That’s a pretty good garage list!

> On Aug 19, 2019, at 2:58 PM, lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible] wrote:
>
> Had to respond to Bob’s garage birding list. His post just brought back some fond & funny memories. Before building a barn with a portion for a dog kennel, used to leave a garage door open for our first hound that led to an enclosed outdoor area. During those days garage bird visitors included: House Wren, House Finch & nesting Rough-winged Swallow pr. But best two were during some winter blizzards: first was a Saw-whet Owl that took refuge in the rafters & another storm pushed a Mt Chickadee in.
>
> The final straw, as far as my wife was concerned, was when a small colony of Little Brown Bats moved into the rafters. I got my barn, next dog moved out to the barn kennel & garage door became…closed.
>
> Brian Carrigan
> Blackfoot
>
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Had to respond to Bob’s garage birding list. His post just brought back some fond & funny memories. Before building a barn with a portion for a dog kennel, used to leave a garage door open for our first hound that led to an enclosed outdoor area. During those days garage bird visitors included: House Wren, House Finch & nesting Rough-winged Swallow pr. But best two were during some winter blizzards: first was a Saw-whet Owl that took refuge in the rafters & another storm pushed a Mt Chickadee in.

The final straw, as far as my wife was concerned, was when a small colony of Little Brown Bats moved into the rafters. I got my barn, next dog moved out to the barn kennel & garage door became…closed.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

I expect most people don’t keep a garage bird list, but I’m going to start.

We had Mac Gilivray’s Warbler flying around for a few minutes before he figured out that the big doors were open and he could leave at any time.

I’m sure he is now happily on his way back south. I inadvertently brought home dozens of grasshoppers in the engine compartment from an outing at Camas NWR the other day, and some of them are still in the garage. That may be what attracted the warbler.

Good birding
Bob Davis
Idaho Falls

Wow, Larry! 12 feeders! Good for you. Most I’ve ever kept going is 3 &, in past few years, just one. Mainly, because as you noted…the cleaning. Not as easy as filling seeds in a platform feeder, lol! I clean in very hot water with a scrub brush & refill every 2 days & laziness on my part keeps me from maintaining more.

So, today, I’ve seen a couple of immature Calliope, both male & female, same with sev Rufous, a couple of immature female Black-chinned & a surprise adult male Black-chinned. Activity continues but the big flush of Rufous has moved on.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

I watched a subadult broad-tailed last night in my yard here in the north end (Boise). What a beauty, especially his spotted cheeks and the how he perched for long periods of time. He traded off with a female black-chinned at one of my feeders all evening.

> On Aug 18, 2019, at 3:06 PM, LARRY ARNOLD larnold47@cableone.net [ible] wrote:
>
>
> I’ve been enjoying all the hum-chatter, both by the hums and by the good peoples reporting them… =)
>
> Guessing we’ve just passed our peak of fall migration here in west Boise, elev 2600 ft, and this might have been our highest number of hums since moving here 7 yrs ago. Estimating we had 25+ birds, mostly black-chins (always), precious few rufous, an occasional calliope, but no broad-tailed yet. Easily could have been 2x or 3x this number at our 12 feeders, which cannot all be watched at the same time.
>
> I consider feeding hummers to be a chess match, as I often move feeders around to different locations in hopes that they don’t become dominated by individual birds. I know that I could make “feeder maintenance” a lot easier by limiting the number of feeders we use, but we enjoy all the hum-fussing, hum-cussing, aerial jousting and DRAMA. Brian’s word “bittersweet” comes to mind – we hate to see them depart for the year, but I’m ready to take a break from washing feeders. 😉
>
> Larry
>
>
>
>
>
>

I’ve been enjoying all the hum-chatter, both by the hums and by the good peoples reporting them… =)

Guessing we’ve just passed our peak of fall migration here in west Boise, elev 2600 ft, and this might have been our highest number of hums since moving here 7 yrs ago. Estimating we had 25+ birds, mostly black-chins (always), precious few rufous, an occasional calliope, but no broad-tailed yet. Easily could have been 2x or 3x this number at our 12 feeders, which cannot all be watched at the same time.

I consider feeding hummers to be a chess match, as I often move feeders around to different locations in hopes that they don’t become dominated by individual birds. I know that I could make “feeder maintenance” a lot easier by limiting the number of feeders we use, but we enjoy all the hum-fussing, hum-cussing, aerial jousting and DRAMA. Brian’s word “bittersweet” comes to mind – we hate to see them depart for the year, but I’m ready to take a break from washing feeders. 😉

Larry

Here is my Sunday morning walk report from Packsaddle Estates in the foothills of the Big Hole Mountains in the NW area of Teton Valley. Observed 31 species which is higher than counts earlier in the month.

Before the wind picked up around 9am, saw and heard many birds: Large numbers of fledgling robins and Western Tanagers feeding in the service berry bushes. And for the first time ever, I saw one Eastern Kingbird near Packsaddle Creek perched briefly on an aspen.

