hahaha Robert, kind of you to say “info” as opposed to another noun… 😉 In my “first life” I was a professional student…. MIT, ISU Pocatello, UC San Diego Medical School, ISU again, USAF, U Idaho, UNLasVegas……
but speaking of birds, they’ve stopped speaking hereabouts… so we need higher elevation than Treasure Valley ( we’re at 2600ft on the Boise River Greenbelt )
Need higher ground, as in Seven Devils, Snow Bank, Warm Lake, Trinity, where else ??
I ask this question annually because we keep hearing about new places to explore for high elevation birds =)
awesome reminder thx Brian…!!! we’ll be looking for it with eyeballs, bins, scopes, and listening for owls =)
thanks too for directions…..
I’ve been reading about Halley’s 1910 appearance when Earth actually passed thru its tail, the comet was readily visible to the unaided eye, and my reason for reading this stuff was because my other Big Hobby is family history / genealogy / and I’ve been reading thru my grandparents’ 107 letters during 1908 – 1923, and on 19 May 1910 all life on Earth would be terminated by the comet’s tail, whereas my grandmother wrote on 26 May 1910 “well I see that we are all still here!” hahaha
this from wiki…..
The 1910 approach [of Halley’s], which came into naked-eye view around 10 April[63] and came to perihelion on 20 April,[63] was notable for several reasons: it was the first approach [ of Halley ] for which photographs exist, and the first for which spectroscopic data were obtained.[16] Furthermore, the comet made a relatively close approach of 0.15 AU,[63] making it a spectacular sight. On 19 May, Earth actually passed through the tail of the comet.[95][96] One of the substances discovered in the tail by spectroscopic analysis was the toxic gas cyanogen,[97] which led astronomer Camille Flammarion to claim that, when Earth passed through the tail, the gas “would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet.”[98] His pronouncement led to panicked buying of gas masks and quack “anti-comet pills” and “anti-comet umbrellas” by the public.[99] In reality, as other astronomers were quick to point out, the gas is so diffused that the world suffered no ill effects from the passage through the tail.[98]
More of that history… this 1910 approach of the comet added to the unrest in China on the eve of the Xinhai Revolution that would end the last dynasty in 1911.
I know a lot of folks are interested in most natural phenomena, so here’s another use for your binocs. Comet Neowise is putting on the most spectacular North America comet show since Hale-Bopp. This comet was only discovered on March 27 this year.
Right now, it’s visible with the naked eye in early AM hrs about 8° above the NE horizon (fist on outstretched arm is 5°). My wife & I have been watching the past few mornings from our front pasture. This AM, went out at 4 & it was readily visible & the tail was amazing thru binocs. It will move higher in the sky & to the NW & arise earlier, so that toward end of July, will be visible soon after dark.
It has a good chance to become a super comet (readily visible with unaided eye), last being Hale-Bopp (still have purchased-photo of H-B over Grand Teton in my office). And, I would say, it’s quite close now. If you miss it, your next chance to view this comet will be in just another 6800 yrs. I decided I better check it out now!
Jay, thanks for your fascinating explanation of the timing of shorebird migration. =)
When I got hopelessly obsessed with hummingbirds, I read everything about them I could get my hands on, and that’s when I discovered the BNA species accounts at UNM Albuquerque (with help from the science librarian =) For Rufous in particular, it seemed odd to be discussing “fall migration” when adult males began showing up at our humfeeders in both NM and CO during late June and early July, soon followed by adult females, and then…….. a ton of stragglers, hatch-year (HY) Rufous that had no “guides” to show them when or where to go, i.e., neither direction nor distance. This blew my mind, that they were “hard-wired” (as we called it) to migrate within weeks of hatching!! We had enough hummers passing thru our yard in western CO that we noticed almost annually a few HY birds seemed to get “stuck” at our place, unable to put on enough body fat to leave for the next leg of their journey. Now switching to Black-chinned hummers, because some of these remained into November, even December one year, almost making it onto our local CBC. As a reminder, this had nothing to do with feeders being left up, as we had many salvia and agastache plants continuing to bloom into late fall…
I had hopes that the BNA (now BOW) diagram of the annual cycle for Rufous Hummingbird would survive cyberspace to share with IBLE, but apparently not. Their migrations northward and southward defy our usual labels of spring and fall migration, because Rufous are screaming up the west coast as early as February, as is shown by eBird data…..
Hummers rule !!
Larry
Reference: Healy, S. and W. A. Calder (2020). Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rufhum.01
It’s also typical to start seeing migrant flocks of Wilson’s
Phalaropes in eastern Idaho by mid June.
Cliff
On 7/10/20 2:40 PM, rattlesnake4873
wrote:
To your point, Jay, the curlews I follow for
your study have all departed and are on or near their non-
breeding grounds. I recall that in the 70s while teaching at
Council High, Adams County, I regularly saw yellowlegs the
third and fourth weeks of August at a pond south of town.
I might add that, though it seems crazy relative to our
traditional thinking about summer, most shorebirds are
quite early migrants after breeding. Most of this has to
do with their molt strategy as all shorebirds migrate
south before their complete molt. Thus, whereas many
songbirds (robins, warblers, many sparrows) molt on or
near the breeding grounds – and therefore linger for 3-6
weeks after nesting – adult shorebirds “pack their bags”
remarkably quickly after nesting. Reports in Idaho this
year have shown multiple species of southbound shorebirds
(e.g., godwits, yellowlegs, Western Sandpipers) since the
last week of June and many of the Long-billed Curlews we
study head S by the 2nd or 3rd week of June – 1 bird a few
years ago even flew south in late May!!!
The early southbound migrants are all adults – and
largely failed breeders followed by successful breeders.
Hope this helps explain this seemingly odd timing 😁
Jay
On
Thursday, July 9, 2020, 10:15 PM, Larry Arnold <larnold47@…>
wrote:
vacation ???
From: “Jonathan” <jrb4jc@…> To: “IBLE” <IBLE@groups.io> Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020 8:35:16
PM Subject: Re: [IBLE] Thank Godwit
(marbled)
Wow, they are already heading back? They
get less than 3 months of vacation,
apparently… Jonathan Barnett, Horseshoe
Bend
From: Elizabeth
Medes Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020
6:35 PM To: IBLE@groups.io Subject: Re: [IBLE] Thank Godwit
(marbled)
Indeed, Denise. This has been 115 days
of confinement while covering
birding/fishing as much as possible in
Gem Cty. But what a reward waited for
us this week in Valley.
But, the big surprise – which
wouldn’t have happened without a
bored spouse benched from the
ice rink due to Covid 19, an
electric trolling motor, and a
startling view of them lifting
off 200 yards away, was 100+
Marbled Godwits, parked on the
east side near HWY 55 among
Canadian geese, pelicans, and
other waterfowl. What gorgeous
critters.
Yesterday i tried for several hrs to photo hummers at pats feeder you have to take several photos to get a few good ones as you can see it was very busy can you tell how many species are in the photo
Had an usual appearance by a female Cassin’s Finch at the black-oil sunflower seed feeder today. Primarily see in the spring, as Cassin’s migrate through to higher elevations. Have never had a summer one along the Snake, before.
Appears, after 2 wks of adult male & female Rufous Hummingbirds, they have since moved on. Now, seeing mostly female Black-chinned Hummingbirds.
Brian Carrigan Blackfoot
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
