoculars to search for and ID birds, spotting scopes are preferable but not required.  Surveys can be scheduled any day of the month that matches up with your life schedule each month.

If this sounds like something that you would like to be a part of, please get back to me as soon as you can with your route choice(s) and I will work with you to get prepared for the effort.  With the month of December half gone already, if you are interested please contact me as quickly as possible so I can bring you up to speed with what you will be doing and hopefully get a survey completed before the month is over.  This is a great opportunity to learn about raptors in your chosen area, hope to hear from you soon, thank you 🙂

Jeff Fleischer
Project Coordinator
Winter Raptor Survey Project
East Cascades Audubon Society – Bend, OR   (project sponsor)