Eurasian Collared-Dove 3
Mourning Dove 8
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 4
Calliope Hummingbird 1
Sandhill Crane 2 heard calling below
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1 calling
Red-naped Sapsucker 1
Western Wood-Pewee 6 2 singing, saw fledglings chasing adult
Eastern Kingbird 1 first sighting of this species at this location!
Warbling Vireo 4 food begging from adult, one with serviceberry fruit
Mountain Chickadee 1 at Youngblood’s feeder
Tree Swallow 12
Violet-green Swallow 14
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
House Wren 2
Gray Catbird 1
Swainson’s Thrush 1
American Robin 27 robins feeding in serviceberry bushes all along route, speckling fading on immatures but still visible
Cedar Waxwing 3
Evening Grosbeak 3
House Finch 2
Cassin’s Finch 1 at Youngblood’s feeder, weak face pattern, light streaking below
Pine Siskin 3
American Goldfinch 2 heard calling as they flew overhead
Chipping Sparrow 4
Green-tailed Towhee 4
Yellow Warbler 7 heard two males giving partial songs
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4 immatures chasing each other, no singing heard
Western Tanager 14 only a few obvious male adults, many juveniles and females, did not get exact count by age class

View this checklist online at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Fview%2Fchecklist%2FS59079447&data=02%7C01%7C%7C8bbf2df6ddd34e615d5608d723fea6d0%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637017448932985544&sdata=ialsrdqPjm36V7QivHO426%2B4Ep27qJDr5%2FMiFjzH7%2Bg%3D&reserved=0

Like Diann Stone said, everyday is different. Again, thanks to Susan Patla for giving me notice to watch out for this yr’s crop of Rufous. Because, yesterday evening another change occurred at the nectar feeder & continues this AM. As many as 5 at a time of immature Rufous Hummingbirds are hitting the feeder & each other!

Of the 4 hummer species which we get, the Rufous Hummers are definitely the most territorial & aggressive. I’ve watched epic battles, can hear their body slams into each other & observed their chattering face-offs, bill to bill, all within 10 ft of me! Quite entertaining, although to them, purely necessary for survival on their southern trek to meet their energy needs.

So, now, only juvenile Rufous are at the nectar feeder. Mainly juvenile Black-headed Grosbeaks at the seeds. Red-breasted Nuthatches are calling &, again a couple of weeks early, juvenile Chipping Sparrows are in the grassy pastures. Fewer Lazuli Buntings are around. Fall migrants are on the move.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Today, Jean Seymour, Kathleen Cameron and I traveled to the City of Rocks area in search of the pinyon/juniper specialties of that area. The entrance road in Castle Rock State Park held BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER & BUSHTIT in the pinyon/juniper area. On the road up to Circle Creek Overlook, we had our best passerine turnout including 1 each ASH-THROATED, DUSKY, & OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS, and 1 BLACK-THROATED GRAY & 2 VIRGINIA’S WARBLERS. We found a few WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS in the sky deep in the national preserve, over some of the more pronounced rock formations. The trailhead just outside the Smoky Mountain Campground had a flock of 15+ BUSHTIT & 1 BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER. Backroads in the large valley between the City of Rocks area and the Jim Sage Mts held 8+ LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES & unprecedented numbers of BREWER’S SPARROWS. The well(ish)-kept dirt road that leads up into the Jim Sage Mountains had 1 LINCOLN’S SPARROW, 2 of each GRAY FLYCATCHERS, W. SCRUB JAYS, and most impressively, 2 juvenile NORTHERN GOSHAWKS.
full trip report will be posted here: worldbirding.travellerspoint.com
Good birding,
Henry
Ketchum ID
(Chicago IL)
Henry Griffin
▫️◾️◽️▪️

A Black-chinned Hummingbird male just visited my front yard feeder.
Surprised me!

Diann Stone
Boise Depot Bench

On Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 9:06 AM lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible] < ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

>
>
> Fall migration is fascinating & bittersweet. It depicts a change in the
> seasons to my favorite fly-fishing time of the year…fall. But, also
> represents the time when you realize the flush of our most colorful birds
> pushing through won’t return for another 6-7 months.
>
> For the past 10 days, I’ve had Black-chinned & Calliope &, yesterday,
> Broad-tailed Hummers draining the nectar feeder every 2 days. Bill Moore
> has quite aptly pointed out to me that amt of nectar represented probably
> 80 individual hummingbirds draining the feeder. This AM, I’ve seen only a
> couple of Broad-tailed & Black-chinneds.
>
> Plus, it seems like all have pushed through about 2 weeks early, esp the
> Rufous that came through a few wks ago. Maybe another bunch will arrive,
> but, as the majority have been juveniles, makes me wonder how many more are
> left in the Rockies?
>
> Brian Carrigan
> Blackfoot
>
>