There may have been Horned Larks there today but the birds in
your photos from yesterday are not Horned Larks. Thick based
bills, pot bellied look, and pale bar on wing coverts are on
consistent with Horned Lark. I think Zeke has it right, they are
Rosy Finches but I’m not going to attempt to identify them to
species.
Cliff
On 1/9/21 11:20 AM, M Gregory wrote:
I figured it out by going back
out there this morning. The birds are Horned Larks and they
are feeding on farmland that has been tilled straight across
the road from where I photographed them yesterday. The
backlighting was strong yesterday and again today, making
photography difficult.
Alan Gregory
On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 6:47 PM
M Gregory <alanclarkg@…> wrote:
Anyone have an idea
of what species these birds are? I photographed the flock
over sage flats a mile or so from Old Highway 30 in Elmore
County this afternoon. When I think of songbirds flocking
in winter, I think of House Sparrows. No human activity in
this area. Just sagebrush
Alan in Mountain
Home
—
Alan C Gregory
Lt. Col.,
USAF, Ret.
Mountain Home,
ID
Air Force
Public Affairs
Alumni
Association,
life member
Member, North
American
Butterfly
Association
—
Alan C Gregory
Lt. Col.,
USAF, Ret.
Mountain Home,
ID
Air Force
Public Affairs
Alumni
Association,
life member
Member, North
American
Butterfly
Association
I figured it out by going back out there this morning. The birds are Horned Larks and they are feeding on farmland that has been tilled straight across the road from where I photographed them yesterday. The backlighting was strong yesterday and again today, making photography difficult.
There has been a mixed flock that winters in the Hammer Flats area and roosts in the black cliffs near Lucky Peak State Park Discovery Unit.
My brother-in-law lives on the lower end of East Fork I have heard about the flocks up at Triumph but have not encountered them.
Thanks for the info.
That flock of Rosy-finches that swirled around me when I was out chukar hunting with some friends was exciting. My friends had a pretty good day with their shotguns on chukars but I bagged more birds with my camera 🙂
Looks like there are a few Grey-crowned mixed in. I see a few in the upper picture. Rosy’s are winter residents at a few locations here in The Wood River valley, specifically up at the old mining town of Triumph northeast of Hailey; and up in Elkhorn village area. I’ve spent a lot of time up there in the winter watching them. Often times we only see them flying around in flocks and have to try and distinguish the two species against bright winter overcast skies. Grey-crowned’s are lighter on the belly than Black’s. You can see some rose coloration on the flanks of a few of the birds at extreme magnification in the photos. The wing bars also show some of that coloration as well.
Zeke Watkins
208-731-1471
Instagram : @idahobirder
Not all those who wander are lost – J.R.R. Tolkien
Without the animals, Man would die of a great loneliness of the Spirit – Chief Seattle
An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment – Sir David Attenborough
Zeke …. You could very well be correct … fat head and stubby bill and some appear to have a lighter crown and lighter under the wing than I would expect with a Blackbird flock. On the Rosy-finches I shot in flight in 2019 in better light I see the wing bars that could be mistaken for red-winged epaulets in the darker images.
The lighting and exposure on Alan’s images could be making them look darker/blacker than they are.
Louisa and most others on IBLE are far more experienced birders than I am and I am not a Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-finch expert at all.
What makes you think Black Rosy-finch and not Gray-crowned or a mixed flock? It is hard for me to see all the ID marks I read about for them from the dark photos. The only Black Rosy-finches that I had photographed before the ones below were sitting not flying and I had to get some of the IBO biologists to help me sort out the Black from the Gray-crowned. And of course there are plummage variations in adults and with immature birds … just to drive me nuts 🙂
Here is a large, what I Id’d as a mixed flock, with more Gray-crowned than Black. I photographed these in better light on 11-7-2019 near Succor Creek in Oregon and near the Idaho Border.
These are Rosy-finches not blackbirds. Looks like Black Rosy-finch. Note that those are not epaulets but wingbars. Also “fat-headed and stubby billed. Rosy’s move down out of the high country above timberline in large flocks like this in the winter.
Zeke Watkins
208-731-1471
Instagram : @idahobirder
Not all those who wander are lost – J.R.R. Tolkien
Without the animals, Man would die of a great loneliness of the Spirit – Chief Seattle
An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment – Sir David Attenborough
I just opened the images up on my 27 inch iMac and expanded zoomed in even closer. It appears to me that I can see the epaulets or Red-winged Blackbirds.
On Jan 8, 2021, at 7:07 PM, Louisa Evers <elouisa603@…> wrote:
Looks like at least some of them are red-winged blackbirds. Could be a mixed flock of several species of blackbirds. In the second photo, I think I’m seeing the red epaulets on some of the birds.
On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 18:48 M Gregory <alanclarkg@…> wrote:
Anyone have an idea of what species these birds are? I photographed the flock over sage flats a mile or so from Old Highway 30 in Elmore County this afternoon. When I think of songbirds flocking in winter, I think of House Sparrows. No human activity in this area. Just sagebrush
Alan in Mountain Home
—
Alan C Gregory Lt. Col., USAF, Ret. Mountain Home, ID Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association, life member Member, North American Butterfly Association
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
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
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
Looks like there are a few Grey-crowned mixed in. I see a few in the upper picture. Rosy’s are winter residents at a few locations here in The Wood River valley, specifically up at the old mining town of Triumph northeast of Hailey; and up in Elkhorn village area. I’ve spent a lot of time up there in the winter watching them. Often times we only see them flying around in flocks and have to try and distinguish the two species against bright winter overcast skies. Grey-crowned’s are lighter on the belly than Black’s. You can see some rose coloration on the flanks of a few of the birds at extreme magnification in the photos. The wing bars also show some of that coloration as well.
