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Re: Loon in Boise

And the other question was how did it get there ?  Since it was first seen sitting on the shore where the orntihologists tell me Loons do not normally go when healthy.  Some speculation is that is was injured in a storm, attacked by an eagle etc.. but I have heard only conjecture. Some that know Loons far better than I say that the pond is large enough for it to take off if healthy others say as Louis said not enough runway.

On Jun 14, 2021, at 1:44 PM, Louisa Evers <elouisa603@…> wrote:


One possibility is that the pond is too small to allow the loon to get airborne. With their relatively small wings for their body size snd placement of their legs far back on their body, loons need a long “runway” in order to take off.  —

Louisa Evers

elouisa603@…

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

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Loon in Boise

I saw the Common Loon at Riverside Park in Boise on Saturday. What situation would keep it here at this small local pond? It must be finding enough food, but why hasn’t it flown farther north? Any theories?

 

Diann Stone  Boise Depot Bench

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”   Rachel Carson
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CA Quail Attacks Large Hawk (Swainson’s ?)

I have been in this world a long time and much of that time spent outdoors from growing up in a rural to area, to being a working biologist, and being an avid fisherman and hunter since I was 6 years old. Sometimes I get to thinking that I have seen everything, but Nature just keeps on surprising me. Yesterday I was eating dinner at a friend’s house and she spotted a pair of CA quail walking up the edge of an irrigation lateral that passes by about 30 feet from the dinette window. She said that they had babies and seemed to be quite exposed, and I took a pair binoculars to look at them and just as I got them in view “BAM” a large hawk landed right in the middle of them. I think that it was a dark phase Swainson’s but things started happening so quickly that I didn’t time to be sure. Quail started running in all different directions and the hawk flew up the ditch and disappeared behind some bushes and trees followed about a second later by the male quail. The female promptly started to gather her brood and head back down the canal. The male didn’t show up for a little while and I figured that he was providing fine dining to the hawk but the little squirt showed up and they all headed into the grass and brush on the  other side of the ditch. 😮

 

I am still amazed at we watched but Nature just keeps providing new entertainment after all these years. I even got a new life lister this Spring ( which is getting rarer and rarer for me) in Arizona during my annual trip down there to see my kids and grandkids – a Northern Jacana. 😉

 

Fred Crase

New Plymouth

 

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Listserv Posts

Dry Lakes – going?


Hi – I see that Snowy Plovers are still being reported, and the Pectoral Sandpiper was still mentioned the other day.

I drove out to Dry Lakes for the first time in years, last Sunday afternoon, hoping that with my high-powered camera lens (I don’t have a decent scope) and binocs, I might be able to see something, but it was impossible at that distance
from the road.

 

So, if anyone plans to head out there with a high-powered scope, I would sure appreciate knowing, and maybe I can coordinate another drive out there.  Thanks…Jon Barnett, 208-869-5164

 

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