Odd… I’m hearing house wrens nearly every day except in our backyard, where they set up housekeeping last year in a super deluxe bungalow hand-made and painted by a friend in Boise. I’ll just have to be patient. Catbirds are in Montour WMA; chats, lazulis, and yellow warblers all in their quarters, nearby kestrels have fledged, saw female western tanagers this a.m. on Shalerock Rd, near Black Canyon Res. Surprise Dusky flycatcher at Emmett Wastewater Treatment Plant this afternoon.
Our house wrens showed up en masse yesterday. I saw at least five at one time and they seem to be staking out usual sites around the house, in the woods and at the barn. Interesting thing was one of the first had a faulty, unusual song. When the gang appeared the faulty song stopped and everyone is now singing familiar refrain. You’d think it would have heard right song in winter range. They are a full month later than last year.
We’ve got hummers hitting feeders, but at a rate that’s about a third the rate over the last several years. They showed up on time however. I wonder if bird disease is reducing their numbers. I see no evidence of sick or slower birds however.
Lots of Lazuli and BH Grosbeaks and Cassins are still hanging out as are SIskens. My latest project is trying to turn some of the BH into BH/Rosebreasted hybrids per Sibley. As usual Evenings fled when BH appeared. Turkeys encourage dogs to want to get up and chase them out back at about 5:45 AM most mornings.
New arrival today is a N Catbird. Plenty of BH Grosbeaks, Lazuli Buntings & Yellow Warblers here. Finally saw a W Tanager yest AM. Curiously absent are House Wrens. Have seen a total of 2, this spring, over 3 wk apart. Usually, by now, already building their nests. And know where at least 4 should be nesting. Zero around for past 10 days. Do have a robin nesting under eave of garage at bend in gutter downspout. And have seen a Wild Turkey with 2 young fluff balls trotting beneath her.
Merlin is wrong. If nothing else the wing tips are too dark for
Glaucous. The iris appears pale so I’d be thinking Ring-billed but
it’s hard to tell from this one photo…
Cliff
On 5/27/21 9:23 PM, Robert Kiernan
wrote:
26 27th camped Wednesday night. Terns.
Comm .blk. Caspian foresters. 15 20 Ibis flying 50
pelicans doz. Corms. W.w.peewee bull. Oriole yellow warb.song
sparrow. Marsh wren snipe osprey west & Clark’s grebe.
Gadwall. Gulls California ring bill. Merlin says this one
glaucous also willow fly cat.
Yesterday I had three sick female species of HOFI, PISI, and HOSP. The HOFI had labored breathing, sleepy eyes, and food stuck at the corner of her mouth. All three exhibited no fear as I walked towards them and knew right away they were sick. I had just disinfected and washed the feeders that day and had them out to air dry. I put up clean ones stored in the shed but took them down as soon as I noticed the sick birds. I will disinfect them and also drain and disinfect all water features today.
It makes me so sad to see them suffer.
I’m in Emmett.
Sincerely,
Gina
“The bluebird carries the sky on his back”~Henry David Thoreau
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but quite often these “tame” birds, especially those in the finch family, are actually sick. There is an outbreak of Salmonellosis this year among siskins, finches, and crossbills. It seems to have subsided in some areas but not all. Last week in Idaho City I visited a feeder setup and saw a number of infected Cassin’s Finches, so it is still going around.
You can tell infected birds because they will be slow to fly away, not-wary of people, may have fluffed up feathers and look “fatter” compared to other individuals of the same species. The birds often sit on the feeder and eat voraciously until the late stages of the disease.
They may also be more “blinky” or sleepy, and may be unable to fly or have weak flight. Up close if the disease is severe you will hear clicking or scratchy labored breathing.
In this case it certainly sounds like you have sick birds. It is important to take your feeder down and bleach it with a 10% bleach solution. Leave the feeders down for at least two weeks to allow sick birds to disperse. When hanging feeders back up, be sure to watch frequently for sick birds and remove the feeders again if sick birds reappear. Even if no sick birds are spotted, continue to bleach your feeders with a 10% bleach solution at least once a week.
The sickness is spread through droppings so be sure to remove any dropping accumulations by raking the ground, and remove any accumulated seed on the ground. Bird baths and flat platform feeders also accumulate droppings and should be removed.
Of note, just because you have sick birds on your feeders doesn’t mean it’s your fault. Even if you have the cleanest feeder around, if even one of your neighbors has a poorly cleaned feeder, the disease will continue to spread. All we can do is remove our feeders when we spot sick birds, and help spread the word to others in the area to take their feeders down too.
We have had a flock of about 10 Red Crossbill’s hitting our feeders for the last week. Yesterday I decided the feeders were getting a little low so went out to the garage and got the seed bucket and started walking into the front yard. Most all the birds flushed but not the Crossbill’s feeding on the feeder. I slowly walked right up to 4 of them. One of them was on a metal branch on the feeder stand without access to any seeds so I slowly took a scoop of the seeds and raised it up to the Crossbill and he just sat there and ate out of the scoop until my arm got tired. I am amazed that wild birds could be so approachable.
I was curious if anyone else had experienced anything like this with them before and if that was a common trait they exhibit.
Thanks Dave Pace Idaho Falls, ID (Westside)
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