Zeke Watkins
208-731-1471
Instagram : @idahobirder
Not all those who wander are lost – J.R.R. Tolkien
Without the animals, Man would die of a great loneliness of the Spirit – Chief Seattle
An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment – Sir David Attenborough
Zeke …. You could very well be correct … fat head and stubby bill and some appear to have a lighter crown and lighter under the wing than I would expect with a Blackbird flock. On the Rosy-finches I shot in flight in 2019 in better light I see the wing bars that could be mistaken for red-winged epaulets in the darker images.
The lighting and exposure on Alan’s images could be making them look darker/blacker than they are.
Louisa and most others on IBLE are far more experienced birders than I am and I am not a Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-finch expert at all.
What makes you think Black Rosy-finch and not Gray-crowned or a mixed flock? It is hard for me to see all the ID marks I read about for them from the dark photos. The only Black Rosy-finches that I had photographed before the ones below were sitting not flying and I had to get some of the IBO biologists to help me sort out the Black from the Gray-crowned. And of course there are plummage variations in adults and with immature birds … just to drive me nuts 🙂
Here is a large, what I Id’d as a mixed flock, with more Gray-crowned than Black. I photographed these in better light on 11-7-2019 near Succor Creek in Oregon and near the Idaho Border.
These are Rosy-finches not blackbirds. Looks like Black Rosy-finch. Note that those are not epaulets but wingbars. Also “fat-headed and stubby billed. Rosy’s move down out of the high country above timberline in large flocks like this in the winter.
Zeke Watkins
208-731-1471
Instagram : @idahobirder
Not all those who wander are lost – J.R.R. Tolkien
Without the animals, Man would die of a great loneliness of the Spirit – Chief Seattle
An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment – Sir David Attenborough
I just opened the images up on my 27 inch iMac and expanded zoomed in even closer. It appears to me that I can see the epaulets or Red-winged Blackbirds.
On Jan 8, 2021, at 7:07 PM, Louisa Evers <elouisa603@…> wrote:
Looks like at least some of them are red-winged blackbirds. Could be a mixed flock of several species of blackbirds. In the second photo, I think I’m seeing the red epaulets on some of the birds.
On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 18:48 M Gregory <alanclarkg@…> wrote:
Anyone have an idea of what species these birds are? I photographed the flock over sage flats a mile or so from Old Highway 30 in Elmore County this afternoon. When I think of songbirds flocking in winter, I think of House Sparrows. No human activity in this area. Just sagebrush
Alan in Mountain Home
—
Alan C Gregory Lt. Col., USAF, Ret. Mountain Home, ID Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association, life member Member, North American Butterfly Association
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
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
These are Rosy-finches not blackbirds. Looks like Black Rosy-finch. Note that those are not epaulets but wingbars. Also “fat-headed and stubby billed. Rosy’s move down out of the high country above timberline in large flocks like this in the winter.
Zeke Watkins
208-731-1471
Instagram : @idahobirder
Not all those who wander are lost – J.R.R. Tolkien
Without the animals, Man would die of a great loneliness of the Spirit – Chief Seattle
An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment – Sir David Attenborough
I just opened the images up on my 27 inch iMac and expanded zoomed in even closer. It appears to me that I can see the epaulets or Red-winged Blackbirds.
On Jan 8, 2021, at 7:07 PM, Louisa Evers <elouisa603@…> wrote:
Looks like at least some of them are red-winged blackbirds. Could be a mixed flock of several species of blackbirds. In the second photo, I think I’m seeing the red epaulets on some of the birds.
On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 18:48 M Gregory <alanclarkg@…> wrote:
Anyone have an idea of what species these birds are? I photographed the flock over sage flats a mile or so from Old Highway 30 in Elmore County this afternoon. When I think of songbirds flocking in winter, I think of House Sparrows. No human activity in this area. Just sagebrush
Alan in Mountain Home
—
Alan C Gregory Lt. Col., USAF, Ret. Mountain Home, ID Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association, life member Member, North American Butterfly Association
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
Looks like at least some of them are red-winged blackbirds. Could be a mixed flock of several species of blackbirds. In the second photo, I think I’m seeing the red epaulets on some of the birds.
Anyone have an idea of what species these birds are? I photographed the flock over sage flats a mile or so from Old Highway 30 in Elmore County this afternoon. When I think of songbirds flocking in winter, I think of House Sparrows. No human activity in this area. Just sagebrush
Alan in Mountain Home
—
Alan C Gregory Lt. Col., USAF, Ret. Mountain Home, ID Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association, life member Member, North American Butterfly Association
Hope you all are fine; we are doing a short study how COVID-19 has changed birding. Please help us and answer a few questions, that take some minutes. You can also forward the link to others.
The study is in several languages and we would be happy for your participation. The study is hosted by the University of Tübingen, and run by a team of people, also being birders. Stay healthy and good birding, Christoph
