“Maybe… An apparent Slate-colored individual was foraging near the feeding station. It had a gray head with a small, white throat patch above a gray breast. It had a white belly. It had mostly gray wings. Its secondaries were tinged with brown, and it had a small white spot near its left shoulder. It had gray sides and a gray tail. There was a little bit of brown near its vent/lower side. The white throat immediately caught my attention, and made me wonder if it was a hybrid. I did get some photos.”
10:15 this a.m.did outlet canal first ring bill gull killdeer no sparrows drove to pavement on fence line sparrows & house finch lower dam..few spots open water 4 comm. Golden eyes. water pipet back to canal bang # 2 dunlins kestrel pipet. Kingfisher yellow rump .birds move around pays to recheck areas
All – I think I am the only person to get a really good view of the Field Sparrow at Curlew National Grasslands other than the folks that saw it first on Nov 29…I can tell you that it is definitely worth a trip as the bird is/was there. I took good notes and was within 12 feet (Kathy wrote 12-15 feet in ebird because that is what I said when she was putting in the report but later I looked at my notes it was 12 feet). We are talking a good look.
I put a rare bird report in at IBRC the next day after asking Cliff that night if he wanted another report on the same bird/s and he said yes. Please take a look at my report and you will see I compared it to other species. I could have compared it to other sparrows that are not common here (rufous-winged or rufous-crowned??? which are rare and do not match the bird either) but it looked exactly like the gray adult field sparrow in Sibley’s. I have no doubt about what I saw.
Sorry that we did not think (immediately) of letting everyone know…we were busy trying to get another good look and a photo. I am sorry that I did not take a photo but the camera was in the backseat & it is not generally the first thing I do…I watch the bird. We tried really hard to get a photo. The bird/s were not near the road again & I don’t think it would do any good to chase through the sagebrush so we waited. We did try to get the word out on IBLE a couple hours into our time there…sorry it was not soon enough for everyone.
Yesterday to my surprise I saw an Osprey perched in a tree near the SE 2.8 marker. Anyone else seen an Osprey so late in the year?
John Shortis
On Saturday, December 5, 2020, 09:55:33 PM MST, Larry Arnold <larnold47@…> wrote:
Tom, thx for calling, dude !!
I got on your sapsucker just before it flushed across the river by someone who got too close
LA
From:“Tom McCabe” <tmccabe9@…> To:“IBLE” <IBLE@groups.io> Sent:Saturday, December 5, 2020 3:06:03 PM Subject:[IBLE] Another great day on the Greenbelt
I knew I would have a good day when I spotted a MERLIN at 23rd& Brumback St., long before I got to the river. Then I proceeded to find the usual suspects, until I found a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, in some pine trees at the Willow Lane athletic complex. These trees are on the southwest corner of the only soccer field there, right along the greenbelt. These trees played host to RNSA a few years ago. Some of the other pines along the soccer field still have the line of holes from a prior visit.
I then found my f.o.s. BARROW’S GOLDENEYE further downriver, almost to Silver Lake. He was consorting with several of his COMMON brethren. Then, on the way back, I happened to notice a clump of gray up in a tree and discovered a WESTERN SCREECH OWL sitting on a branch about 20 feet up, soaking up the rays.
This is the second day in a row that I’ve found more than 40 species on my bike ride, but the Red-naped Sapsucker really made my day. Plus, this week I surpassed 4,000 miles for the 9thyear in a row. But, hey, who’s counting?
Tom McCabe, Boise
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
