Just had a RB Grosbeak male in full adult color appear at feeder. Had to look back in my records & first appearance of one at our river location was in 2017. Have seen at least one every Spring since. A couple yrs ago had 3 appear. Never stay long, but always a beautiful “shock” to see! And definitely, king of the feeder! I’ll see 5-6 BH Grosbeaks stacked all around & if any try to reach the platform, a quick nip by the RB & off the BH go!
Others: Lazuli Bunting, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, Am Robin, Song Sparrow, House Finch, BC Chickadee & BC Hummingbird. The Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks, White-crowned Sparrows, DE Juncos & Chipping Sparrows have moved on. Still waiting for Western Tanager.
10AM not much water 2 avocets 1ca.gull. ponds on rim rd.1 s.of stage coach nada 2nd one dry pond big foot 6 cinnamon teals and pond Dearborn 1spotted sandpiper found some one who knew about water dry lake due to low water this season they have to cut back use
I live in Boise and a few years ago I had a Lazuli stop at my water fountain, so don’t give up hope. Also my son lives in Emmett and he has one coming to their yard now.
In the last week, riding my regular route 6 of the 7 days, I found the following FOY birds: Bullock’s Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeak, Western Grebe, House Wren, and Blue-winged Teal. Plus, a pair of Swainson’s Hawks have taken up residence in a nest they built a few years ago (and got ejected from by some Red-tailed Hawks). The nest is 3 blocks from my house. 😉 But I still haven’t found where the neighborhood Cooper’s Hawk nest is. I only know the vicinity. 🙁
I’ve been able to tally 40 or more birds on 4 of my last 7 rides, with Willow Lane Athletic Complex a magnet for some of the FOY’s, plus YR Warblers, Cassin’s Finches (male and female), Downy Woodpecker, BH Cowbird, etc. My one long ride of 22 miles netted over 50 birds.
BTW, I’m sure a bunch of you are familiar with Bird Cast, which tells you the expected nighttime migration in your area. The link is here: https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/local-migration-alerts/. Just put in your location, and it will give you their prediction. For Boise it has been predicting “High” migration, meaning 3,000 migrating birds per kilometer per night, for the last few nights and the next 3 nights. It only predicts 3 nights out, and it only continues until June 1. Check it out.
Thank you for your location. Blackfoot is a long way from where I live, so I will refrain from from hoping to see them near me. I’ve never had Lazulis in my yard in Boise, not close enough to a canal or stream.
Great find, Marty! That is the singular place in Idaho that I have found that bird in past years. It’s a good sign that it is still showing up there! Dedication Point seems to be a ‘sparrow magnet’ – we used to see about 6-7 species
right there. If my memory serves me right, they were ‘Black-throated’, “Sagebrush’, “Vesper’, ‘Brewer’s’ ‘White-crowned’, “Savannah” and “Lark”. Enjoy the weekend…Jonathan
2 new arrivals yest afternoon: a male Wilson’s Warbler & a House Wren. First warbler I’ve seen since last Fall & it beat the Yellows here. For over 30 yrs, Yellow Warbler has been first to arrive & first to leave.
Black-chinned Hummingbird male is still hitting the nectar feeder. A pair has nested on our place for the past sev yrs & I did see a female last week. Still waiting on Bullock’s Oriole & W Tanager.
Brian Carrigan Blackfoot
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
